A little fire burned feebly in the huge stone recess
Date1883
Artist
Arthur Burdett Frost
(American illustrator and author, 1851–1928)
Illustration Citation"How John Norton Kept His Christmas," by W. H. H. Murray, Harper's Weekly, December 22, 1883.
MediumInk and graphite on paper
Dimensionscomposition: 6 1/16 × 5 3/4 in. (15.4 × 14.6 cm)
sheet: 8 3/4 × 11 3/8 in. (22.2 × 28.9 cm)
sheet: 8 3/4 × 11 3/8 in. (22.2 × 28.9 cm)
Credit LineGayle and Alene Hoskins Endowment Fund, 2007
Object number2007-63.1
On View
Not on viewClassificationsDRAWING
Label TextThis scene and the line of dialogue on the obverse indicate that it was an illustration for the story "How John Norton The Trapper Kept His Christmas," by W. H. H. Murray, which appeared in Harper's Weekly in 1883. In Frost's inscriptions, he misquotes the name of the title character, calling him John Martin. Here, a woman in an isolated cabin ponders her family's poverty as Christmas approaches.
