Hello and Merry Christmas! I've already opened my gifts and now I'm busy pondering the true meaning of this holy day...you guessed it, a time to read Stephen Crane Christmas stories!
I found this nice one buried in the digital snow of a Google search. The story is called, "A Christmas Dinner Won in Battle" and according to the site it's posted on, "Curiously, this story was first published in the Plumbers' Trade Journal, Gas, Steam, and Hot Water Fitters' Review on 1 January 1895, probably because the main character, Tom, is a plumber."
So was this rewritten for submission to the trade journal? You be the judge, or ask someone who might actually know. My guess is hekka yeah, Crane probably originally had the male hero written as a railway worker. Damn plumbers, always into something! But at least they had the sense to publish the greatest writer of all time!
What we've got here is a neat story of the steady hero, forbidden love, and the obstinate father/tycoon. Throw in some (quickly suppressed) class warfare, extreme violence, and a couple vague references to Christmas, and the end result is a Crane tale that's good enough to re-gift to you via this blog! Enjoy!
http://members.tripod.com/wackyanne/library/xlbattle.htm
:-D
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