The Christmas Victory

Henry sat in quiet contemplation for a while, staring at Fanny's picture which stood before him on the desk.

Just then, the church bells began to chime. At first he regarded their ringing as an unwelcome interruption to his reverie and tried putting on ear muffs to deaden the sound. But then it seemed as if, in some sort of belfry conspiracy, more and more bells began to chime—bells from other churches—from all the churches in the area. They kept on ringing. The tunes they played were all the old familiar Christmas carols he had heard from his youth. But as they kept pealing, one phrase, from his conversation with Charles, kept going over and over in his mind: “Peace on earth, Goodwill to men, Peace on earth, Goodwill to men.” He removed the ear muffs and listened pensively to the lilting melodies of the bells pealing out the message of peace. He reached for his pen and began to write.

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

With each passing moment it seemed as if more bells had joined the chorus. He continued to write:

I thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along the unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

“But,” he thought, catching himself, “what am I writing this for? How can there be peace on earth when this war is dragging on?” He felt more strongly now the despair he had been feeling over Fanny's death, Charles’s injury and the war in general. Why had this war even started in the first place? It was all the fault of those slave owners in the south, he thought. He placed the ear muffs back on his ears and picked up his pen again.