©1938 Coward-McCann,
New York
I am a sucker for a good Christmas book. I would probably go
so far as to say that the book doesn’t have to really be that good if it has a
solid Christmas setting and it may win me over. The Blushing Bride is aware of my
affection for Christmas literature, so in the most recent Christmas season
(when times had been tough) she found a well-worn and inexpensive ex-library
copy of this little gem entitled Christmas
Days.
A cursory glance tells the prospective reader that the book
covers three Christmases—one in the ‘50s, the next in the ‘60s, and finally in
the ‘70s. Having noted the copyright date of 1938, it didn’t take long for me
to decide that the Decembers covered were in the middle 1800s. And I must add
that I really did enjoy my excursion into the Cape Cod community filled with
sailors and ship-masters.
A selling point for the gift-giver (aside from the Christmas
setting) was the claim from the fly-leaf (pasted into the end papers in the
habit of libraries) that the book promised “shortly to take its place in that
select and enduring little group of Christmas classics which began with Dickens’
A Christmas Carol.”
The title is more than just about days during the Christmas
season, but follows the lives of two brothers, Rogers and David Day, who come
from a line of seafaring captains. During the three important Christmases
promised we see the boys grow into men and become ship-masters in their own
right.
The writing has an easy pace with a plot line that is easy
to follow if not flat out broadcasting intent to the reader. The author’s use
of dialect and mid-19th century shipping jargon brings the characters
to life although he does have the habit of chopping dialog which forces both
character and reader to finish the thoughts of a speaker. I invariably hoped that
my conclusion to a statement was the same as that of the character speaking.
Whether Lincoln assumes too much of his reader, or just has difficulty
smoothing out dialog may be a question better answered by someone who has read
more than one of the author’s books.
As for the claim of a seat among the greats of Christmas
literature: it’s a good selling point, but maybe more wishful thinking than
anything else. I don’t expect to be hearing as much about Rogers Day in future
as I already hear about Ebenezer Scrooge, but it is a fair tale. There is more
of the Jacob and Esau in the story than the Scrooge and Marley, though I can’t
say more without running up the spoiler alert.
The bottom line is this: if you enjoy a nice Christmas story—one
with lots of feeling, nostalgia, and miracle—this little tale will provide a
few good hours of holiday escape for you. If you like to read about the sea and
shipping, Christmas Days has a smattering of it for your taste. If you are looking
for a gut-wrenching, plot-twisting, soul-changing, last-for-centuries Christmas
classic, you would do well to pick up Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, or Evans’ The
Christmas Box, Christmas Days leaves too much detail of the changing in the
heart of Rogers Day to fit the bill.
For our rating, I’d give the book three and one-half reading
glasses. I’ll probably read it again some Christmas to come, but I won’t give
it berth with some of my annual re-reads. Would I be willing to read any more
of Lincoln’s “Cape Cod Stories?” The writing is plain enough and certainly free
enough of the curse and caper that requires a 24/7 censor to be engaged in the
reader’s mind that I would have no problem picking up one of Joseph Lincoln’s
books—although he hasn’t won my heart like my good friend Bill Crider did with
his mystery stories.
For those who want to hang their hat on a phrase or two to
decide whether to give this unfamiliar voice a try, I give you: snow, sailing,
and romantic tangles.
—Benjamin Potter January 14, 2019
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