Project Gutenberg 2011-02-25 Public domain in the USA. 117 Berens, Edward 1859 Cruikshank, George 1792 1878 Cruickshank, George Christmas Stories Containing John Wildgoose the Poacher, the Smuggler, and Good-nature, or Parish Matters Produced by Heather Clark, billyeiser and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from scanned images of public domain material from the Google Print project.) "Christmas Stories" by Edward Berens is a collection of short stories written in the early 19th century. The opening tale, "The History of John Wildgoose," focuses on the life of Thomas Wildgoose, a hardworking man who faces tragedy and moral dilemmas after becoming a poacher. The narrative explores themes of conformity to law, family responsibility, and the impact of poor choices on both personal and community levels. The beginning of the collection introduces Thomas Wildgoose, who leads a simple, honest life until a tragic accident leaves him seriously injured. As he prepares for his death, he makes provisions for his family, revealing his love for them. The story then transitions to his wife, Susan, who struggles to cope with her husband's passing while finding a way to support her children. The tale hints at the challenges their children, particularly their son John, will face as he is drawn into a life of poaching due to bad company, setting the stage for a moral decline that threatens to unravel their family's integrity. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 72.2 (7th grade). Fairly easy to read. en Christmas stories Children's stories Smuggling -- Juvenile fiction Temperance -- Juvenile fiction Poaching -- Juvenile fiction PZ Text Category: Short Stories Category: British Literature 286709 2025-07-14T10:43:10.158177 text/html 287601 2021-01-07T13:39:19 text/html 327030 2025-07-14T10:43:17.721140 application/epub+zip 329124 2025-07-14T10:43:12.952164 application/epub+zip 185727 2025-07-14T10:43:10.855183 application/epub+zip 679885 2025-07-14T10:43:20.601149 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 653099 2025-07-14T10:43:16.038156 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 318346 2022-09-16T08:39:22.989741 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 258447 2025-07-14T10:43:09.697196 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 258274 2021-01-07T13:39:19 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 20285 2025-07-14T10:43:20.727110 application/rdf+xml 14960 2025-07-14T10:43:11.348138 image/jpeg 3902 2025-07-14T10:43:11.102146 image/jpeg 249072 2021-01-07T13:39:19 application/octet-stream application/zip 97089 2021-01-07T13:39:19 application/octet-stream application/zip 316572 2025-07-14T10:43:10.221184 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia