MOLLIE’S BEST CHRISTMAS GIFT

Mary E. Lee

Mary E. Lee, the daughter of Simon S. and Adelia M. Ashe, was born free in Mobile, Alabama, on January 12, 1851. In 1860, the family moved to Xenia, Ohio, the site of Wilberforce University, one of the first institutions of higher learning to be established for African Americans in the United States. Founded by the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME), Wilberforce included what was known as a “normal” department, which provided primary and secondary instruction for black children and adults in addition to the college course. Lee attended Wilberforce and graduated with a BS degree in 1873. As a student, she distinguished herself as a poet and essayist, and after graduation, she taught in the public schools of Galveston, Texas. In December 1873, she married Benjamin Franklin Lee, president of Wilberforce and a professor of theology. In 1892, he was elected a bishop of the AME Church.

During the late nineteenth century, Mary E. Lee was well known as a poet, fiction writer, and religious worker in the AME Church. Her articles, poems, and short stories appeared in the Christian Recorder, AME Quarterly Review, Ringwood’s Journal, and other publications. During the 1890s, the Lee family resided in Philadelphia, where Mary was affiliated with the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, the Ladies’ Christian Union Association, and the AME Women’s Mite Missionary Society. In 1892, she was elected vice president of the Afro-American Press Association.

“Mollie’s Best Christmas Gift” was published in the Christian Recorder in December 1882. Lee wrote the story to emphasize the importance of putting Christ back in Christmas. The Christmas celebration, introduced in the United States during the late eighteenth century, was officially recognized by most states as a legal holiday by 1865. By 1850, the celebration had taken on its more modern character, with feasting and gift giving being the foremost focus. Lee’s concern in 1885 is echoed today by many, especially parents who are besieged by children who view Christmas simply as a time to receive toys and presents.

“Mollie’s Best Christmas Gift” not only imparts a message for Christians, but it also provides the reader with a glimpse of what Christmas was like for middle-class black children in the late nineteenth century.

Raised as a free black child of privilege, Mary Lee spoke from experience. Little is known about the reading and recreational habits of black children in the late nineteenth century, but in this story, we learn that they read traditional US history books such as The Pilgrim’s Progress and Line upon Line and fairy tales including “Cinderella,” “Puss in Boots,” and “Beauty and the Beast.”

Lee’s message in “Mollie’s Best Christmas Gift” is simple yet profound. It is that Christmas is about the birth of the Christ child and that the best present a child can receive is the Bible, which provides one the opportunity to know and to understand the teachings of Jesus.

Mollie’s Best Christmas Gift

Mollie’s parents had been “well-to-do,” and she had always looked forward to Christmas as a day of joy and merriment. She awoke Christmas morning to find her stockings filled or the Christmas tree laden with toys and good things. Among her presents were so many fairy stories, including of course, “Cinderella,” “Puss in Boots,” “Beauty and the Beast,” etc. She also had “Line upon Line” and “Pilgrim’s Progress.” A week before the Christmas in which our story begins, Mollie had been trying to decide in her mind what she would like to get on Christmas as a present. She had almost every kind of toy, so she could think of nothing new that she had not had on previous holidays. She consoled herself with the hope that her parents and friends would think of something new and beautiful. But the circumstances of her parents had changed; her father found himself less able than he had ever been before to provide many presents for the children so he concluded to buy only such things as would be useful.

Mollie, herself, was somewhat changed from what she had been on other Christmases. She was older now and more thoughtful. She had a restlessness [which she did not understand], a feeling that there was some duty she had neglected, with an undefined desire for something which she might have attained, but had not. Thus she looked forward to Christmas. What was her chagrin when she found that her presents consisted of only a pair of shoes, a dress and a silver dollar! She was so greatly disappointed in receiving what she considered no present—only the things necessary to her comfort, which her father would provide for her at any time—that she hid her face in the folds of her blue merino dress to conceal her tears; then looking around she saw under the mantle a parcel addressed thus “To Mollie from her brother, Joseph.” It contained a book, “The Prince of the House of David.” She began that day to read her book and carefully read it with growing interest in the history day by day. Of course she had long since learned the story of the cross, both at home and at the Sunday school, though she had not felt that she had a personal concern in it. But in reading this book, Jesus of Nazareth appeared to her the fairest among ten thousand and altogether lovely. Yet she thought the book might not be true. Perhaps, these letters were not written by the Alexandrian maiden, after all. But, she [told herself], “The Bible tells the story. I will read my Testament.” So she began to read the story of Jesus in her Testament as she had never read it before. There was new light upon the pages as she read; light grew lighter and lighter until her heart seemed to run over with love and sympathy for Christ and to melt with shame at her own unworthiness.

It was New Year’s morning; for one week she had been reading and thinking of Jesus, and her Christmas gifts resulted in the happiest New Year she can ever have on earth, for then she first received Jesus, the hope of earth and joy of heaven, as her Saviour. Ever since then she has felt like saying to little girls and boys just giving up their childish toys, “Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth.”