Grateful Peter's new year's gift

by Ruth Lamb (1829–1916)

• Free to read
• 40 min read
• 4 chapters

Grateful Peter's new year's gift by Ruth Lamb is a children's moral tale written in the late 19th century. The book follows a poor street boy whose misfortune on New Year’s Eve draws him into the care of kind adults and, through gentle Christian teaching, sets him on a new path; its likely topic is gratitude, providence, and the transforming power of faith and kindness. Peter Grant, a twelve-year-old baked-potato seller living with his guardian, old Sally, is knocked down by a cab on New Year’s Eve and taken to the hospital by Mr. Russell. There, a nurse tends him, and Dr. Turner—who once urged Peter to keep the Sabbath—reappears, explaining his earlier absence. Mr. Russell’s daughter, Alice, reads Peter “the old, old story” of Jesus, and the boy embraces the gospel message with wonder and gratitude. After recovery and a stay at a convalescent home, Sally is settled in a clean cottage, and Peter is placed in a good school, then apprenticed to a grocer, where hard work and prayer help him prosper. Years later, now a successful tradesman, he anonymously donates a large sum to expand the hospital that once sheltered him—his heartfelt New Year’s gift—affirming the book’s theme of thankful generosity born from received mercy.

• Christian life
• Orphans
• Kindness
• Poverty
• Charity
• Almshouses