Candle and Crib (Illustrated)

Candle and Crib is loosely based upon the Nativity, finds an Irish couple distraught that their son, daughter-in-law and grandson haven't arrived for Christmas. Unbeknownst to them, the son travels to their home by a different route than his wife and child. The parents get no word of their plans, and the daughter-in-law and baby must walk through a stormy night to their house. She finds their stable, which the father has decorated in Christmas fashion and housed his cow and donkey. Exhausted, she settles into the hay and sleeps, where she is found, safe and sound, by the rest of the family.

Katherine Frances Purdon (1852 23 June 1920) was an Irish novelist and playwright, part of the Irish Revival movement and a member of the United Irishwomen.

Born in Hotwell, Enfield, County Meath, to a farming background, Purdon was educated in school in England and Alexandra College in Dublin.

Purdon was a regular contributor to both Irish and English periodicals beginning with Irish Homestead. She wrote stories which were also produced at the Abbey Theatre. Some of her works were illustrated by Jack B. Yeats and George Russell commented that she wrote perfect English. Purdon was one of only eleven women to have a play produced at the Abbey during that period. She is described in a review of the day as a new and talented author and there are reviews of her work from London through Jamaica to the New York Times.

Purdon had an interest in the Irish Language movement and was in contact with noted activists like Thomas MacDonagh. However, by her own admission she only had a few words of Irish. Purdon was part of the Irish Revival movement through her representation of the people of Meath and their language and customs. Purdon was one of the founding members of the Irish Countrywomen's Association under its original name of the United Irishwomen.

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