Summarize "The Boots at the Holly Tree Inn" by Charles Dickens.

"The Boots at the Holly-Tree Inn" is about a two children who believe they are in love and elope to be married.

Young Master Harry Walmer is not quite eight years old when he falls in love with Norah, who is seven. Master Harry's under-gardener, Boots (also called Cobbs), is Harry's trusted confidante and the narrator of the story. Boots watches as the young couple grows increasingly fond of each other, and one day, young Harry reveals that he will soon be leaving to visit his grandmother at York. Boots wishes Harry well, and Harry confesses that Norah is going with him. He is looking forward to receiving the five pounds that his grandmamma always gives him when he visits her. Harry also reveals that he is indignant that Norah's family has been laughing about the young couple's "engagement."

Some time passes, and Boots is at the Holly Tree Inn when two young children arrive in a coach. Master Harry and Norah emerge from the coach, and Harry announces his intentions to rest there for the evening. He requests a sitting room, two bedrooms, chops, and pudding for their stay. The Governor quietly conveys to Boots his intention to travel to York and report the location of the children.

Harry and Norah disclose to Boots that they plan to be married the following day. Boots asks if he can accompany them, and they are delighted by the offer. He comes up with a plan to stall them a bit, explaining that there is a good pony that they can borrow but that it will not be ready for another day. The children believe this is an excellent prospect and request cake for dinner.

Boots peeks in on the young couple that evening; Norah rests on Harry and has tears of fatigue on her cheeks. Master Harry requests a "Norfolk biffen" to brighten his lady's spirits and then feeds her with a spoon. The two children retire to their separate bedrooms.

The following morning, Boots suggests that the two take a walk on "Love Lane" and then accompanies them on the excursion. He begins to feel a great sense of guilt about betraying the confidence of the sweet couple, particularly when they decide to employ Boots and pay him "two thousand guineas a year as head gardener" of their estate. Boots immediately wishes that the "earth would ... open and [swallow] him up." The two children grow exhausted during the walk and decide to lie down among daisies to sleep. When Norah awakens, her temper flares and she demands to go home. A dinner is prepared for the couple, and Norah is again exhausted; she is quickly taken to bed.

A bit later that evening, Harry's father arrives with the Governor. Boots begs Mr. Walmers to not be upset with Master Harry, because he is a "fine boy" who will do much "credit and honour" to his father. Mr. Walmers soothes Boots's concerns and heads upstairs to fetch his son.

After bending to kiss his son's sleeping face, Mr. Walmers gently shakes Harry awake and asks that Harry get dressed for their journey home. Harry asks whether he can kiss his beloved Norah before he departs, and his father agrees.

Harry gently kisses the sleeping Norah and is then driven away in a chaise, holding his father's hand. Norah grows up to marry a captain years later, and the marriage between the two innocent children is never fulfilled.

What is the moral of "The Boots at the Holly Tree Inn" by Charles Dickens?

The moral of "The Boots at the Holly Tree Inn" is that we can learn much about marriage from the innocence and imagination of children. This is a story about innocence: Boots (also called Cobbs), the under-gardener who narrates the story, is an innocent, and the little boy at the center of the story is too.

With Cobbs's help and a gift of five pounds from his grandmother, little Master Harry "marries" his girlfriend and takes her to an inn. He treats her tenderly, but she eventually becomes tired and impatient and wants to go home. Cobbs, feeling guilty about it, contacts Harry's father, who comes and gets the boy. We are left with the following moral:

... firstly, that there are not many couples on their way to be married who are half as innocent of guile as those two children; secondly, that it would be a jolly good thing for a great many couples on their way to be married, if they could only be stopped in time, and brought back separately.

In other words, the moral is that is would be best if people married with pure hearts and had a chance to quickly get out of a marriage that is a mistake.

While comic, this is a sentimental tale that tugs at the heartstrings, making us long for the innocence of childhood to inform the kind of marriage decisions we make as adults. Underlying the moral is a deeper principle Dickens borrowed from the Romantics, summed in the words of William Wordsworth: "the child is the father of the man." This expresses the idea that rather than simply mold children, adults can learn important life lessons from them.

What is a notable point about "The Boots at the Holly Tree Inn" by Charles Dickens?

A good point or comment to make about the story “Boots at the Holly-Tree Inn” might relate to how Charles Dickens plays with the forbidden-love trope.

One might comment on how the story links to other famous works about rebellious romances. For example, William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet centers on two young people who fall in love even though their rival families make such love untenable. Dickens takes this common trope and applies it to children—literal children. What’s preventing them from spending their lives together isn’t some dramatic element but something quite common: their age. They are too young, so no one takes them seriously. Harry tells Boots, “At Norah’s house, they have been joking her about me.” According to Harry, Norah’s family acts like their engagement is a “game.” Maybe Dickens is pointing out that forbidden love affairs can be childlike and similar to games. They can be playful, adventurous, and impractical, and they can produce winners and losers.

If commenting about the rebellious love trope isn’t of interest, perhaps make a point about class. Think about how Boots’s economic status makes him a party to Harry and Norah’s scheme and vulnerable to manipulation. Boots is aware of the couple’s intentions “through being under-gardener.” The juvenile couple then tries to buy his loyalty by offering him a salary of 2,000 guineas a year and a promotion to head gardener.