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The Commoner.
8
VOLUME 3, NUMBER .
jW(ea 71 f?D cl I L LI Iv?l 1 L xr
A Christmas Story
It was only the old, old story
Of poverty, want and care;
Of a room In a cheerless garret
A hearth and a cupboard bare;
Of a woman, forever stitching,
"Whoso thin hand held at bay
The greedy, gaunt wolf, hunger,
From her little daughter, Fao.
A little, thin-faced girlie,
In a rickety, creaking chair,
Sat swaying and softly humming
Tho notes of a childish air.
The coals of a meagre fire
Broke into a fitful gleam,
And tho child's dark eyes grow
thoughtful,
Rocalling a broken dream.
"Mamma," she said; "last evening,
When you were away for bread,
Louella came in to seo me,
And what do you think she said?
She said 'twas tho ove of Christmas,
When all little girls, like me,
Either hung up their biggest stocking,
Or else had a Christmas tree.
"She said that to everybody
She called him a funny name!
A queer little man, all laden,
With bundles and parcels, came!
No matter how big the stocking
No matter how tall the tree
He always had plenty; and, mamma,
She said he would como to me.
"So, I hung up my crimson stocking
The prettiest one I had;
And I thought, when ho came I'd tell
him
I wanted a doll, so bad.
I watched till I got so sleepy!
And this morning I ran to see
If he'd left me tho doll; but, mamma,
He never had thought of me.
"I didn't ask for a nice one
The poorest and least he had
If he'd left me but tho poorest,
Oh, mamma, I'd been so glad!
Then I cried. For, oh, I wanted
The doll so bad! I'm sure
Louella did wrong to tell mo
That Santa Claus came to the poor."
The mother laid down her sewing,
In her eyes was a look of pain
For tho child who asked so little
And even that, in vain.
"Shall I tell you a story, darling?"
She lifted her from the chair,
And hissed the grieving baby,
Stroking tho shining hair.
"Though your stocking bo empty,
darling,
And Santa Claus misses our door,
There is one who never forgets us
God always remembers the poor.
He knows all our wants and sorrows;.
He grieves over every pain;
Though we think him slow fulfilling,
His promises never aro vain."
Then she told her the wondrous story
Of tho Christ-Child's lowly birth;
How God so loved his people
That Ho .sent His Son to earth;
How ho camo to us, poor and lowly,
In Bethlehem's manger born,
In tho shed where tho cattle sheltered,
One long-gone Christmas morn.
Nor owned him tho son of heaven
'Till nailed to tho cross ho died.
"And this child was a king in heaven
A prince in his Father's homo!
And yet, in tho world ho died for,
The Savior had found no room.
For the people, so lost, so ruined,
Whoso souls ho would die to save,
Would give him no kinder welcome
Than death, and a borrowed grave.
"Poor, lonely, despised, forsaken"
Though a Prince of tho Better Land,
This Christmas gift from heaven
Was Lord of the heavenly band!
And so, though the good Kriskringle,
Forgetful, should pass our door,
Remember, the Lord of Christmas
Was God's gift to the poor."
The story was told, and baby
In sleep had forgot all pain;
And the shadow of night and darkness
Had gathered about the twain.
The mother kissed the sleeper
And smilingly, softly said:
"My baby must have the dolly,
Though mamma must" want for
bread."
Next morning, Girlio, glancing
To her stocking beside the door,
Cried, "Mamma! See! The dolly!
God didn't forget the poor!"
And she hugged and kissed her treas
ure, But her glad heart never knew
That for long the mother purchased
One loaf, instead of two.
H. W. M.
houses and churches were decked
with evergreens, especially with mis
tletoe, to which a traditionary sacred
ness has attached since the days of
the Druids. Encyclopedia , Britanica.
Mistletoe berries aro eaten by him
and through their agency the LTm'
propagated tho birds JafgA
beaks against tho tree barkf up
est fssr - seeds -ft
The mistletoe is supposed to bo tho
golden bough which Aeneas made use
of to introduce himself to the Elysian
regions. J au
There are many beautiful legends
connected with tho use of Lho mistle-toe.
Christmas Grcotlng to Our Friends.
To each, to all, to whom The Com
moner may come this Christmas-tide,
wo send cordial Christmas greetings,
and warm good wishes that into each
and every heart and home the Lord
of Christmas may enter, and there
abide; and that the year to come may
be indeed, to them and theirs, a time
of "peace on earth good will to men."
Tho Whlto Houso Christmas.
The first celebration of Christmas
in the White house occurred on De
cember 25, 1800, less vthan three
mQnths after its completion. On this
occasion, tho first mistress of the
White house complained of the dif
ficulty of heating the residence, which
was then denounced as being of exces
sive size; It is recorded that, on this
first Christmas day the snow mantled
tho earth to a depth of over two feet.
During the earlier administrations,
the Christmas festivities were never
,very elaborate, although when Thomas
Jefferson was president his grand
children spent, the holidays at the
White house, and there were lively
times among the young folks.
During the administration of An
drew Jackson, four children made
their homo in the presidential man
sion, and all the traditional festivities
were introduced. During, the civil war
there was little jollity in the White
houso, though the little Lincolns hung
up their stockings in the time-honored
way. During the administration
of President Johnson, the first chil
dren's parties were held for his six
little grandchildren.
Conspicuous among tho Christmas
presents received at the White house
are the splendid turkeys which come
to the president from rural admirers
all over the country. A Rhode Island
farmer has sent a huge turkey tho
finest to be had for tho White house
dinner each year for thirty years. For
teso turkeys the farmer, Mr. Vose,
of Westerly, R. I., does not receive a
money value. He has, however, re
ceived from each president, on the ar
rival of tho turkey, a note of thanks,
and these little letters from the execu
tive mansion are greatly prized by
him.
How he dwelt with tho poor and
needy,
And hungered and toiled like thorn;
And suffered, and bore their burdens
This Baby of Bethlehem.
How tho world ho loved rejected
Hia love with a scornful pride;.
Christmas Dtxy.
In all civilized countries tho annual
recurrence of Christmas has been
celebrated with festivities of various
kinds. In none, however, was it more
joyfully welcomed than in England,
where even still the "old honor" has
not altogether fled. In that country
it was tho custom on Christmas eve,
after the usual devotions were over,
to light largo candles and throw on
tho hearth a huge log, called the Yule
Log, or Christmas Block. At court,
and in the houses of the wealth, an
officer, named tho Lord of Misrule,
was appointed to superintend the
revels; and in Scotland a similar func
tionary used to bo appointed under
tho title of the Abbot of Unreason, till
the year 1555, when the office was
abolished by act of parliament. Tho
reign of the Lord of Misrule began on
All-Hallow ove, and lasted till Can
dlemas day. The favorite pastimes
over which ho presided were gaming,
music, conjuring, dipping for nuts and
apples, dancing, fool plough, hot cock
les, blindman's buff, etc. Various
Christian preachers have takon occa
sion to remonstrate with their flock
for paying too great attention to the
festive character of tho season, and
too little to its more solemn aspects.
Tho favorite dislies for breakfast and
supper at this season were the boar's
head, with ah apple or orango In the
mouth, and set off with rosemary,
Christmas Cards.
Tho Christmas card, as we know it.
has on origin . easily traceable, and it
is little more than half a century ago
that tho first one was designed. Tho
artist who claimed to bo its originator
and who was, at any rate, the first to
recognize its possibilities, was W C
T. Dobson, R. A., an Englishman!
who, when quite a young man, in 1844
was promted at Christmastime to
make a little sketch symbolic of tho
season's joys and festivities and to
send it to a friend. It seemed to givo
such pleasure that, the next year, Mr.
Dobson determined to follow up tho
idea on a larger scale, and by having
his card lithographed was enabled to
send copies to twenty-live or thirty
friends. Tho delight with which they
were received was so great that Mr.
Dobson was quick to perceive that ho
had found a new source of pleasure
for Christmas.
Once started, the custom of sending
Christmas cards soon became well es
tablished, but it took some decades to
make tho custom universally popular,
though the difference between the out
put then and now was no moro
marked than the difference between
the cards of that day and those of
this. The simple floral design or ru
ral scene, with its snow-clad land
scape often designed by inferior art
ists, which gave so much pleasure 25
years ago, has given placo to the beau
tifully and often expensively gotten
up cards of tho present day, many of
which are real gems of art. Five hun
dred dollars, and even more, it is said,
has often been spent upon a set of
cards which are to bo sold for a few
cents each.
plum pudding and mince pies. Tho l during the following twelve-month.
Tho Mistlotoo.
The mistletoe so generally used at
Christmas and New Year festivals is
regarded by many, even In our own
land, as a semi-sacred plant that pos
sesses charms and confers privileges.
Tho ancient Britons believed their
gods were in the oaks, and when the
mistletoe was found growing upon an
oak, at the time the berries were ripe,
the Druids invited tho people to a
great feast. The oldest Druid, robed
in white, climbed the trees where the
mistletoe grew, and, with the golden
sickle, cut it down while other priests
sang and prayed.
The evergreens with which our
houses are decked at Christmastime
are relics of the symbols by which
our heathen ancestors exhibited their
belief in the power of tho sun to deck
the earth anew in green, and to cause
trees to bear fruit. High festivals
were held in December by northern
barbarians in honor of the sun.
The mistletoe figures In Scandinav
ian legend as having furnished the
material of tho arrow with which Bal
dur, tho sun-god, was slain by tho
blind god, Hoder.
The custom of kissing under tho
mistletoe is of pagan origin also. The
Druids are supposed tbx have com
menced it, and a Druid maiden who
failed to bo kissed beneath the min'tin.
too was doomed to remain unmarried
Christmas-tide properly begins with
the evening of tho 24th of December,
which is known as Christmas eve;
tho festival continues until Epiphany,
on the 6th of January. Of the thirteen
days of Christmas-tide, the day of
honor in fact tho foremost of all fes
tive days is the 25th of December,
which is distinctly called Christmas
Day.
Holiday Giving.
Not all gifts will be given on tho
eve or the day of Christmas. There
will be many belated presents, and for
many days the spirit of Christmas will
dominate the world. And in somo
form, the custom should be observed
between friends. Give generously of
loving thoughts and evidences of good
will. Let the tongue, as well as tho
hand, deal out tho treasures of the
heart. Speak the kind word, do tho
kind act. Live the professions of
your lips, and show forth to others
less favored "the light that is within
you."
Remember, too, that there are many
to whom oven tho semblance of tho
Christmas spirit may be unknown.
There will be many, many places into
Drakt's Ralmitto Wini.
A trial bottle Is sent propaid.froo or cWJg;
to every reador of this paper who has owww
Stomach Trouble, Flatulenoy. Oowtlpatiog
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One dose a day relieves immediately, cures u
aolutely. builds up tho nervous system wmpj
motes & career, purer and richer blood supPJg
Seventy-flvo cents at Druir StoresJor a wrc
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this paper who. needs medioino will be supp
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aula Company, Drake BuUdlns. Chicago, x