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About The Columbus journal. (Columbus, Neb.) 1874-1911 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 28, 1904)
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Tn& c. lodting-wp. 6bldXisir cnouncS OhettKinyt 3o kbmogt Iwie come from ofcr- Snc cown for CJhrttttnJtt tScoven toou Ohrougti mcaMmeU.a atct-f fneir uidc coot, Hc cross is or? corrfi, ooll n earlfi it chSM Sao brijtRr far- fKt funlhint put our Urn tigttt WWch made. xght a day and made day oa night. --r - 0nr come again and oil n sfTaM hawB ccortcd JS3 itaarmsiare o u!dc os tX(7crtromfncflar. JSr4fcfaTa J Cfecrssw W30rfTOTr: tJ?3rM VEiC JC t "And lo. the star which they saw I l Oie cast went before them." wins- I pered the boy, gazing upward at its IMire white light in the hush of the Holy Night. "But mankind." said the old man. adly. "has not followed. In all the I Christmas eves since it looked on the , hftherds in that field of Uethlcliem. ' H has looked on men doing evil home- j wSkt.' to their fellows. Its light has Ikvii dimmed by the lig'.its from camp tires of armies and from l'.ames of Imriiiiig cities. I am ol.l. an.l it is , weary waiting for the fulfillment of I the promise." ! "The htar is beautiful and splendid," aid the boy with shining eyes. "Undimmed I shine." said the Star. "And He in whose sight a thousand years are but a day sets mankind look toward me every year with new in telligence and love. Ages have passed and other ages still must be before the Word shall be fulfilled. But every Christmas eve I shine upon a world that lias moved forward step by step." Greater grew the radiance of the Star, until the world sank away, and still and pure it shone over Jerusalem. Whose calm and faithful eyes are these that look toward it from a cell? 8tepben lies there, soon to be taken to the city wall and stoned to death. Again it shines upon the Holy Citj-, tirrcunded now by a Roman array nder Titus. Before another Christ Mas eve. Jerusalem shall be no more. The temple of the Most High shall fce razed and Titns leave nothing on - M STAR IN THE EAST Wondrous Story of the Centuries That It Told to the Boy Who Gazed at It. set. she is a hopelc.-s wreck on the rorks of the beautiful island. The Star is to see many cruel things in the Xew World alter that. Its serene beam shines On iloniciima in 1.119. a prisoner in the bloody hands of Cortex. It shines on Cortex again with his men in the no.t Christmas eve. lying before Tezcuco. which he is to enter and plunder before the end of the week. On the Christmas eve of 1329 and for ten Christmas eves thereafter the Star looks on an American Odyssey. It is the Odyssey of Alvar Nunez and his three companions, sole survivors of the expedition of Pamfilo de Nar vaez. wandering along the northern coast of Mexico, through Texas, to the Rocky Mountains, and thence to Mexico, trying to find a way to take them back to Spain. They spend one Christmas eve in being worshiped as demigods by a tribe of Indians. They spend many others in working as slaves. Twelve years later the Star shines on Hernando de Soto, lying in camp ine cnicKasaw in i no rnirKnuir pnnntn- i :.- i. Mount Moriah save a little hean of! ..i -,. ' - .. j iwui -"'im nu away irom nis wne. tne beautiful Dona Isabella, and ! he is never to sec her again. The Star looks down upon him in lo41 rums And again there is a Christmas eve. Sik hundred years have passed. The Christian world has fallen far away from the Sermon on the Mount. Hatred and intolerance have dis torted the cause of Christ into a cause for shedding of blood from Bethlehem o the far isles of Great Britain. Christmas eve. S00 A. D. and Rome b ce!ebrating the Holy Xight with wonderful splendor. Princes and war "r'ors and priests throng its streets. IS real est prince of them all. before whom even the mighty Charlemagne VjWK'is the "Bishop of Rome. Leo III. TJii is a Christmas eve destined to irt:rc than any otber Christmas eve hi many centuries that have been or that aro to come, to change the his tory of the world. For to-night Char lemagne and his magnificent court luve agreed with the bishop that on Cluistmas day Charlemagne is to be crowned Augustus. Emperor of the West and Protector of Rome. The Holy Roman Empire has begun. Shining for the first time on Christ nae in the New World, in 1492, the Star sees, Columbus and his crew turn toward it from their small craft as hc roll In the great blue serges of the tropical ocean off the coast of Hajrti. It may be that there is too atach Christmas ere cheer aboard' the MU Maria. For before the Sr has near me .Mississippi, with his great expedition scattered and all but de stroyed, but the dauntless heart of him brave and nnfearing. Chrismas eve. 1542. finds no such person as Her nando de Soto. Captain General of Cu ba, Adclantado of Florida, on earth. In 15C7 the Star sees a gathering in Antwerp. It is a terrible gathering that conceives a thought of inhuman wickedness and ferocity. Yet out of this Christmas meeting shall a great freedom be born. For it is that of The Spanish rulers in the Netherlands, and at it is adopted the decree of the Inquisition thai condemns all the in habitants, ot the Netherlands, with but few exceptions, to death. And the War of Liberation fellows. It is the first to break the cruel and deadening power of Spain. In the New World the Star looks on the colonists of Jamestown stealing out on Christmas eve. in 1007. to get corn from the Indians by strategy Two years later, Christmas eve sees them suffering grievously for food again. Anno Domini 1C20. and the Pilgrim Fathers rest from their labor of build ing the settlement which they have begun that morning. Christmas eve, 1675 and 1C7C, sees ' MbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbI moslakdBF B ilkMaTtJaBBKP M. X&War3 mHaJ-VVBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBf flaH l4!7sBBBBBBBBBBBBBBE9BBBf J I ' bbbbbtTRPbbbbbbbbbbV" VbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbtI f Ear .BUM j....Mt BBBBBY 'VBBBBI .bbbbbbbbbV BBBBBr 'bbbbv bbbbbbbT' j 'bbbKbbbbbbbbV BBBBV . BBBBTBBBBBBBBW BBBJ - affaPOTr BBBWlaffaWlPr--- :v 7M. - . . . war in the New World. In the first year the New Englanders, instead ot gathering around sociable fireplaces, are abroad, driving before them the remnants of the Wampanoag Indians, whom they have defeated in a great battle near Narragansett bay; and in 1C7C the French aro taking r-a,-, in Giana, after a stubborn siege. In 1CSC the Star shines on grim and moody faces in the town of New York. Sir Edmond Andross. the first royal governor and vice-regent of New Eng land, has just arrived and is making a rearing Christmas eve of it. Two years afterward the Star gleams on his royal master, James II., spending his Christmas eve in the French court, a fugitive driven from his throne in England. Sitting with a few companions by a camp fire in the primeval wilderness of Pennsylvania, a young surveyor looks up at it in 1753. He is George Washington, nine days journey on his way home from Lake Erie, where he has been to carry a message to the commander of the French that will end finally in the French and Indian war. Indians are prowling on his path that night.' but he looks as serenely at the Star of Bethlehem as if h were gazing at it from his home in Virginia. Fourteen years later, two other young surveyors pass a similar Christ mas eve in the wilderness. They are not to become so famous personally as that other surveyor, but their names are destined to be linked for ever with a great cause. They are Mason and Dixon, sitting under the Star at the end of their trail. They have reached a warpath and the In dians have forced them to stop thirty six miles from their objective point. But they have practically run their line and they finish it on Dec. 2C. Christmas eve, 1773. and there are bands and flying banners in Boston. Young and old. mechanics and royster- ers ana citizens oi suustance, are marching together. Singing "God Save the King." they head straight for the wharves, where two- teaships are lying. Some of the chests go over board, still to the accompaniment of the loyal tune. The others are left on the ships, but the vessels are forced to return home without unloading. Lieut. John Paul Jones, in his new uniform and clothed in his three-day-old dignity as member of the Corps of Naval Officers appointed by Con gress, swaggers around proudly on Christmas eve in Philadelphia in 1775. Anno Domini 177C sees 24.000 men crossing the ice-covered Delaware. And in 1777 the Star shines on Val ley Forge, where men sit around piti able fires in rags penniless, hungry, freezing, but unfaltering. Christmas eve. 1783, George Wash ington has surrendered his commis sion the day before. For the first time in seven years, he looks up to the Star without heavy care. " New Year's Day has been a day of ceremony and rejoicing for a grea many centuries in the world's history. Its origin is traced back to the Roman festival of Janus, after the establish ment of the empire. The old Romans divided the ear into ten months only. Numa Pompilius added January ana February-, and dedicated the former to lanus, 713 B. C. ' Tis !)! The two-faced Janus comes In view: Wi'd hyacinths his robe adorn. And suniliops. rivals of the morn. H spurns the goal aside. uut sirwes upon the new-emerging vear with prid And now unlocks, with nsrate key. The ruby gate of orient day." On this day the Roman consuls, fol lowed by the court, went to th. can Hal, all gorgeously appareled, when they sacrificed two white bulls, never yoked, to Jupiter Capitolinus. The Druids observed New Year with great pomp and ceremon One fea ture of their ceremonies was the dis tribution of the mistletoe among lho people on New Year's eve. The priests went in annual procession, on In some of the country districts of me aiAuii uuj ui me moon nearest the England old customs are still obscrv New Year, wearing white robes and ed. On New Year's eve. at midnight bearing a golden sickle with which to the last of the Christmas caro's 's detach the sacred parasite from the I sung, outside of the house, by the tree. So much did they esteem it tint yourg people, then there is a rush fo it was carried in a white cloth, it the nearest spring, and the first one must be cut from the divine oak. m ' who fills his or her glass gets what the forest dedicated to the gods. The ' they call the "cream of the well." and apple tree mistletoe, used in England. I will be the most fortunate during the is a different thing altogether. We coming year. all remember the mythological story in the early hours of the morning, a of Eneas, who. when descending to , funeral is held, at some public houses. Avernus. was compelled to take with , over "old Tom" (as the old year is him a branch of this plant to Proser- called), when the boys parade the light face that Never Miod the Old Times. ever nund tne old urncs; Sunn'? ?re bsht an" sweet! ounny skies above you- ....! at 'our fee: tw. "TL times wear a smilin' . . .?" " iu iiurt-l, . juuti oeiter find the makes the moriiin! Never mind the old times; nC,y, Vre Stent. I know: Old friends that we loved sol whU ,,eW times hll,B the sonS of Hope here sweeter roses grow. ,?i!U belter nnd the St that makes the morula-! tlon U StantOH' in At'atUa Constltu- Among the Saxons the New Year was ushered in by friendly gifts. Later, this custom of making gifts was carried to a ruinous excess. Henry III. of England extorted costly gifts from his court. Queen Bess car ried it to such an extreme, says Dr. Drake, that her costly wardrobe and jewelry was supplied in this way. When Henry VIII. was receiving costly preserts from his courtiers, we read that honest old Latimer handed him a Bible, with some pertinent chapters marked, much to the burly king's disgust. Dr. Drake tells us that, in the six teenth century, prince and peasant alike celebrated the New Year with regularity and parade. Much was made of the wassail bowl at this season. It was carried from door to door with loud singing and merriment. The word is derived from was haile. the Saxon for "Here's to you!" an expression still in use by men in pledging each other at sun- nors. Thf rrpwnl Invlnir i : lrlul ti,o n.,o nffbo a"ni. 'l1,. ..K? ho fiddled all night while the ....v. ,..-.. . ....v. u.i...Mt. .wioaaii IJOWJ New Year's day was a great day in New York with the early Dutch set tlers. It was ushered in by the ring ing of bells and firing of guns. Wash ington Irving, in his humorous "Knick erbocker's History of New York.' gives a delightfully amusing account of the observance of New Year among these Netherlander. "The wnole com munity." he tells us, "was deluged with cherry brandy, pure Holland ana muwea ciaer; every nouse was a temple of the merry god. and many a provident vagabond was intoxicated out of pure economy, drinking liquor enough to serve him the remainder of the year." Irving dwells especially upon the great ball given at the Governor's, old Peter Stuyvesant, New Year's night "when the good Peter was devoutly observant of the pious rite of kissing all the womenkind for a Happy New Year." On this day the governor also dis tributed fiddles to. the old negroes young peop'.e danced. Under Peter was in stituted "quilting bees." "husking bees," and other rural assemblages, where, under the inspiring influence of the fiddles, toil was enlivened by gayety and followed by a dance. The governor did not approve of the short skirts worn by the ladies and ordered a ruffle put at the bottom ot them. He likewise disapproved ot some of their steps in dancing, and ordered that no other step should be taken but the "shuffle and turn." and the "double trouble." The custom of New Year's calling The Joyous New Year pHJAi?Tep? Beneath the mistletoe she stood, jfjhe maid who owns my heart). And though I longed in lovesick mood I dared not play my part. But while I lingered there (forlorn) . A change came o'er the maid As if some pain did through her shoot, She cried out sore afraid : "Oh! something in my hair has caught. Come rescue me, I pray!" 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BlWjti W ?'KV BVBBBBBBfSJBbBBBlBBBBBBaBBlHHBlBBBBI Eccentric Colonel Burke. "Yes." said Gen. Coates. "I knew Col. Martin Burke, who was in com mand at Fort Lafayette when prison ers therein quartered made the fort and the commander subjects of coa tioversy. Apart from any controversy. Col. Burke was an interesting person ality and an old character. I remem ber him as one of the old school army officers given to some eccentricities that made me smile then and often cause me to smile now. He occupied a trying position, but he made mind ing his own business a matter of pro fessional pride, and he never would go near Washington for fear that some investigating committee would get hold of him. "The boys on duty at Fort Lafay ette had a constant reminder of the colonel's kindness of heart. He found, on occasion, a dog hurt in collision with an army wagon or a gun car riage. The dog's leg was broken, and he was in pitiable condition, and the colonel's orderly reported that he was no better than a dead dog. The colonel, however, ordered the poor lit tle beast taken to his own quarters, and in due time the dog recovered. with a supreme disregard of all mili tary regulations and proprieties. "This latter quality undoubtedly grieved the colonel, but he stood by the mischievous puppy through thick and thin, and wherever the colonel went with his traditional dignity went Sam. the puppy, with his abnormally developed bump of mischief. The colo nel always appeared on dress parade in the full dress of the old-time regu lars. and he held every man in line to a most serious cast of countenance and most dignified manner. The uni form, as Burke wore it. was queer enough to make any man smile, but Sam. at these parades, was a full comedy in himself. "He would caper about the colonel's legs, indulging in pranks that would make a horse laugh, and yet the colo nel stood there in stately pose, blind to the puppy's pranks, but watchful as to the expression on the faces of the officers and men in line. These poor fellows nearly died of suppressed laughter, and they were always won dering what Sam would do next. But whatever they expected him to do. he aiways uiu sometning else, ami no matter what he did, the colonel stood by him. "The men on duty at Fort Lafayette in the latter part of the civil war may have forgotten the most notorious pris oners held there, but I will venture to say that not one of them has forgot ten the eccentric colonel or his pa tient orderly, or the dog Sam. Those nearest the colonel testified that the orderly never showed impatience cr irritation except on one occasion. The colonel had worked late one nigM on some perplexing papers, and. halting for a moment in his work, pushed his spectacles up well on his head, in stead of taking them off. "This was his regular habit, but en tnis occasion ne pushed tne glasses back farther than usual, and when, on resuming his work, he put his hand up he found no spectacles. This was disconcerting and irritating, and he shouted. 'Orderly, orderly, come here sir!' The orderly had been sound asleep for two hours, but he jumped hp. wriggled into his clothes, and pre sented himself to his absent-minded colonel. . Burke looked him over iu disapproval of his unusual appearance and snapped out. 'My glasses. "The orderly turned on his heel without a word and in a minute placed before the colonel two glasses, a pitch er of water and a decanter. Burke looked at him in amazement and roared, 'My glasses, you fool. My spec caclcs, my spectacles!' Then the worm turned. 'Yure glasses, colonel.' said the orderly, "are on the top of your head, sor. An' ye call me from me bed to tell ye that The colonel in high dudgeon put his hand to his head, but found the glasses, and then said, 'Having found the glasses, go to bed at once. I never would have found them myself. Any reference to Hotel IJifayette. or Bastile Lafayette, or Fort Lafayette always brings to mj mind the figure of quaint but soldierlj Col. Martin Burke." Chicago Inter Ocean. uouie. carrying" with him the- large regimental flag of his organization. This flag he nailod to the dome, and there It remained until the elements whipped away the last thread of it. long before the close of the war. A storm was raised when people got up in the morning and saw the old flag flying from the dome, and many were the inquiries as to how it got there, but it was many a long year before the truth came out. The soldier who did it knew that he would be severely disciplined ir he told what he had done, and his comrades who had help ed him were loyal to him. The flag was there, and no man could be found who would take it down." New York Press. The Badge Money Cannot Buy. A heavy disk of bronze, bearing the state seal surrounded by the inscrip tion. "Department of Michigan. G. A. DBKaLraBBjMnilBHHV aUCIUQAX. R.," designates the comrades of the Michigan department. Upon the re verse appears the little bronze button surrcunded by the words. "3Sth Na tional Encampment G. A. R.. Boston." This disk is pendent from an oxidized silver pin by a cherry ribbon on which is the place and date of the national encampment in gold letters. The pin is lettered "Organized May C. 1SC8. Michigan." Their Sens in Civil War. An inquiry whether any man was living in North Carolina who had sons in the confederate army is elicit ing replies of an astonishing charac ter. A letter from Hillsboro states that James D. Daniel of Orange county, now 97. had five -sons in the confed erate army. Three of these are living. In the same township W. G. Wright is still living. SS years of age. His son. J. B. Wright, was in the confed erate army. At- the soldiers home one of the inmates named Iiunn served in the same company with two sons. There is al-o at the soldiers" home a veteran who served in the Indian war of IS.'!.", the war with Mexico and the cnil war and never received a wound, lie is 'J? years old and is active and interosted in everything. New York Herald. Point of Law Cleared Up. A decision upon a point involved in the law grarting the wile or widow ol an honorably discharged union soldiei or sailor may, if circumstances re quire, after her de'ith be provided with a funt nil at the expense of the county has recently been rendered by the attorney general. In the case con sidered the widow of a soldier at Clif ton Springs went to Mount Morris tc isit and died while there. The under taker who had charge of the burial presented his bill to the G. A. R. post at Clifton Springs. The question arose as to whether the county wherein shi had hr legal residence or the county wherein she died should pay the burial expenses. The attorney general de cided that I ivingston county, where -she died, was responsible for the bill New York Preis. Who comes dancing over the snow. His soft little feet all bare and rosy? Open the door, though the wild winds blow. Take the child in and make him cozy, Take him in and hold him dear, He is the wonderful New Year. pine. Virgil compares the golden streets, asking for presents, and sing- oough in tnese regions to this mistle- j ing toe. An old Druidical tradition was that the maiden not kissed under the mis tletoe would go husbandless all the year. "It is under this pagan mistle toe." says G'lorge William Curtis, "that the Christian youth of to-day kisses the Christian maiden." The Romans had two New Years, the sacred one, which was the 1st of .narcn, ana tne civil one ot whicn v- have just spoken, the 1st of January. The Jews had a sacred and a civil year: the former began in March or April,, the latter in September or Oc tober, varying with the lunar period. The early Greeks had no settled year; when one was finally adopted, they commenced it at the vernal equinox. The early Christians also consid ered the vernal equinox the proper time to commence the New Year. The Chinese and most Indian nations com mence the New Year with the first new moo in March, the Persians in June and the Egyptians early In' the autumn, or the first day coinciding i with the rising of UM.Oos-ftar. "I wish you a happy Xew Year, A pocket full of money And a cellar full ot beer. And a great fat pig To sere you all the year. Ladles and gentlemen, Sitting by the fire. Pity we poor boys Out In the mire." The French make a great deal of New Year. In 1654 Cnarles IX. of France decreed that in accordance witb the Roman calendar, the yer should begin on the first day of Janu ary. Christmas with them is a religious festival, but the New Year is a domes tic festival and holiday. The day com mences at an early hour, with an ex change of bonbons and visits among friends and relatives. I somewhere saw an estimate that one hundred thousand dollars was spent upon bon bons alone erery New Year's in Paris. The French revolution brought New Year's day to this great prominence. With the first empire it was one of the most brilliant festivals of the court, as it was also of the secoad em- Jplre. was very prevalent in most of the large cities of the United States for a long while, many gentlemen making as many as forty and fifty calls on that day. This custom has been gen erally discontinued except in Wash ington city. Here the presindent and wife, assisted by the wives of the cabinet members, hold a reception at the White House, all the morning. It is a most brilliant soectacle. as all the Diplomatic Corps and the army and navy are in full uniform. Both houses of Congress also pay their re spects to the chief of the nation, and then the general public are admitted Charles Lamb, one of the tenderesl of English essayists, says: "Of al sounds, of all bells, the most solemr and touching is the peal which ring; out the old year. They take a per sonal color. Not childhood alone, but the young man. till thirty, never feel practically that he is mortal. ' He tellf us that "every man bath two birth days, two days in every year whles set him apon revolving the lapse oi time as it affects nis mortal duration; his own birthday and the birthday ol the New Year." The Flsg at Washington. Our recent articles about the dis play of the United States Hag in for mer years bring out many reminis cences. Another old veteran writes: "It is a somewhat curious fact that previous to the War of the Rebellion the flag was not often seen in the national caidtol or anywhere else. I know a veteran born in Kentucky, who says he entered the service in 1861. at the age of 17 years, and until he enlisted and was mustered into the service he had never laid eyes on the flag and did not know what it looked like! A flag has been displayed over the capitol at Washington for a good many years, probably nrty. though there is no authentic record of its hav ing flown 'officially for that length of time. It is only since the war that each end of the capitol has had its own flag. During the early days of the disturbances which brought on the war of the rebellion, the one little old flag on the west front of the capitol was discontinued. 'It roused sectional feeling to see it flying there' was the somewhat treasonable reason given by the officials, whose duty it was to see that the flag was kept flying. "This reason may have seemed good to the jellyfish patriots In Wash ington who were bossing things at the capitol at that time, but it did not go with the 'First Defenders' of Pennsyl vania, the gallant little body of 500 men, who hurried to Washington on the very first train after the presidents call for men to wipe out the stain of the fall of Fort Sumter. These 'First Defenders' antedated all other troops in getting into Washington, and they camped in the basement of the capitol on the night of April 17. They asked why the national capitol displayed no colors, and were told the reason as above. This angered one of the 'First Defenders,' and be climbed the peri-' loos height of the theb calashed Battery in Reunion. The arnual reunion of the survivors of the Filth New York Independent Pattery. I.isht Artihery. was held in New York last week. The battry was organized by Capt. E. I). Tail in Brooklyn on August 15. lSflt. muster ed into the United States army Nov. 8. IV'I. ard served in the Army of the Potomac until May 19. ISC I. It then -i-rved with Gen. Sheridan in the Shen andoah Valley and was mustered out of tin service July '. IS;.". The old comrades grieted catli other on the forty-third anniersary of the muster in. Letters were read from absent comrades. Regimental Histories. Regimental histories enriched by he re:nlnic nces and documerts of surviving comrades produced under keen criticism are tie best possible foundations for an accurate history of wars. It is to be regretted that so many organizations have neglected so far to record their doings, hut recent ly there has been shown a general desire to repair the omission, and many regimental histories are appearing. Monument for Crater Battlefield. The survivors of the Forty-eighth Pennsylvania, infant ry have made plans to erect on the Crater battlefield in Prince George county, near Peters burg, a handsome granite monument to cost $7,000. The monument Is t be erected in memory of those of the regiment who fell in ihe Crater fight. It was this regiment that dug the tun nel for the irine. One Man in Company. Levi M. Poor of Augusta. Me., was in command of the smallest company for the longest time of any officer in the civil war. He was in company D of the Nineteenth Maine, and for forty-three days had only one man John' White of Belfast all the others be ing absent by sickness, death, wounds or removals. Ex Gov. Connor of Maine, who was then in command of the regiment, made him acticg- lieu tenant of the company. Veterans Passing Away. The sad news is sent out from Washington, on the authority of Pen sion Commissioner Ware, that the old soldiers are dying at the -rate of 150 a day. This is a higher rate than ever before la the history of the pen sioa bureau. " MM f i i A n t A I V ,.-.- .5 ;f . E m. - -J-qg.-'Br Mm'ui acacs s-?-
