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CHRISTMAS
eHRISTMAS is not only a mile mark of
another year, moving us to thoughts of
self-examination; it is a season, from all
Its associations, whether domestic or teligious,
•uggesting thoughts of joy. A man dissatisfied
with his endeavors is a man tempted to sadness.
And in the midst of winter, when his life runs
lowest and he is reminded of the empty chairs
of his beloved, it is well he should be condemned
*o the fashion of the smiling face.—Robert
Louis Stevenson.
* * *
MOW many old recollections and how
many dormant sympathies does the
Christmas time awaken! Happy, happy
Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions
of our childish days; that can recall to the old
man the pleasures of his youth; that can trans
port the sailor and the traveler thousands of miles
■ way, back to his own fireside and his quiet
home. Fili your glass again, with a merry face
and contented heart. Our life on it, but your
Christmas shall be merry and your New Year •
happy one.—Charles Dickens.
* + +
that as surely as in that
I lYv L?l, y lite at Bethlehem there lay the
power which has run through all the
world; the power which makes Judea burn like
a star forever; the power which has transfigured
history;.*;the power which has made millions
of men its joyous servants; the power of the
millenniums yet to be, so surely in the humblest
•oul's humble certainty that it does love Christ,
there lies enfolded all the possibility of the most
perfect sainthood.—Phillips Brooks.
+ * *
DT IS a good thing to observe Christmas Dr.y.
The mere marking of times and seasons,
when men agree to stop work and make
merry together, is a wise and wholesome custom.
It helps one to feel the supremacy of the common
life over the individual life. It reminds a man
to set his own luile watch, now and then, by the
great clock of humanity, which runs on sun
time.—Henry Van Dyke.
+ + *
SUPPOSE a note came on Christmas Day
saying not, "I send my love and Lest
wishes with thisspool-box," but, "I want
you to know that your patience, or courage, or
tenderness, during this last year, will help me
to live more bravely and courageously this year."
What a Christmas present the receipt of such a
letter would be to any one of us. What a gift
for any one of us to send to the human heart
that has given us courage for the burden and
heat of the day.—Margaret Deland.
* * *
THE season of regenerated feeling—the
season of kindling, not merely the fire of
.bov itality in the hall, but the genial
flarae o£'charity in the heart. He who can turn
■churbshfy away from contemplating the felicity
«112 hfe Id low beings, and can sit down darkling
and repining in his loneliness when all around
is joyful, may have his moments of selfish grati
fication, but h? wants the genial and social
sympathies which constitute the charm of a
■Merry Christmas.—Washington Irving.
¥ M ¥
MY CHRISTMAS wish for all is thai
they may tasle the sweetness of love,
enter into the joys of friendship, and
«"ow the div:ns beneficence of helping someone
at present less forPunaie than themselves. In
these words are we to find the living spirit of
the human and eternal Christmas. The uni
versal gladness of Christmas is proportioned to
til- extent of i'.s unselfishness. People are happy,
Oot in what tli:ry get so much as in what they
give.—Minot J. Savage.
* * +
HND there were in the same country shep
herds abiding in the field, keeping watch
over their flock by night. And 10, the
angel of the I-ord came upon thorn, and the glory
of the Lord shone around about them, and they
were sore afraid. And the angel said unto therii:
"Fear not, for behold I bring you good tidings of
great joy which shall be to all people. For unto
you is born this day in the city of David, a
Savior, which is Christ the Lord."—From the
Gospel of St. Luke,
* ¥ +
SANTA CLAUS remains, by virtue of
a common understanding that childhood
shall not be despoiled of one of its
most cherished beliefs, either by the mythologist,
with his sun myth theory, or the scientist, with
his heartless diatribe against superstitions. He
who docs not see in the legend of Santa Claus a
beautiful faith on the one side, and the native
embodiment of a divine fact on the other, is not
fit to have a place at the Christmas board. —
Hamilton Wright Mabie.
The Christmas Tree.
Every time I see a Christmas tree
studded with electric lights, garlands
of tinsel gold festooning every branch,
and hung with the hundred costly
knicknacks the storekeepers invent
year by year "to make trade," until
the tree Itself disappears entirely un
der its burden, I have a feeling that
fraud has been practiced on the kind
ly spirit of Yale. Wax candles are
the only real thing for a Christmas
tree, candles of wax that mingle their
perfume with that of the burning fir,
not the by-product of some coal-oil or
other abomination. What if the
boughs do catch fire? They can be
watched, and too many candles are
tawdry, anyhow. Also, red apples,
oranges and old-fashioned cornucopias
made of colored paper, and made at
home, look a hundred times better and
fitter in the green; and so do drums
and toy trumpets and wald-horns, and
a rocking horse reined up in front that
need not have cost $10; or anything
like it.—Jacob Iliis in Century. :
A Cure for All Evils.
In certain parts of Worcestershire
and Staffordshire; in England, the idaa
prevails that a silver coin from the
Christmas morning offertory is a sov
ereign remedy for any ill that human
flesh is heir to. Accordingly, any
householder who happens to have an
ailing child or other person in the
house hies him to the clergyman of
the parish on Christmas morning, and
asks as a favor a sacrament shilling.
The coin given in exchange has to be
obtained by collecting a dozen pennies
from as many different maidens, and
then changing the coppers fo- a silver
shilling. For this coin the applicant
receives the coveted sacrament shil
ling, which, on being taken home, is
hung round the ailing one's neck, and
is fjopularly supposed to effect a rapid
and complete cure of the complaint,
no matter what it may be.
Where the Toys Are Made.
In Germany whole villages are de
voted to the production of Christmas
toys, and their busiest time is just
about midsummer. By the end of Au
gust the receiving depots are crammed
with Christmas clowns and Christmas
mechanical puppets, Christmas drums
and wooden horses —children's Christ
mas presents, in fact, of all sorts and
kinds. And the travelers start out
east, west, north and south with their
Christmas samples about the time the
corn is ready for the sickles of the
reapers. In Holland; too, where more
than one town is devoted, more or
less, t*> the making of Christmas dolls,
the same rule holds good. During
May, June, July and August every
m-an, woman and child in these places
seem in somp way to be occupied with
the manufacture'of miniature babies.
Even at school during these particular
months the sewing lessons are taken
with dolls' clothes for models.
CAMERON COUNTY PRESS, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1909.
GETTING^^
>■*/'■' c_j£3^
* TTiEODO&E JSOO<SEVJSI7
©NE DECEMBER, while I
was out on my ranch, so
much work had to be done
that it was within a week
of Christmas before we
were able to take any
thought for the Christmas dinner. The
winter set in late that year, and there
ha*l been comparatively little cold
weather, but one day the Ice on the
river had been sufficiently strong to
enable us to haul up a wagonload of
flour, with enough salt pork to last
through the winter, and a very few
tins of canned goods, to be used at
special feasts. We had some bushels
of potatoes, the heroic victors of a
struggle for existence in which the
reet of our garden vegetables had suc
cumbed to drought, frost and grass
hoppers; and we also had some wild
plums and dried elk venison. But we
had no fresh meat, and so one day my
foreman and I agreed to make a hunt
on the morrow.
Accordingly one of the cowboys
rode out in the frosty afternoon to
fetch in the saddleband from the pla
teau three miles off, where they were
grazing. It was after sunset when he
returned.
It was necessary to got to the hunt
ing grounds by sunrise, and it still
lacked a couple of hours of dawn when
the foreman wakened me as I lay
asleep beneath the buffalo robes.
Dressing hurriedly and breakfasting
on a cup of coffee and some mouth
fuls of bread and jerked elk meat,
we slipped out to the barn, threw the
saddles on the horses, and were off.
The air was bitterly chill; the cold
had been severe for two days, so that
the river ice would again bear horses.
Beneath the light covering of pow
dery snow we could feel the rough
ground like wrinkled iron under the
horses' hoofs. There was no moon,
but the stars shone beautifully down
through the cold, clear air, and our
willing horses galloped swiftly across
the long bottom on which the ranch
house stood, threading their way deft
ly among the clumps of sagebrush.
A mHe off we crossed the river, the
ice cracking with noises like pistol
shots as our horses picked their way
gingerly over it. On the opposite
side was a dense jungle of bull-berry
bushes, and on breaking through this
we found ourselves galloping up a
long, winding valley, which led back
many miles into the hills. The cran
nies and little side ravines were filled
with brushwood and groves of stunt
ed ash. By this time there was a
faint flush of gray in the east, and as
we rode silently along we could make
out dimly the tracks made by the wild
animals as they had passed and re
passed in the snow. Several times
we dismounted to examine them. A
We Dismounted to Examine Them.
couple of coyotes, possibly frightened
by our approach, had trotted and
loped up the valley ahead of us, leav
ing a trail like that of two dogs; the
sharper, more delicate footprints of a
fox crossed our path; and outside one
long patch of brushwood a series of
round imprints in the snow betrayed
where a bob-cat —as plainsmen term
tlfe small lynx—had been lurking
around to try to pick up a rabbit or
a prairie fowl;
As the dawn reddened, and it be
came light ebougl) to objects some
little way off. we began to sit erect
in our saddles and to scan the hill
sides sharply for sight of feeding deer.
Hitherto we had seen no deer tracks
sav# inside the bullberry bushes by
the river, and we knew that the deer
that lived in that impenetrable jun
gle were cunning whiteta;ils which in
such a place could be hunted only by
aid of a hound. But just before sun
rise we came on three lines of heart
shaped footmarks In the snow, which
showed where as many deer had just
crossed a little plain ahead of us.
They were walking leisurely, and from
the lay of the land we believed that
we should find them over the ridge,
where there was a brush coulee.
Riding to one side of the trail, we
topped the little ridge Just as the sun
flamed up, a burning ball of crimson,
beyond the snowy waste at our backs.
Almost immediately afterwards my
companion leaped from his horse and
Turning to Go Into the Log House.
raised his rifle, and as he pulled the
trigger I saw through the twigs of a
brush patch on our left the erect,
startled head of a young black-tailed
doe as she turned to look at us, her
great mule-like ears thrown forward.
The ball broke her neck, and she
turned a complete somersault down
hill, while a sudden smashing of un
derbrush told of the Sight of her ter
rified companions.
We both laughed and called out
"dinner" as we sprang down toward
s.her, and in a few minutes she was
dressed and hung up by the hind legs
on a small ash tree. The entrails
and viscera we threw off to one side,
nfter carefully poisoning them from
a little bottle of strychnine which I
had In my pocket. Almost every cat
tleman carries iicison and neglects no
chance of leaving out wolf bait, for
the"wolves are sources of serious loss
to the unfenced and unhoused flocks
and herds. In this instance we felt
particularly revengeful because it
was but a few days since we had lost
a fine yearling heifer. The tracks
on the hillside where the carcass lay
when we found it told the story
plainly. The wolves, two in number,
had crept up close before being dis
covered, and had then raced down on
the astounded heifer almost before
she could get fairly started. One
brute had hamstrung her with a snap
of his vise-like jaws, and once down,
she was torn open in a twinkling.
No sooner was the sun up than a
warm west wind began to blow In our
faces. The weather had suddenly
changed, and within an hour the snow
was beginning to thaw and to leave
patches of bare ground on the hill
sides. We left our coats with our
horses and struck off on foot for a
group of high buttes cut up by the
cedar canyons and gorges, in which
we knew the old bucks loved to lie.
It was noon before we saw anything
more. We lunched at a clear spring
—not needing much time, for all we
had to do was to drink a draught of
icy water and munch a strip of dried
venison. Shortly afterward, as we
were moving along a hillside with si
lent caution, we came to a sheer can
yon of which the opposite face was
broken by little ledges grown up with
wind-beaten cedars. As we peeped
over the edge, my companion touched
my arm and pointed silently to one
of the ledges, and instantly I caught
the glint of a buck's horns as he lay
half behind an old tree trunk. A
slight shift of position gave me a
fair shot slanting down between his
shoulders, and though he struggled to
his feet he did not go GO yards after
receiving the bullet.
This was all we could carry. Lead
ing the horses around we packed the
buck behind my companion's saddle,
and then rode back for the doe, which
I put behind mine. But we were not
destined to reach home without a
slight adventure. When we got to
the river we rode boldly on the ice,
heedless of the thaw; and about mid
way there was a sudden, tremendous
crash, and men, horses and deer were
scrambling together in the water amid
slabs of floating ice. However, it was
shallow and no worse results followed
than some hard work and a chilly
bath. But what cared we? We were
returning triumphant with our Christ
mas dinner. • -
Death-and
A Vision at Christmas
By CLINTON DANGERFIELD
BN THE early days of men the Lord
sent two powers on earth to have
dominion over them. One of these
was Death —the other Life.
The stern front of Life showed
what he really was: unmerciful,
exacting, swift to demand obedience
to a thousand laws, swift to punish
with the keen sword of pain when
those laws were broken.
His eyes were the eyes of a war
lord; his hand as cold as iron—and as
strong.
The tasks he set were many. Few
of these were to the liking of the chil
dren of men, though some thinkers
perceived that out of these heavy
tasks came strength, also that if one
wrestled with them stoutly one might
even master Life himself and compel
him to graciousness.
Now the other power—Death—was
a woman.
Tall she was, but so perfectly
formed that her height was no blem
ish.'- Sleepy-eyed she was, but her
slow, sweet smile was so infinitely
tender and lovely that in the midst of
their tasks men stopped to gaze on
her as she passed.
At last one of the young men fol
lowed her. She spoke to him—her
voice being that unspeakable music
which not even a violin can outsing—
and the young man returned into the
fields of Life no more.
Then a little child, weary of flower
gathering, pulled at her garment's
hem, and all the workers held their
breath, waiting to see what Death
would do; for Life had painted her In
very evil colors.
Dut Death lifted the child and laid
her on her own deep bosom and sang
to her.
As she sang the child slept, and an
exquisite smile lingered on its lips, as
though its visions were very fair.
Then Death held out the child that
the workers might see, and cried;
"Oh, ye who labor, beset with un
ending toil, see ye how I have blessed
the child? Never more shall the heat
of summer vex her, nor the cold of
winter! I have made her deaf to sor
row and unmoved by the vibrations ye
call joy. Forever shall her brow go
unwrinkled, and because she hath
chosen me I will give her the key to
Heaven's Immortal gates."
And a workef cried:
"Ye have blessed the child because
she was your chosen one?"
The cry was a question.
Said Death dreamily:
"As I gave the child peace, so would
I give it to all who come to me—
trusting me wholly!"
Looking out across the blazing
fields she stretched her rounded arms
and cried: "Ye are all mlna! Lover
of souls ara I!"
And with one accord they threw
down their tools and followed her Into
a far land, beyond the domain of Life.
Now Life was vexed exceedingly by
the unfinished task. He went straight
at/a ar^
And swings*
But Just as
A stranger |a Xri^
And ere goople>KD
The stranger lifts up
"These ar<^bri\^p'g : ~m?bN^r S fe^land^^ =^^r ,
'"Are wholly illegal. lJoTy^iuMn- **
The laws alVjoe ob§y»cC\'^
And you go QjV/liil is jbaid. YJJ, - )/;
Don't try to evade it, truVhyto 'J
A smuggler you'll be gloomy
Poor Santa was tahen abacK by this-news \§T
And trembled with wrath from his cap to his snq^s—
.'What's this?" he exclaimed. "Can Ktrust my own ears 7
I've been doing this for these hundreds of years. •«.«•<" •
I've been bringing gladness to girls and to bbys—
Stand bacft. I mustWelKa thrimltAair dolls and their toys." \
Alas! In a
Seized could cease
They PjaPl tik>h him away—
And
he
Because tariff had never _ ||^|
way to the Lord and complained how
Death had led away part of his work
ers.
And the Lord sent a ftreat white
angel unto the remainder and forbade
them, through the angel, to hearken
unto Death until they could serve Life
no longer.
For the Lord knew that the stern
dominion of Life must be, for the sake
of the men he hoped to complete.
But only a few, a very few, of the
children of men obeyed the angel. Let '
Death but pass the toilers, and her
beauty was so great they continued to
desert their posts and follow after
her.
Then Life cried unto the Lord witb :
a great voice:
"Death seduces my servants!"
And the Lord said:
"Deal with Death as thou wilt." ;
Therefore Life seized on Deatfc an 4 (
cut away her perfumed locks, and put '•
on her a painted mask, most hideoue
to behold. And he sealed the lips of ,
Death, saying, "Be thou dumb, and b*
thou no longer known as a woman."
With this he cast over Death's won
derful form a black mantle, like a pa«,
and on it Life painted:
"This is the King of Terrors."
Then he sent Death forth, and there- .
after whenever she came near the
workers they fled from her and cried
aloud unto Life: •
"Matters not how hard thy taska, oil
dear Life, if thou wilt but save ue
from this frightful Death!"
And Life said unto the Lord:
"Have I not done well?"
And he answered in exceeding soit
row:
"Needs must thy work on Death
stand. And this because of the weak
ness of men who were seduced by her
beauty and who heeded not my an
gel's voice. Yet very differently had
I planned for my people. For in the
beginning I set the loveliness of Death
plainly before them, that they might
endure their tasks happily, knowing
how sweet the end would be. But
they have defeated my wisdom. On
their own heads be it!"
And Life went his way, satisfied.
Thereafter, when a child or man be
came useless to him he cast it into
the arms of Death, because its task
was finished.
And the soul of Death sang to the
soul of the mortal given her, thougb
her lips were dumb, and she blessed it
with an infinite blessing and bore it
away.
But the tollers mourned greatly that
Death should have dominion over one
of their number, and they turned the
more desperately to Life, who smiled
sternly and was content.
(Copyrighted.)
A Christmas Hymn.
O Christ, upon whose natal morn
Rejoicing angels sar.g,
When o'er the blue Judean hills
Their heavenly anthems rang!
O Christ, to whom with gifts from (aw
Came shepherd, sage and king,
Our choicest gifts on this glad morn,
Our hearts, we humbly bring!
Grant us to follow Thee In love,
Nor from Thy path to stray.
Thy blessed feet have gone befor*
And glorified the way.
We Join the angel choirs that sing
This happy morn again.
"Glory to God. the Lord Most High,
Good-will and peace to men!"
—Martha C. Hows.
17