wu gr
*
I Saw the Madonna Today
by Rev. Rarrx WEATHERLY
She was standing above her children in a little house
where there is stark poverty but great self-nespect, and
a dignity of the righteous poor. The children wene thinly
dressed but they huddled together in affection. Beside
them was a quiet, strong father. This man loves his
‘wifes she honors him in all his struggle to keep the family
warm and fed. No money, mo decorations save a little
tree and some simple things,—but the riches of valiant
end true hearts.
He smiled at me in natural courtesy.. But her smile
‘over her children I shall mever forget. It was a flashing
smile that has cheered others worse off than they. .It was
a smile of piety, for the little family kneels each might,
in prayer to the God who feeds thie birds around the hills.
It was a smile of strength . . . for the years ahead. Above
all, it was a smile because of babies given her by God;—
a proud and happy, flashing joy.
I turned away thinking of all the lovely women I owe
so much to, on this, Mother's Night. ;
I saw the Madonna today.
To all we extend
warmest greetings
and best wishes.
HUSTON’S
FEED SERVICE
FERNBROOK
OR 4-6191
Local Boys On Kitty Hawk
Lloyd M. Bishop, USN, and John
B. Bishop, seaman, USN, song of Mr.
and Mrs. Allen Bishop, Dallas, R. D.
2, and Robert F. Palmer, guided
missileman seaman, USN, son of Mr.
and Mrs. Ogden Palmer, 34 Grove
St., Trucksville, are serving aboard
the attack aircraft carrier USS Kitty
Hawk, operating with the First Fleet
out of San Diego, Calif.
Commissioned last April, the Kitty
Hawk is the first ‘carrier in the
world to be armed entirely with
guided missiles,
To keep a small boy out of the
cookie box, lock it and hide the
key under a cake of soap.
HIS MAY BE the post office’s
biggest Christmas. The post-
master . general = estimates that
more Christmas mafl—packages
and cards—will be handled in 1952
than in any previous year. With
this in mind, the post office de-
partment has hired extra employ-
ees and arranged for use of extra
trucks for the holiday period.
The post office is Santa Claus’
good right arm. It delivers. gifts
and greetings throughout the
world, and it will do. its: best to
get them there by December. 25—if
they are mailed on time.
Much Christmas mail going ov-
erseas is handled in cooperation
with the postal systems of other
nations. But in the United States
and its possessions, in U. S.-
trusteed islands in the Pacific and
among TU. S. servicemen in. all
parts of the world, delivery of
holiday greetings ‘is strictly a
United States affair..
The army takes over, through its
army post. office, for’ troops. serv-
ing outside the United States, be
they in Germany, ‘Korea, or some-
where on the way.
Best known special Christmas
business done by any ‘post. office
is that of Santa Claus, Indiana.
HOLY GLASS . . . This stained
window is in the church of
Oberndorf, Germany, where’ the
beloved Christmas carol, ‘ ‘Silent
Night, Holy Night,” was first
sung.
We want to wish all our good friends and neighbors ea
Very Merry Christmas . . .
your memories. We hope, too,
all of wus peace and prosperity.
one that will linger long in
the New Year will bring
LUMBER (%]
—~B&P £. CENTER STREET.
)
THE DALLAS POST, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1961
by permission of Robert Keith Leavitt
On the morning before the Christmas that fell when
1 was six, my father took my brother and me for a walk
in the Old Colony town where we lived. Three times as
we walked he stopped, and cut small balsam trees: a very
tiny one, hardly more than a seedling; a small one a foot
or so high; and a youthful one of perhaps four feet. So
we each had a tree to bear, flag-like, back to the house.
It didn’t occur to us single-minded larvae that this had
the least connection with Christmas. Our father was a
botanist Ph.D., given to plucking all manner of specimens
‘whenever we walked, with the offhand explanation, “A
fine Tsuga canadensis,” or whatever it was, By nightfall
we had forgotten all about the walk.
For this was Christmas Eve, and we were suddenly in
a panic. Where was THE TREE? On experience, we
knew that it was usually delivered in the morning, that
Father .set it up in the afternoon, and that Mother
trimmed it at night, letting us help with the ornaments
before she put us to bed in a fever of anticipation. But
this year we had seen no tree arrive; look where we
would, we could not find one; and even Mother turned
aside our questions. Would there be no tree? Would
there, perhaps, be no Christmas at all for us? How we
wished, now, that we had not put the cat in the milk-pail!
But after supper, Father and Mother took us into the
sitting room. In a cleared corner over by the big closet
stood a jar of earth. “Christmas,” said Father, ‘“‘is a day
of miracles, to remind us of the greatest Miracle of all.
Perhaps we shall see one.” Then Mother led us out,
. closing the door on Father and the jar of earth.
“We can help,” she said, “by learning this song.”
And she began softly, but very true, ‘Oh Little Town of
Bethlehem.” We tried hard, in our shrill way. But even
Mother had to admit it was only a good try. Yet when
the door opened and we went again into the sitting-room,
behold! A tiny Tree had appeared in the jar of earth!
Hardly more than a seedling, to be sure, and not old
enough yet to bear ornaments, but indubitably a Tree.
Marvelling, we went out again.
This time we did better — on the words, if not the
tune. And when we reentered the sitting-room, the Tree
had grown — to perhaps a foot or so in height! A blaze
of hope flashed upon us. We went out and tried harder
on that song. And sure enough, this time the Tree was
taller than either boy. Terrific! We could hardly wait
to get outside and sing some more with Mother. For now
hope was a rapture of certainty.
To this day, I cannot hear O Little Town of Bethle-
hem, from however cracked a curbside organ, without
hearing through it and beyond it the clear, true voice of
my mother. Nor hear that long-vanished sweetness with-
out knowing that presently, somewhere, somehow, a great
door is going to open and disclose unearthly beauty. It
is more than fifty years since our sitting-room door
swung back for the fourth time, that night in the Old
Colony of Massachusetts, But I can still see, sharp as
life, the splendor of the Tree that towered to the ceiling
in its glossy dark green, sparkling with silver tinsel, glow-
ing with candles, and half hiding in its crisp, fragrant
needles, the incomparable perfection of spheres that shone
Tes far-off other worlds, red and blue and green and
gold....... )
Cynics say that miracles are all man-made — con-
trived, like a Christmas tree hidden in a closet and flashed
upon wondering kids. That even the Christmas spirit is
only a spell we work up to bemuse one another — and
then fall for, ourselves, like so many simple children.
What of it? So much the better! If mankind, by its
own devoted labor, can induce in itself—if only for a day
— an all-pervading spirit of friendship and cheer and
good will and loving kindness, that alone is a very great
miracle. It is the kind of miracle that must please above
all others Him who knows how miracles are wrought,
* XK XK kk ¥ Xx Xx x
Thank you, Mr. Leavitt, for writing such a beautiful thing, and
for giving me permission to use it. It has been several years since
I received the Christmas card. I hope you have not forgotten!
hix
THE CHRISTMAS MIRACLE
New Lighting Rules In State For All Slow Vehicles
State Secretary of Revenue Char-
les M. Dougherty has announced
adoption’ of new lighting regula-
tions for slow-moving vehicles such
as horse-drawn buggies, farm trac-
tors, and boat trailers traveling
Pennsylvania’s highways after dark.
The regulations were drawn up in
compliance with a 1961 State law
authorizing the Secretary to “adopt
lighting standards . . . where such
standards did not previously exist.”
The new requirements -— all of
which are presently in effect — ap-
ply to animal-drawn vehicles, wag-
ons, tractors, and agricultural ma-
chinery as well as non-farm con-
struction equipment, boat and utili-
ty trailers, and miniature auto-
mobiles,
Commenting on the lighting
regulations, Commissioner of Traf-
fic Safety O. D. Shipley said:
“The danger of unlighted or in-
adequately lighted vehicles of odd
types, shapes, or sizes moving over
our roads after dark has long been
recognized. The new standards will
help protect the lives and property
of farmers and other operators of
such vehicles as well as the lives
of motorists.”
A key provision of the new
regulations states that every re-
quired lamp must be lighted by
electricity supplied by a wet-cell
storage battery or by an electrical
generating system, or both.
“Careful testing and research has
shown that over the long run a
wet-cell battery is the most reliable
and least costly power source for
vehicle lighting purposes, when a
regular generating system is not
available,” Commissioner Shipley
stated.
The new standards require that
buggies and other animal-drawn
vehicles be equipped with reflectors
and lamps which signal a turm and
can flash simultaneously as a haz-
ard warning. A double-faced haz-
ard light located on each side of the
vehicle can be substituted for the
two pairs of front and rear lamps.
Self-propelled vehicles such as
tractors must also have hazard
warning lamps as well as head and
tail lights and reflectors.
A boat, utility, or other non-
commercial trailer or semi-trailer
drawn by a motor vehicle must be
equipped with reflectors, tail lights,
and turn signal lights on the rear.
ety
May Your Christmas be Merry
and
Your New Year bright as a
/ dancer’s delight
5
a bb bab bt ab baba
A Np 2 we
Xmas Tourists
Come To State
More out-of-state residents will
spend the 1961 Christmas season in
Pennsylvania than ever before, the
Pennsylvania Department of Com-
merce says.
The reasons they come are many.
First, Pennsylvania is the home of
Bethlehem, America’s Christmas
city, with its huge star of Bethle-
hem, its glittering Christmas lights,
the putz displays and Moravian
caroling.
Pennsylvania is the spot (Wash-
ington Crossing) from which
George Washington on Christmas
Eve crossed the Delaware River and
also the site (Valley Forge) where
he and his tiny army spent the
winter of 1777-78.
It's the home of Indiana,
“Christmas Tree Capitol of the Na-
tion,” and its colorful “Santa
Claus Boulevard.” It’s the home of
Berwick, noted for its fetching
array of Christmas displays and
decorations.
It’s the home of the Christmas-
town Railroad in Pittsburgh’s Buhl
Planetarium where 10 trains speed
through a miniature countryside,
portraying “American Heritage.”
The amazing display, built by one
man, fills the entire South Gallery
of the Planetarium.
It’s the home of Smethport, far
to the north in the “land of 10,000
mountains,” and the Johnson
Christmas displays — each hand-
crafted, hand-painted, life-size, and
many motorized.
It's the home of Philadelphia,
America’s birthplace, which attracts
Christmas visitors to its multitude
of Yule displays, lights and season-
al recreation, plus theater. Many
visitors stay on through New
Year's Day to watch Philadelphia’s
‘| answer to the New Orleans Mardi
Gras — the gala, flamboyant Mum-
mer’s Parade.
‘Every Pennsylvania community,
however small, welcomes the visi-
tor at Christmas time.
; The trouble with doing nothing
is that you can’t stop and rest.
General Ulysses S. Grant in New
York City.
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Ries
Services
This
Week
at your own
place
of worship
°
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WELCOME WAGON
FRANCES IVES
BU 17-4467
or
WILLIAM HELLER
NE 09-3871
MRS.
Swedish Students Here
For Weekend
Karin Gidlund, Rotary exchange
student from Simrishamn, Sweden,
where Maryalice Knecht is now
studying as exchange student from
Dallas Rotary Club, spent a recent
weekend with Mr. and Mrs. James
Knecht of Harveys Lake, to supple-
ment Maryalice’s letters with per-
sonal descriptions of the school
where the Knecht daughter is now
enrolled, and of the community in
which she is living. , !
While Karin was in this area, she
attended Ice Follies at Hershey with
Mrs. Knecht, who with a group from
banks of the Wyoming Valley made
up three busloads. Judy Searfoss,
of Dallas Branch, Miners National
Bank, is vice chairman of the
Women’s Committee, A.IL B.
The Linotype machine was in-
vented by Ottmar Mergenthaler. It
was first used in 1886 by the New
York Tribune.
We hope that dll your
dreams of a joyous holiday
come true and that many
more happy occasions will
come your way in the days
NE -
to follow.
~ NULTON FUNERAL HOME
BEAUMONT
9-5115
A
promise of this
1961°
'L. L. RICHARDSON
LAKE ST.
DALLAS
| May every heart and home in
the land be brightened with the
our Holy season,’
f
RE ———
Poinsettias
Potted Plants
Novelties
Cut
Flowers
THE
CHRISTMAS
LARGE SELECTION
CEMETERY
WREATHS
HI
THE FLORIST
Ave.
Shavertown
Pioneer