The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1866-12-25

NICE 0A0AxIuHo tO8 x0Vu0 : ~
Lowry places on our table Riverside Meg
.sine,'' Vol. l., No. l., pabIishsd b Hnfd
L Houghton, N. =. n iss vesy hasdsssesg
executed monthly. Also. tho Young Ane>
rica, or Boys and Girls hagazins," for jar
nary, BY Demorest, which i the handsonsse
publication for the juveniles that " everaw.
Call and get copy.
A MERRr CHRfsrnAs.--So We come greet
ing unto all our readers especially the htt'e
folk-this morning. So has the GATE come
these many years now, with IL Christmas
erecting. Elsewhere We talk to the seniors,
here to the Juniors. Ifpapa and mamma ass
in search OF substantial fare they can skip
tbis-,his is our own little talk. OH Master
Bright Ewes and Miss Cherry Lips-yon and
We in Christmas talk.
| You know how the Spanish knight blessed
.he man that invented sleep-so should that
Pope, that we have spoken Of elsewhere, be
blessed for inventing Christmas. de has
made BOYS and girls happy for ever so many
wears in ever SO many countries lou are
not the only young folk that watched and
waited through thos. long weeks, and short,
too, for the coming Of to-day. Over the wa
ter through Merry England and Europe,
especially in Germany. other Bright Eyes
have sparkled in anticipation of Christmas
lows, and other Cherry Lips have prated of
the gifts good Santa Claus would surely bring
them. Why, there are Christmas trees to- day
| in far countries, where if Bright Eyes would
look from that tree to the world outside he
would see the Alps, and Cherry Lips talks OF
i her new treasures in language you wouldn't
understand, yet the gladness, and the love
that prompts the gifts, are Just the same.
When the evening comes on you will read
your own practical new book, about practical
things or mamma will read it TO you instead,
but in that East, country that isn't so practi'
cal as ours, the mamma will tell Fairy stories
Now, il 10 q weakness we know, but We like
fairy stories. And We like those children
that don't too early master thsir mystery
Listen a, the Autocrat Of the Breakfast Ie'
:. ble-tha,'s Doctor Oliver Wendell Holmes
Won know, born Yankee and very cute =
be talks nsughtiiy thus:
-. Here are children OF tender age talked
to as If they wer< capable Of understanding
Calvn's Institutes, and nobody has honest.
or sense enough TO tell the plain truth abcu
the little wretches that they are as super
stitious as naked savages, and such miserable
spiritual cowards-that is if they have an,
imagination-tha they will believe anything
that is taught them, and great deal NOR
which they teach themselves
And then he tells what kind of boy h
was Il was afraid OF ships; why, | coul'
never tell The masts looked. frightfully tai
2 but they we're not SO tall rs the steeple 0
our old yello~omeeting house. At any rate
used to hide my eyes from the sloops AM
schooners that were wont to lie at the end Q
. the bridge and confess tina, traces of thi
underlined terror lasted very long. Then b
4 tells OF glove maker sign-a great woode
hand that he was afraid of-.'always hangin
there re;dy to catch mp little boy VIII
would come home to supper no more, no
! yet TO bed-whose porringer would BE- lai
away empty henoeforth, and bis halfwor
shoes wait until his small brother grew to {
them"
Then he tells Of sweet decisions which b
n had aud which he loved so well that he re
e fused to outgrow them. Why, he believed
IS much worse than fairy stories, and yet d.
y Holmes is pretty much Of man now. even
he was q so foolish boy. Keep as mnc
poetry aud faith and trust in your young Ill
:, as possible.
But we have got so far away from OF
!" merry Christmas that we must hurry back ,
it. And when we have got back to it, it
only to give you again greeting. and wish 20
!, much Of good. And lie. no father or moths
! refuse the gift, proof Of thoughtful love. tn,
r shall make thst child consecrate a gladnei
! in this day, is an evangel in the hardne.
of the future.