The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1867-12-27
g 69ristmas StOrn.
? iFrom the Home journal, Dec 1907
Love Story Of Christmas Eve
BY BARRY GRAY.
% 81. TFTTf " - q
SANTA CLAUS'S VISIT.

Ii was as still and 'ccld-on Christmas
Exe-ss iteould well be; SO cold that the
very moon-beams, as they came strug-
Cling against the window pane, seemed
to CONCEAL, and appeared like lines oI
silver wire drawn out into the icy air.
The trees were covered with coating
of ice, which CLEANED and glittered in
the moonlight as if their branches
were studded with precious stones; ic-
icles, like pointed spears, hung from the
ewes Of the cottage; and the smoke
which rose from the hundred chimneys
of the village, passed, like pious incense,
upward into the still air, bearing in its
quiet folds kind thoughts and grateful
words from the loving ones clustered
around their hearth-stones. The snow
lay deep upon the ground, and was COW
cred with crust which bore up the
children when from the beaten track
they turned aside, chasing each other
over the frozen surface, as they came
home from school. Lights cleaned
from the windows of every cot in the
single street Of the village, and voices
of old and young mingled with song
and laughter. At one end of the vii.
lage, within cottage, little apart from
the others, are seated an old man of
seventy winters, his wife, and his grand
daughter, Mary. The room is one of
those antique rooms which answer alike
Tor the parlor and kitchen; and the
floor is of oak, and sanded with clean
white sand, which was sprinkled by
Nary's own hands. Pictures adorn the
walls. descriptive of "The Prodigal
Son, in four distinct illurtrations-his
yoing, his folly, his proverty, and his
eturn. On the dresser are ranged
pewter platters and numerous plates;
While mugs of goodly dimensions hang
rom the pegs, aud reflect the flame of
he fire. Curtains of white, as pure as
he snow in the meadow, are drawn at
he windows and fall in graceful pro-
portions; on one side of the wainscot,
little away from the dresser, hangs a
age of woven willow and wire-work
within it a robin-that bird of the
Observation-Disclosures the house with
is music. On an ancient carved table,
1rawn out in the middle of the room,
les the Bible, unclapsed, and wide open,
and the eyes of the matron are fixed on
The passage before her. "We have
seen his star in the East, and are come
% worship him."
The old man is seated within his arm
chair, with his feet to the fire, where the
Vule log is burning, and he watches the
lame and the smoke as they dance and
play with each other, while his thoughts
ire wandering back to the time of his
youth, when he danced and loved
With the maidens. Oft doth his eve
eek the face of his grandchild beside
lim, with a look of kindest inquiry.
Sad, sad is the heart of the maiden,
hough her lips wear the smile of hap |
,iness, yet oft doth she start and sigh
Is footstep glides on past the door
way. Thus sit they in silence, each
yet fearing to utter the thoughts
hat have birth in their bosoms, till the |
lock in the corner, grown bold by the
chimes loudly the hour of sew
IN. Then the cat, by the fireside, doz-
nc, awakened by the sound, answers,
~ purring, the chirp of the cricket,
md the dog, with the wag of his tail,
ooks up into the face of his master.
Then rises the old man, and PAGES the
loor of the kitchen; his face has look
# trouble, and the eyes of the maiden
ire downcast, while the inatron wipes
he mist from her glasses and lays them
within the book, on the page that tells
he birth of our Saviour. Still PAGES
he old man backward and forward,
ike pendulum weary with going;
'ut, anon, he stops at the window, and
lrawing the curtain aside, looks out on
he village; the street is deserted, and |
le hears not the sound of football.
Then he turns to his granddaughter
Nary, and says:
"Why is it, my child, that Nicholas
zones not hither to WOO the on this
loliest of eyes? Surely thou canst not