Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1874-01-01

and silver wands; they drew car COW
cred with white satin, on which was a
gilded throne, where, half reclining, sat
the fairy queen. / never saw more
lovely object. Her dress was made of
some light gossamer material, spangled
with gold; her wings were gilded her
crown was gold, with diamond star in
front; glittering bracelets were ON her
arms her tiny feet even had gilded
shoes; her hair, golden brown, hung In
long, ringlets to her waist her dimpled
cheeks and pouting lips tried to look
demure and digniied, as she waved a
long golden wand over her head but
our happy, sunny little Amy's irrepressi-
BILE smile betrayed her. All drew back
as they approached, and slowly passed
around the tree, singing some beautiful
Christmas verses Mary had written for
the occasion. q left out one important
person. Fred Dowley, dressed as Mer-
curry, came in before them, sounding a
silver bugle.) Every one stood en-
tranced with delight; such tabteau
Uicant is rare sight All the fairies
were lovely, and, what is still better,
were not conscious of it, and were real
children, not little old women. (Chil-
dren, you know, my friends, are rare
things now.) At a signal from the
queen they stopped, then springing to
the floor and bowling low, she ex-
claimed:
Ladies and gentlemen, we have
sent old Santa Claus on distant mis-
sion; therefore, we have come ourselves,
with our maids of honor and our faith
FIJI messenger, to bestow our annual
Christmas gifts as we shall see fit"
Then they drew back the car, and
with their long wands took the presents
from the tree and gave them to Fred to
pass around as they were marked. Mary
assisted him.
Mrs. Morton, being generous as well
as rich, gave to all handsome presents.
The heavy ones were placed around the
tree, just inside the green barricade. /
had beautiful writing-desk, and an
elegant bracelet of Mary's hair. The
tree was filed with all sorts of pretty
little things. Mr.. L. stood talking to
me, and had been quite attentive all the
evening; Amy, with m cry twinkle,
passed over on the end Of her wand a
little teapot and some Berlin iron chairs,
and with a mock bow said, eve give
you these to commence housekeeping. !"
She sent large monkey to her cousin !;
he wore q full beard, and she always
called him "her dear pet monkey" "
One little boy, in the excess of his adj
miration, drew off a gold ring, and
kneeling down, presented it to Amy.
Her majesty drew herself up, and with
great dignity exclaimed, cit is for us
to give gifts to you mortals, not to re-
ceive." His crest-fallen look touched
her heart, so she tossed him horn of
fresh flowers. The children all wished
Christmas would come every day. Their
gifts were legion little drums filed
with candy, whistles, flies, whips, horses,
dolls, cradles, books, etc. The ladies
received ornaments, beautiful vases,
etc., knick-knacks of all kinds, besides
books: the gentlemen had worked
slippers, smoking-caps, books, etc.
Every one was more than content. Mrs.
Morton had a peculiar gift of reading
character she could tell just what
would suit each person.
Supper for the children was soon an
nounced We elder ones all helped
serve them. Plain cakes, of all shapes
and kinds, frosted with sugar-plums, to
make them attractive winter fruits,
bonbons, etc., were all, yet the table
was bountiful. They, too, had a ring
cake, and little Lily Harris, one of the
silver fairies, Won it. The motto on the
ring was :'Be' ever watchful. Mrs.
Morton was urged on all sides to ex-
plain it. She said cit was to teach
them to consider the wants of others,
and in that way they would be unselfish. :"
After supper they had merry rOmp
and a dance; then, with weary little
feet and happy hearts, they wendell
their way home. We had supper be-
tween ten and eleven; all kinds of
game, oysters, salads, fruit, ices, cake,
confectionery, and a large ring cake.
An old bachelor won the ring he would
not give it to any lady. After that,
some of the elder ones retired to their
homes; the younger portion danced till
twelve.
After talking over the party awhile
we all retired to our rooms. Visions of
loneliness lowered over our pillows; the
fairies seemed to turn into angels, and
appeared floating in the heavens ON a
rainbow. We did not rise till near nine
o'clock the next morning. Mrs. Morton,
ever mindful of the health of her guests,
determined we should have full allow
ance of sleep. We all gathered round
bountiful breakfast, and, after fer
vent thanksgiving from Mrs. Morton,
we did full justice to her tempting
viands. As she arose from the table,
she touched silver bell to assemble her
household together. Sam brought in a
large pile of Bibles ar handed them
all around She asked us 10 turn to the
account of the birth of our Savior, and
we each read two verses. After reading
some beautiful prayers for the day, all
joined in the Lords PRAYER. Then Mary
quietly took her seat at small house
organ and played est. Martyrs" and
we all joined III singing that beautiful
hymn, While shepherds watched their
focks by night
It was lovely winters day. Mrs.
Morton invited us to go to church, as
she had two large sleighs and we were
soon dressed and dashing along through
the SNOW with or1r minds at ,,aaca with