Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1877-12-26
Christmas Happenings.

opportunity 10 lN1lllHe III lfNllNill'- WI h'hN'i'
or Tuesday.
At BETHANY CHURCH
the pastor preached an able and appropriate dis
| course on Sabbath morning, from the text GLORY
to God in the highest. and on earth peace, good
will to men" In the evening praise service was
held, having special reference to Christmas-tide
The church was very neatly trimmed, and the OK.
| ercises--whch consisted of singing by the chOil
and school, responsive reading. aud brief nd
dress by the pastor-passed oil very happily and
were thoroughly enjoyed by all present. The
children were ont in full force; there was arg,
audience Of older persons, and no pleasanter gath
ering of the kind has ever been held in this church
There was a full choir, and their part of the pro
gramme was well carried out--the rendering OF
And there were Shepherds" and Sing ALE
lnia forth being especially excellent On Tues
day evening Christmas festival was held in the
vestry, which was very largely attended and
passed of satisfactorily The room was yer,
tastefully trimmed and did credit To MIR Briggs.
who had the matter in charge, and his numer-
Gus young lady assistants \ large tree in the cen
ter of the room was well-fed with paatabe
things for the children, and many of the older
ones were also sweetened" to some extent.
Santa Claus appeared in person and distributed
the goodies" The pastor made brief address
to the young folks calling their attention to the
significance of the occasion The special feature
of the evening was the exhibition of magic Ian
tern views by Mr. +. b. Emery, photographer.
The views were illustrations of Esop's fables,
and were exceedingly interesting. Some of them
were explained, and the children gave uninistlk-
able evidence Of entire satisfaction with this part
ofthe entertainment. These things, together with
the singing and the pleasure of social intercourse,
combined to make the affair success Ofcourse
the main thing to be considered at such times is
the happiness of the children, and certainly on this
occasion they were in possession Of it,
At TRINITY CHURCH
the service on Sunday morning had special refer
ence to Christmas, the pastor speaking from the
text: 1.-THE gift of Cod" On Sunday evening n
Christmas service was held by the Sabbath-school
under the lead of the superintendent Mr.. Farms
worth The exercise Of the evening was called
" Christ in a garden Of trees" Five trees were
placed on the platform-the good tree, the proud
tree, the fruitless tree the forbidden tree, and
the tree of fe-each guarded by worldling A
cooquy between the leader and four pilgrims
took place in reference to the fruit of each tree
resulting in the bringing of each wording to
taste of the fruits of the tree of life Aside from
this exercise there was a Scripture reading, and
singing by the choir On Monday night and
Tuesday the several teachers of the school held
class tree festivities the usual tree for the whole
school being dispensed with.
AT THE CHURCH OF THE MESSIAH
on Sunday morning Rev. Mr. Wright spoke with
reference t0 the Christmas season, basing his re-
marks on the answer of Christ to Johns question,
d" Art thou he that should come, or look we for
another p" Go your way, and tell John what
things We have seen and heard" As the Saviour
then appealed to facts as bearing testimony of
him, so the speaker on this occasion appealed to
facts in the worlds history since Christ was born,
and the saving influence his coming has had
upon men, as sufficient reason why we should
observe with rejoicings his natal day. The
festivities Monday evening were participated
in 10y large and happy assembly, and the en-
tertainment offered was of an enjoyable sort.
Aside from singing by the school, the audience
were treated to puppet show, which was well
managed and decidedly amusing, and created
much merriment among the little ones especially
the puppets dancing gracefully to piano music.
Following this there was the reading of II Christ
mas story by Mrs. Fred Banchard-and this too
very entertaining. shadow pantomine
created great deal of fun, and the illustrating
of Simple W. A.-no, mol we mean Simon -
and Little ~ Chas. T"-beg pardon we mean
" Jack-Horner was admirably done and took
the audience by surprise. And now came the dis
tributon OF presents to the children, from heav-
l..
smiles and joyous faces-after which the assembly
dispersed. The people of this society have de
lghtful way OF managing these festival occasions,
and always succeed in making the little ones
happy and pleasing the older ones.
At CHRIST CHURCH
special Christmas services were held in the morn
ing, at which time the pastor based his remarks
upon the Scripture passage, " There was no room
for them in the inn - prominent point in the
sermon was that the hearts of men are to-day too
full of business, too full of pleasure, to afford
room for the Saviour, and therefore the true hap
piness and joy which men might experience with
Christ rs their guest shut out The follow
ing music was rendered in the morning-that at
the communion being as usual:
Gloria from Farmers Mass In NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS..
Ncnlle Gregoran tone
Gloria Patris.,.......... .Zeuner
Gloria In ENcrlsls dudley Buck
lie Deim In D.. George William Warren
Jubtte in Is fiat ........... ............... luck
Hymn" Angels from the realms OF glory" .Mards Mass
Gloria Gregorian
shout the Glad Tdings ".....................W Warren
" liark the Herald Angels Sing Mozart
The Re Deum was entirely new and that and
the Gorias and the Jubilate were the "gems OF
the occasion--the members Of this efficient choir
being all in good voice; indeed, the music in thi.
church has never been better rendered than on
Tuesday. In the afternoon the Sunday school
gathered "around the Christmas tree" to sing
carols and otherwise celebrate the day, aud pres
ents were distributed to those in the society whom
Santa Claus had looked favorably upon. Tn,
church was handsomely trimmed with evergreen
and the afternoon gathering WAS joyous affair.
AT THE BAPTIST CHURCH
the children were treated u Il good time on Tues
day evening, and the " fruits " of tree wer
distributed among them Other exercises wer,
held, consisting of Rotations, singing, etc.
AT THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
Midnight Mass was celebrated on Monday night
and the usual services were held ON Christmas Day
MAKING IT LIVELY FOR EM-Ouite a yiporou