The Canton advocate. [volume] (Canton, D.T. [S.D.]) 1877-1897, 1879-12-25
8 Opened this Week &
LARGE STOCK OF C0AkS SNAWN IlBIAS SCARFS! TIES ETC.
@sPEcAL BARGAINS
Madole & Hinkey Canton Dakota.
Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas.
World that it would be merry one tc
all, for the world with all its brilliancy
and dazzling hours, has sad and dark skys
that seem to hover always over the heads
| of some, failures. stifled ambition, sick
ness and poverty with its dragging weight
draws its victims into jagged and sunless
paths, where only the sounds Of happy
voices reach them rs if in mockery OF
thei" misfortune. Life is full of vicissi-
tndes, and in the dlspensation of provi
dence, glaring contrasts are presen.ed IN
the history Of the human race. Crowded
cities where wealth and poverty stride to
gether, impress one more f.rcihly than
elsewhere. We have seen p, ering into
tempting windows where the merchant
cunningly displays his rich or gaudy ware
the shivering, ragged Child of poverty
stand side by side with the representative
child Of wealth, the one longing for the
least article IN which cheapness is not
thought of. the other only perplexed as to
what to choose. The darkey with his
siaglc herring, must be as we'll satisfied as
the buxom mistress who follows her bas-
ket trundled by the porter flied with the
most select and choice danties the mar
ket affords,
Yet wlthal this disparity many hum
BILE home rings with gleeful chatter, and
all the trials and buffets of liies drudgery,
urc forgotten upon Christmas day.
For centuries nations have considered
it tho day Of days, teaching the child that
it is the anniversary of Iris Savionrs birth,
early impressing the unmoulded mind
with the happy associations the passing
years bring. lis celebration Is as divcrsi
Fl led as the tastes of individuals suggest
For upwards of fifteen hundred years in
the catholic church its observance has
been general, both as a religious and joy
Gus festival. In the early centuries mid
night mass was said, and during the day
three solemn masses were sung, while the
irreligiOus people celebrated the day
with palade and convivialty, trade was
suspended and merriment and hospitablc
entertainment run from christmas until
the TWELFTH day, and in Alfreds time the
twelve days after the nativity of onr Saw
iour were made festival Waits, or Lcrd
Mayors music sounded in the streets at
midnight and during the remaining Ii ,urs
of the night, and in the north the Yule
log was kept blrning In the chimney cor
ner while yule cakes were baked on the
"girdlc," as the lads and lassies gathered
around and joined in fortune telling or
listening to The goblin story. AT this day
the Catholics maintain religious observ
ancc to the extent of the mass ceremony
aud as an incident of the continued vener.
ation,. the arrangements made in New York
city for the new Cathedral to morrow
indicate ceremony of UNUSUAL splendor.
The Cardinal is to conduct the services, at
which he is to wear mass vestments that
cost $4,000, beside pastoral cross Of dia-
nonds costing as much more, and the
vestments of the officiating clergy are
said to aggregate $4,000 worth arranged
for the great church day.
The Americans az a people make it h
day of festivity. Of feastlng and pleasure
The little ones, regardless of any sacrc d
surrounding. anticipate and hail with
boisterous shout the mythical visitation
of Santa Claus, visions of toys and good
les, of romp and unchecked freedom, float
through their active brain. while thought.
full parents stuff the little socks by the
chimney piece rs years before, their own
were filed by hands long since folded to
rest from llfes toll Have we not all been
there? first as the child to whom the
world was thea dreamland tinted with
bright and dazzling colors, and now,
many of US as parents, who have found
that the pictures of childhood were but
vapor as after years have penetrated their
delusion. Mothers as you to night place
the articles selected for your childrens
gif; in their accustomed receptacle, is
there any one missiDge WILL there be
one voice less 70 rouse you at early morn
with its Gleeful prattle or shout of joy al
the discovery Of what was stored for him
or her? If so, thank the great giver OF all
good, that some are spared to watch your
walk down the other side If the hall and
tn help the tottering step when old age
cripples the gait and dims the eye. Child
is the mothers voice that used to return
your Merry Christmas. and with kiss.
wish you many many of Them, hushed
q rs father upon xhose strong arm yor
were carried, gone out to the city Of the
dead! lfso Gad project YOU against the
chill Winds Of An unfeeling world.
The writer Of this long since sto,d "yef
the grave of both mother and father and toI
wears during chilohooc wss made happy
ON Christmas morning through the kind
ness Of those Who were Of 40 KIN, D0l
/! The remembrance Of what > dsas mother