Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1888-12-27

Ing we made up and got little GLADYS to
| Jet US play doctor and saw off her dolls
leg, which we did; and then the sawdust
ran all over everything and Gladys went
PACK on the contract in herweak, femin-
Inc way, and we got into trouble with
that old slipper again.
How 1t all comes back, that Christmas
| or long ago, and such a Christmas we
know but once and shall never know
agaln-the Christmas of Childhood and
OF nome, with no bereavement, no care,
no spectres OF the past, no shadow for
the future, all love. all tenderness, all
| ifollc and collie, paregoric and glee.
On, the rough -andtumble in the snow
Tort that Christmas noon when | got in
good bull on Tommy Perkins's eve and
Tommy promiseu me slgnI-uraTt Ior
walloping on his large brother Jim.
Then the snow man which got us into
further complications with brother
Wiiilam because we employed his new
hat to embellish the snow mans head
Then tue walnut shells VIC glued to the
cooks cuts feet by which we fell from
grace in the kitchen, and other didoes
we did through Grass cussedness and
Christmas exuberance.
But the dinnerl Was there ever sucn
a turkey2 Who has clumsily lost the
art of making that stutling and gravy?
What of that sucking pig with an apple
In his mouth, and what of that clamor
of each of US for his crisp, brown
twisted tail? What of the capon, what
of the plum pudding. jewelled with
raisins, flaming like Beelzebub in blazes
of blueg What of the egg -nog with
plenty Of egg and lots OF nog, one sup Of
which was enough to set our tongues
wagging beyond control and send US
cross-eyed aud uproarious to bed.
a Christmas like that has no twin in
our lives, and back to it rs to an altar
We go each year and offer garlands to
the memory Of home. Ii is day that is
dead and yet it lives, for the spirit Of the
child comes again 10 the man from the
! Christmas that was to the Christmas
that is, and in the delights Of the small
babblers of to-day, with their toys and
goodies. our own are mirrored and re-
/ peated each year.
Therefore, say I unto you you care
worn and world-weary men, 10 whom
Christmas is a shadow, aud the echo Of
the half forgotten music of a dream, let
the joys Of the week, and of the day to
come, roll on as they Will,
In iimcracks and nonsense shall your
earning be scattered for others, as once
the earnings of others were scattered for
you.
Let the fire glow, and the wassail go
1 round, and be patient if the old year is
merry in his cups, for life is shadow in
a glass, and man stays dead long
| time.
Bring forth the fatted capon, the obese
turkey and the corpulent duck, yea, and
let the infant porker be mirrored in a
pool of his own gravy, savory TO the
nostrils of the gods.
| Draw close the curtains, and in
warmth and in gladness shalt thou know
/ plenty and good cheer. though the
/ trumpets Of the northwind shrek unto
winter and winter calleth TO famine.
| The day is thine merrily for in the
mart hast thou prospered, and out of
I thy thrift. 10, have come the golden
! blessings of mammon, 10 thee and to
/ thine own.
About thy Preside are gathered the
/ olives, branches Of the tree, substance of
/ thy substance calling thee father, protec-
/ tor and giver of joy, and in their laugh
/ ter thou canst hear again the muscles Of
/ thy childhood, and upon their happy
/ lips are the roses of thy youth and
! their pleasures are the echo of thine.
Let the small boy riot and run amucl
unpublished, thou remembering that the
way of thine own Christmas trausgres-
sions was not hard. nor shalt check his
4 gorglng nor his journey to gluttonous
dreams.