St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1889-12-26
CHRISTMAS.

Methodist church was largely at
tended and a most enjoyable enter
tainment. There were two trees and
before the distribution of presents
there were few recitations and sing
ing by the children. The whole SER
vice was a very pretty one.
Midnight mass at the Catholic
church on Christmas eve was largely
attended. Besides the brightness of
the electric light there were many
candles in the church. The singing
was good and the service was an i'm
pressive one On Christmas day au-
rora mass was observed at Z 80, high
mass at 10 and vespers at 3 O'Clock
i'll the afternoon.
AT the Universalist church the pas
tor preached a Christmas sermon
Sunday morning from the text found
in Luke 2:25-3O, upon Simeon's joy
In the evening there was Sunday
school concert with music and exer-
cises by the children. The principal
exercise of the evening was given by
Miss Matte A. Jenness. The church
was very prettily decorated with
evergreen and the concert was a very
successful one.
Rev. John Ward touched upon
Christmas in his sermon at the Ad-
vent church Sunday afternoon. On
| Christmas eve the children of the
Sunday school met at the residence
of Mr.. Bangs, the superintendent,
where an enjoyable Christmas festi-
val was held. AT the prayer meeting
last night Elder Ward spoke of origin
of giving presents on Christmas and
asked if it did not originate with the
gifts of the wise men from the East
to the infant Christ
At the Free Baptist church on Sun
day morning Rev. c. B. Atwood
preached sermon appropriate to
the day upon the angels song to the
shepherds. On Christmas eve there
was service at the vestrv with two
heavily laden trees and q Santa
Claus. Everybody was made happy
and the singing and recitations were
well received. The pastor and his
wife were generously remembered by
their many friends in the church in
the distribution of gifts.
A good Christmas sermon was
preached at the Methodist church on
Sunday morning by Rev. 6. M. Curl
from the text found in Isaiah 9: 16,
"For unto us child is born; unto us
q son is given" etc. In the evening
the Sunday school gave one of the
best concerts ever held at this church
The little folks took their parts with
out any hesitancy and the singing
was equally good. A short address
was given by the pastor. A collcc-
ton of about So was taken to add
to the fund for purchasing singing
books for the Sunday school.
At ST. Andrews church the decora-
tions were on more extensive
scale than usual and drew forth ex-
carnations of approval from the
large audience which gathered on
Tuesday evening to Ell Joy the Sunday
school festival. The exercises were
conducted by the rector and consist
ed of a short carol service, after
which came the distribution of gifts
from large, richly laden tree erected
in the centre of the church. When all
had been remembered the rector
thanked the various commit tees for
their faithful services and wishing
old and young a ''Merry Christmas
he bade them good night. On
Christmas morning at 1870 morn
ing prayer was read, followed by the
holy communion. The service made
a deep impression on all present. On
be used for the better equipment OF
the Sunday school.
At the Sunday morning service at
the South church the pastor gave an
instructive sermon appropriate tC
Forefathers' day. He introduced his
discourse by saying that this day
was between Forefathers' day and
Christmas and that the latter would
never have been celebrated here had
not the Pilgrim fathers landed on ou1
shores. Extracts from the diaries OF
the Puritans were introduced into
the discourse A chorus choir of IA
voices sang very acceptably, render
ing Tours "Sing, We heavens" and
pray for the peace of jerusalem by
Knox. In the evening came the
Christmas concert with singing and
exercises by the children. The latter
showed the result of careful training
and their singing was one of the most
enjoyable features of the program
Brief addresses were made by the pas
tor and the superintendent. The
concert closed with distribution O
candy, the gift of the superintendent
The theme of Rev c. NJ. Lamson's
discourse at the North church Sunday
: morning was Incarnation and re
incarnation, in which he urged al
, to cultivate the spirit of Christ at al
times and be generous and loving al
the year round. A pleasing feature
, of this service was the Offert Orv SO11