Morris tribune., 1895-12-18
40ur,-
@RriistmaS
Offering
"a True Story.i
IA True Story.l

for the children and grandchildren, in
stead of allowing others to make a party
for her Grandfather joined most heartily
IN her projects from year to year though
lac allowed her all the credit, and the pre-
sev,ts which were sure to be bestowed on
the occasion, TO be given in her name; ana
how merry and joyous We're those festive
DAYS to us; always anticipated and each
one so deli @htfully planned and SO dlffer-
ert from the former ones asto 1nakeit well
remembered. Surely, thought we, no 9th
ar children III the world possess such dear
loving grand parents, or ENJOY such merry
Christmas times as we. Not one OF our
youug friends were always without tail
remembered as were we, and question
,eaea at this day if the most dotih@ OF
grandparents ever made children happier
ssa Christmas occasions than did ours.
xsranduothcr's Christmas dinner. Ali
1x!2at dinners they were! Whose roast tl1r-
key was ever so nicely prepared whose
chicken pies so delicious, whose duddlngS
So full of plufns, and who else could con
Iisre t.p such = variety of cakes, pies, tartS,
and sweetmeats as were invariably pro-
Ntded for these occasions? And then the
-4..esents w ever appropriate and just
~ hat we wanted most. We used to be
y54tie skepticaI in regard to good Mr.. Santa
s'.aus beit@ IKE chief genius OF the day,
for the gifts were marked in the fancitul
and ingeni,.sly printed letters, such as we
knew no one except grandpa could devise.
E3t.t our di;.:.cTS and presents were by no
E.seans tl;e only delights of the day for
sports and pastimes made the day merry
71ldeed, grandfather joining with us as
young in heart as. the youngest, outwiting
the brightest of us in our games, Then
cracking nuts, telling stories while grand
uaa was busy preparing for the general
feast. ARK! then we felt that the love be-
slowed by both was more precious than
their gifts. and altogether the day was
crowned with joy and Igladness to all our
hearts. When the older girls and boys
had grown to be tall lads and misses and
the younger ones were fast following ia
oar footsteps in that respect, our grand
parents gave up housekeeping by them
selves, and at the time of my story were
living in uncle O1in's family, short dis
lance from our own door. OF course grand
ma was no longer able to prepare the
Christmas feast as she previous had done,
for her failing sight, if nothing else, made
1aad been so faithfully remembered from
year to year, had no idea of letting grand
fathers birthday pass without due obser-
walton and therefore gave her to under
stand that henceforth she and grandpa
were to be the invited guests of one or an
other of our families on this time honored
day. Our parents carried out the plan for
several years, and then we children took
tfGe entire responsibility into our own
hands.
Ne had been talking about Christmas
f4g5iong ourselves and wondering, though
II yTas weeks previous, what would b.. done
-on that day. when one of the older girls
exclaimed, TN tell you what we girls and
boys at orr house will have Christmas ali
by O;.ZseIves this year. We will plan and
prepare the dinner, provided father and
324otlIcr vii! give us free access to the fam
2iy larder aiId poultry yard. Wen
arrange everything ourselves and then
na2gnanimousIy invite our parents, grand
parents, unctcs, aunts and cousins TO par
take of our hos pitality' ooh, that will be
sD1endid,' exclaimed Kate one of the old
est, while he little ones joined in the
chorus, Offering their assistance and
thinking how nice and smart it would be
10 arrange all for Christmas ourselves.
Harry would lie home for vacation al1that
week and we would depend upon him to
assist us and 50 we talked until we were
quite out of breath in our enthusiasm on
tt.c subject. We concluded however to
wait until We consulted our parents before
m-c were 700 sure of what we would do.
There was some den1urring on their part
a. 10 our capabilities, though they rather
IL %o1ed the plan, and as Ruth and Kate
reminded mother that they kept house
U bile she went to Rutland, she gave her
Canse11t, only reserving the right of over
ri ght, while the best il the house was at
disposal.
The next question to be settled was
about Christmas presents, for we proposed
that we should make our grandparents
some handsome present, as we'll as to in
Kite them to dinner. In fact we desired to
act as far as We could the part which they
had hitherto performed toward US, but
what could we conjure up or purchase
that would be suitable and nice enough for
them and cause their loving hearts to re-
Joice- A council was held and various
plans proposed, but to little effect, when
ONE of the older girls exclaimed, have
IT. We will make them a book" What,
we make them book; write it ourselves?"
echoed one another to this project. What
will it be WORTH supposing we attempt"
put in Kate, who diSliked composition and
knew this would be something like If
But why cannot we write them a book a 8
well as to contribute to our lyceurn maya
zine" asked Ruth, "A book coming from
our own hearts and heads will please our
grandparents / am sure more than any
thing else we could give them" "WeH,v
said Kate. Grandpa is so much of liter
airy critic that he will note every mistake
and of course we will make enough of
them do the best we can" I'VE will do the
best and trust loves eyes to overlook the
rest" replied Ruth. II will write to Har
Ty and interest him in our scheme and
ask him to send one or more articles.
Then cousin Edith and Frank will con
tribute to the book whether they can
come to eat Christmas dinner or not"
SO the plan was settled and we all be-
came very enthusiastic on the subject
oefr parents included, and I have a faint
idea that father, who insisted on our
keeping up exercises at composition at
t@chOol, thought our work would benefit
ourselves as well as delight our grandpar-
eats. Every one was warned that not a