Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1904-12-15

Spruceland's First Christmas s
Nerwn Hull "a Republican J

land, and went to Lowell to work in
the cotton mills, along with hundreds
OF other girls from all parts of New
England. Polly stayed in Lowell two
years, and when she came back to
Vermont she brought with her money
enough to pay off the mortgage on the
old Abraham Dodge place. This met
with general favor. But Polly also
brought home several new ideas that
seemed very strange and doubtful to
~the little community, for their Gus,
toms and stern views of life had been
unchanged since the first pioneers had
come up from Connecticut at the close
of the revolution, and pitched upon
the mountains of Spruceland.
Polly's first idea was a Sunday
school. She gathered the children il
the little red school house near the
church, and began to teach them as
she had seen it done in Lowell. At
first this aroused great opposition.
There were some who openly declared
that the Sunday school was an inven,
ton of the evil one himself, and tina,
1t ought to be put a stop to right
straight away. But when the real ma
ture of the Sunday school became bet.
ter known the opposition al died
away, and for more than a year Polly
had been meeting with the children in
the school house every Sunday noon.
1t was warm, hazy Sunday in No
vember, when summer came back to
say farewell for the last time, ano
no yo11
ton sat on knoll near the church
between meetin's," eating their
"Daitin' of milk empt'in's, bread and
cardway seed-cakes.
'Leafy," began Aunt Sally, what do
you s'pose Polly Dodge'll be up to
next, now t she's got her Sunday
school to goin' so fine?"
'More'n l can tell" said Mrs. Ward,
whose gaze was following the people
gathered about the church door. But
there is one thing t wish Polly, or
somebody or mother would take up,
and that is, to reconcile the heart OF
Simeon Leland, if do Say it, and him
deacon in the church. Jest this min
ute | see David come up and hold out
his hand to his father, and Simeon
wouldn't touch it nor even look at
David. 1t amt right for man to
treat mis- own son that way"
mo, it amt, Leafy, and that's the
truth. l s'pose it all come about on
account of David marryin' Mary Pet,
tengill. But when she come back
from down Below with Polly Dodge
she brought new silk dress, and
wore it to meetin' with blue ribbon
around her neck. Simeon, he noticed
it right away, and he said that Mary
had joined herself to the daughters of
Belial, to lead astray the elect of Zion
Furthermore, ne went past the house
one Sabbath afternoon, and Mary had
tle curtains up before shutdown, and
she was a-singin' some of them Lowell
Mason tunes that the gals larnt
when they was Below. This sot him
still more ag'inst her, and when David
began to pay some attention to Mary,
Simeon told him that if he married
her he needn't ever show himself at
the farm any more"
why, Leafy Ward, what shame!
The mans got an iron kittle inside of
him, std of heart
Nc, Sally, faint that; he's only try
IN to make himself believe that such
things are the fruits of righteousness.
Simeon Leland is man that would
euffsr death by any kind of torture
before he would deny his faith, but
the love of God is a sealed book to
him. He sot terrible greet store by his
wife and little Lois, and when they
died it about broke him down. He
thought it was wuss than idols to have
SC much human affection, and so he
tries TO crush it out, and sets III cruel
Judgment upon himself and everybody
else
There they GOMEZ" exclaimed Amt
Sally. "Polly's let out her Sunday
school, and the little folks will be here
forthwith
The children came SwaTming out of
the school-house with unusual ANNA
ton. Evidently they were all excited
about something. Suddenly little
hov and girl caught sight of Mrs. Ward
and Aunt Sally, and they started to-
~-ard the old ladies as fast as their
StOul lllIle legs WOulu carry tntln.
The boy stubbed his toe and fell head
long He began to cry at the top of
his voice, and then he remembered
that he had no time for that il he was
going to get to his grandmother ahead
Of his sister, so he scrambled up and
tegan to shout.
'Oh gra'ma'am, gra'ma'a am! we're
g~ing to have it. It's in the meetin-
house! It's Chris--Chris-an' it's a
tree, and all of us, and evo~y one oil
the big folks"
Solomon Ward. hush, Have you
lost your senses? Don't you know
what day it is? Esther. can you tell
me what your brother means?"
Esther Ward crossed her little
hands upon her quaint calico dress,
dropped graceful ''kerchy," and. lift.
ing her heavenly blue eyes. she be
gan
Yes, grandma, Polly told US today
that we are going to have Christmas
in the church. She said that Christ