Gunnison news-champion and tribune., 1905-01-20
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OAGsAnas IN Gsr~any may have
s0s i.Asssa fu sosne Il YOU, u
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WksA, hssvssa two and thrse
vuks ksf0s3 Chr'ssmss. ~e began "
ssoA or Christmas Ietters. postcards
80 . ~ psckasss containing cal
saAss, Osher things cost too much
pasGADr) 70 America the girls said,
'OA, Do you also ceIebrate Christmas
N AnsrHa?" tPoa reeesv,nS our al
6soasive TO this qsest,oa, they would
~. "Bst yos doa't have Christmas
sssss, - yosy" When we told them
- ~ have trees, and gave each
GsAsr pssssess, they ssemed much
s~rPsised.
Hsfasu CAristpaas, the stores aud
h~fryiAG shroaes oa the streets pre-
esnAoA R~G,A she sssase appearance
= = Ao0e,-the store windows held
ChrissHas displays, and people hur
sisA and jostled little more than
usual.
On Dec 9th is Nikolaus Day On
tAe evening of that day, . white
bearded old man. Saint Nlkolaus,
visits most Of the homes, at lesst in
oOHthern Germany, to see how the
cAildSen are behaving themselves.
He carries = stick in has hand and if
the little ones are naughty, he whips
them, bat if they are good he draws
froG his cspscloss pockets, nuts and
cakes and throws them among the
children, who have merry scramble
for them. The girls here in this
house, about thirty of them, are
Esthsr mature chlldren-the young
sst being nineteen, the oldest-well
! sho2ldn't dare say how oId-but
nosogAhaksas kAint EikaAaas visited
-, carrying in his hand broom,
wAile has voice sounded suspsciously
like that OF one Of the servant girls.
fear we were very much naughtier
than most small children would have
been, and he used bis broom vlgor
ously, yet before he left he threw the
contents of a large bagful of nuts in
our midst, and in the scramble that
followed, the ''old giIls" seemed to
be as young as the youngest
On Dec. 18th the Home" cele-
brated its Christmas, since so many
girls leave in the following week TO
spend Christmas in their homes.
For days beforehand our "Hauslnut-
ter" was busy making little Christ
mas cakes, and Miss Huests and |
were allowed to help, privilege
which gave us much pleasure. One
Of the customs OF this Home at the
Christmas celebration is that each
girl buys some article to cost not less
than one mark (about twenty-five
cents). On the evening before the
18th all these presents. about As, for
the girls who take their meals here
are also invited, were arraved ON ta-
bles, and a very pretty display it
made The next morning Miss lleu
tbs and packed each article in a
pasteboard box, wrapped it in white
paper and tied it with blue cotton
ribbon. The dining room, sitting
room and Office, all large rooms, can
be made into one room by folding
back the walls between them. When
we came to supper the evening of
the eighteenth, at the usual time,
8:l5, the dining room and sitting
room had been thus thrown together,
all the gas Jets were burning bright
ly, and the tables looked quite fes-
tive with their ornamentations of
mistletoe, holly and pine. After
supper all made themselves as com
Portable as possible on chairs and
sofas, then the wall between sitting
room and office was thrown back
disclosing a brightly lighted tree,
fairly dazzling the eyes with its gilt
tering ornaments. One of the girls
seated at the piano now began to
play the great German Christmas
song. "Stille Nacht, lieilige Nacht.
They all started out bravely enough
but soon one after another began to
cry; the second verse started very
haltingly and quaveringly and den I
know how it was finished. | sud
denly decided to go out doors to see
Ito see. well to see whether it was
going to snow the next day. When /
returned one of the girls was making
a speech, presenting our "Hausmut-
To-" with large rug which the girls
had bought her The servant girls
were then given their presents.