East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1909-12-28
CELEBRATE
XMAS AT TUTU|LLA
UMATILLA REDMEN
GATHER IN FESTIVE SPIRIT
Camped Around Church and Joined
Together in Christmas Services
Many Addresses Appropriate and
Helpful Made.
Especial Correspondence


the church. in their houses, tents and
tepees that they have around the
church. Though the ground was froz-
en- and some snow lay on It, other
wise fairly nice Christmas weather
prevailed. There were services each
| morning at a. m. and p. m, con-
Quoted by the missionary. The eld-
ers and officers of each society help
ed royalty In all the work and serv-
| ices. On Chr stmas day the people
present spread their individual
! Christmas dinners together, as at
Thanksgiving time. No special in
vitation was given out. 1t was strict
ly home affair, yet eghty-two e en-
| joyed the repast. All the work rela-
tive to the Christmas tree had been
given into the hands of the Woman's
society who appointed a committee
to purchase the presents, and DO the
rest of the work. Their work was
done to a finish and to the satisfaction
of all. The money that was placed
into their hands had been secured
from some lady friends in San Rafael.
| Cal, and others IN the east, and from
the Sunday school of Tutuilla itself.
! Everything was thus secured In Pen
dleton and all express expenses cut
out, which was a happy arrangement.
The last bite of anything Is often
thought the best, and so 1t is thought
relative to our last Christmas exer-
cises at Tutu LA. The effort is to
make IL a gala time for all the chill
dren who are allowed to be home
from the government school at this
time. And besides the real children,
it seemed t at the Christmas spirit
suddenly transformed us all into
children And IL was that child-like,
trustful and kind spirit that the Mas
ter bids us all initiate that was so
evident at Tutuilla this year and so
acted on all like magic during the ex-
ercises and services. Besides the
dozen or more real children who were
on the program and spoke or sang
some Christmas piece. two of the big
children spoke as entertainingly, and
as bashfully as the rest. Robinson
Minthorn. an elder with his child-like
and Christ-like face, charmed all with
his splendid oratory, as he told of the
sp rit and all it meant to him. Then
he and James Kash Kash, another
elder. sang one of the old time Christ
mas songs in the NeZ Perce tongue
They were followed by the mimlcing
and only Skumit, good Methodist
visitor from yakima, who spoke his
Christmas "wawa" in five different
languages. jargon. Nez Perce, Wish
kan, Klckitat and Yakima. He kept
all in a roar of laughter. which was
added to when he finished with a song
in the jargon. One OF the novel things
of the program was six small boys
and girls about five or six years old.
who sang in the Nez Perce. Showers
of Blessings
When they were done all left the
rostrum. amidst the clapping of hands
except two small boys who, seemed
not to have had enough. The super
intendent seeing them, quickly said,
"Sing again." and they did for sure
open their mouths and let it out. 1t
certainly took the cake" There
were present over two hundred peo-
pie, most of whom received small
Christmas token, and all present were
given a popcorn crisp at the close of
the distribution of the presents. The
| committee had $50 of these on hand,
and by them were able to know about
how many people were present. The
crowd was with us all sabbath In
the morn ng the missionary preached
sermon on "How to Observe and
| How Not to Observe Christmas" In
| the afternoon DR.. c. j. Smith and
wife of Pendleton, who have recent
lv spent a number of months in the
| HOLY Land and other places of inter-
est in the life of Paul. came to the
n ission as previously arranged AMI
DR.. Smith told us very Interestingly Of
his trip in the Holy Land. AS he
traced for us the places so sacred in
the minds of all, that he had seen
with his own eyes, the people hung on
his words breathlessly. and never lost
n word of it, He held all firm in
their attention for nearly two hours
Then he asked all to ask him any
questions about the places that they
desired to. The volley of interesting
and pointed questions that were fired
at him showed that all knew the
ground almost by heart. And Their
interest was greatly enhanced to hear
from him who had seen 1t. The peo-
pie as a whole gave him vote of
thanks for his trouble in coming to
tell them about it, and the three eld-
ers spoke kind words to him In re-
turn. saying. that their faith in the
holy religion of Christ and these sac
red places which he had actually
| seen His words about Bethlehem
and the Church of the Nativity were
appropriate, indeed, at the Christmas
time. 1t was fitting climax to our
| Christmas services and left all our
hearts glad that we were followers"
and prepared the hearts of all for the
evangelstic services OF the evening.
Then we put on the rousements'
till about midnight, during which time
five persons came forward to renew
their covenants and were later receiv-
ed by the session. The people went
home Monday morning after an early
service to encamp again Thursday
30th. for preparatory services before
the usual New Years communion ses-
$ on. All in their testimonies wit
messed that they had been much
comforted and strengthened in theii
faith because of the fellowship to-