The Falls City tribune., 1910-12-16

AAhAA I 1ptAOh AiOAi eAO1hlH60 W
longing to blaek-haired, pig-tailed
children have not yet heard that myth
and so no wonder black eyes will ex-
pect to peep into them in the morn
ing. Not so with the black ones
of the four little IONS and daughters
of American fathers and mothers
But Santa's work is soon done as
distances are near. The lights go out
The earth looks white in the cold
clear moonlight. What awakes us?
How sweet is the musiei Are we
again with shepherds and sheep under
starry skies listening to angelic
songs? The seraphic notes of per-
fectly blending voices seen heavenly.
But o We know that the words of
white Shepherds watch their Flocks
by Night" are uttered in the accents
of the Far East, and not those of
Judea. They come nearer those
voices. There is the tramping of
many, many feet. They came under
our windows. Lanterns are held with
ice-cold fingers. Books are scanned
and now we hear, Joy to the World,
the Lord is Come"
We are fully awake now. We list
en-. We peep. Those beloved school
girls-little twelve-year-old tots and
big elder sisters-the whole sixty
are there! Is it yet daylight? e O,
no.. Far from it, That was an early
cock-crow. We applaud. There re-
} oedes the noise of wooden shoe
soles passing over a brick verandah,
and whispers and laughter are faint
er and fainter.
We again retire. From the distance
} no farther than the next foreign
co-worker's residence-come again
sweet strains. Did ever caroling ex-
press more sweetly love and graf
itude? NJ
Again we are awakened. Again
the patter of wooden soles stop
ping under our windows. Again the
whisperings and the flashes of light,
and then-those are masculine voices.
; o. yes, the school boys. too, have
come with their songs. Are the
school girls safely within their en-
closing walls?" We wonder, habit
making us even watchful-lest a boy
might look upon a girl. Our watches
tell us we've been sleeping an hour
since last awakened, so with relieved
feelings we listen on and the meas
ure of Ii applause is not eurtailed
by our momentary anxiety. But it is
stil so early. We would not yet
arise were it not that ON our shout
ders rest no inconsiderable number of
duties. Hospital patients have arisen
early and have donned in as far as
they are able, their holiday attire.
Medical cases must be seen; surgical
cases must be dressed, for are not all
of the t~hree-hundred residents of the
Mission Compound to be in church
at $50 this morning? Before passing
in to hear the appropriate Christmas
exercises of Girls and Boys Boarding
Schools. kindergarten and day schools
} We put away the little wagons which
have been hauled by the wee foreign
children in the distribution of native
candy, dried persimmons, peanuts
and picture cards among the families
of teachers n servants resident in
the Compound.
= Now we are in the Church, The
principal of the Boys Academy, fine,
strong, direct in speech as any for
eigner, face alert and smiling, pre-
sides. There are but songs and the
recitations-just as we knew them in
our native land. The words no long
er are uttered with strange sounds.
Then follows the collection. A sur
prising amounts of things for the pool
flour, millet, vegetables. clothing,
money! A committee on distribution