The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1914-12-24

81 dren assembled around tlaC pref
ty German toy. Il Christmas tree.
Being now at home again and alone
the only person in the house awake
my thoughts are drawn back 10y fas
cnation which | do not care to resfS
to my own childhood. Straight in tn.
middle of the room. cramped in thu
freedom of it's growth by no encirclint
walls or soon reached ceiling. shad
owy tree arises, and looking up int
the dreamy brightness of its top, for
| observe in this tree the singular prop
erty that it appears to grow down
ward toward the earth, | look into my
Youngest Christmas recollections.
All toys at first find But upon the
branches of the tree, lower down. how
thick the books begin to hang-thin
books. in themselves at first. but many
of them, with deliciously smooth covers
of bright red and green!
"a was an archer and shot at frog"
OF course he was! He was an apple
pie also, and there he is! He was
good many things in his time was A.
and so were most Of his friends except
X, who had so little versatility that l
never knew him to get beyond Xerxes
or Xantippe.
But now the very tree itself changes
and becomes a beanstalk, the marvel
GUS beanstalk by which Jack climbed
up to the giants house.
Good for Christmas time is the rud.
DIV color of the cloak in which, the tree
making a forest Of itself for her to
trip through with her basket, Little Red
Riding Hood comes to me one Christ
mas eve to give me information of the
cruelty and treachery of that dissem.
bling wolf who ate her grandmother
without making any impression on his
appetite and then ate her after max
ing that ferocious joke about his teeth.
She was my first love. l felt that It
| could have married Little Red Rid
ing Hood I should have known perfect
bliss. But it was not to be. and there
was nothing for it but to look for the
wolf in the Noah's ark there and put
him last in the procession on the table
as monster who was to be degraded. (.
Oh, the wonderful Noah's ark! 1t
was not found seaworthy when put In
washing tub, and the animals weres
crammed in at the roof and needed to
have their legs we'll shaken down be-
fore they could be got in even there.
and then ten to one they began to tum-'
BILE out at the door. which was but Inn
perfectly fastened with wire latch.
But what was that against it?
Again a forest and somebody up in
tree-not Robin Hood, not Valentine,
not the Yellow Dwarf; have passed
these and all Mother Bunchs wonders
without mention-but an eastern king
with the glittering scimitar and tur-i
ban. 1t is the setting in Of the bright
Arabian Nights
Oh. now all common things become
uncommon and quite enchanted to me-!
All lamps are most wonderful. ALI
rings are talismans. Common Tower
pots are full Of treasure. with little
earth scattered on the top; trees are for,
Ali Bahia to hide in: beefsteaks are to
throw down into the Valley Of Dfa-'
monds, that the precious stones may
stick to them and be carried by the
eagles to their nests. whence the trad
ers, with loud cries. will scare them.
All the dates imported come from the
same tree as that unlucky one with,
whose shell the merchant knocked out
the eye Of the genie's invisible son.
But, bark! The waits are playing.
and they break my childish sleep.
What images do associate with the
Christmas music as see them set
forth on the Christmas tree! Known
before all the others, keeping far apart
from all the others. they gather round
my little bed-an angel. speaking to
group Of shepherds in field: some
travellers, with eyes uplifted, following
star; baby in a manger; child In
spacious temple. talking with great
men; a solemn figure, with mild and
beautiful face. raising dead girl by
the hand: again, near city gate call.
ing back the son Of widow on his
bier to life: crowd of people looking
through the open roof of a chamber
where he sits and letting down sick
person on bed with ropes: the same.
in tempest. walking on the waters:
in ship again, on a seashOre, teach
ing q great multitude: again. with 4
child upon his knee and other children
around; again. restoring sight to the
blind. speech to the dumb. hearing to
the deaf. health to the sick, strength
to the lame. knowledge to the ignorant;
again, dying upon cross. watched BY
armed soldiers. a darkness coming On.
the earth beginning to shake and only
one voice heard, Forgive them, for
they know not what they do"'
Encircled by the social thoughts oe
Christmas time, still let the benignane
figure of my childhood stand unchang-
ed! In every cheerful image and sug-
gestion that the season brings may
the bright star that rested above the
poor roof be the star Of all the Chris
tan world!
A moments pause. o vanishing tree.
of which the lower boughs are dark to