The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1914-12-17

dren assembled around that pref
ty German toy. a Christmas tree.
Being now ut home again and alone,
the only person in the house awake.
my thoughts are drawn back by q fas-
cination which do not care to resist
to my own childhood. Straight In the
middle OF the room, cramped In the
freedom or its growth by no encircling
walls or soon reached ceiling, a shad.
owy tree arises. and. looking up into
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. I 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 ut first, but many
of them, with deliciously smooth cover
Of bright red and green!
"a was an archer and shot at a frog"
or curse he was! He was an apple
pie also, and there he is! He was q
good many things In his time. was A.
and so were most Of his friends, except
X, who had so little versatility that |
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-
dy 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 mt 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. | felt that II
l could have married Little Red Rid
ing Hood | should have known perfect
bliss, But 1t was not to be, and there
was nothing for 1t but to look for the
wolf in the NOah's ark there and put
him last in the procession on the table
as a monster who was to be degraded.
Oh, the wonderful Noah's ark! 1t
was not found seawOrthy when put In
q washing tub. and the animals were
crammed In at the roof and needed to
have their legs well shaken down be-
fore they could be got in even there.
and hen ten to n they began to tum.
BILE out at the door, which was but i'm
perfectly fastened with Il wire latch
But what was that against it?
Again a forest and somebody up In
a tree-not Robin Hood, not Valentine,
not the Yellow Dwarf; | have passed
these and all Mother Bunch's wonders
without mention-but an eastern king
with the glittering scimitar and tur-
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. All
rings are talismans. Common flower
pots are full of treasure, with a little
earth scattered or the top; trees are for
Ali Bahia TO hide in; beefsteaks are to
throw down into the Valley Of Dia
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 SOL.
But, bark! The waits are playing,
and they break my childish sleep.
What images do I 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
a group of shepherds In a field; some
travellers, with eyes uplifted. following
a star; a baby in a manger: a child in
a spacious temple, talking with great
men; a solemn figure. with a mild and
beautiful face, raising a dead girl by
the hand; again, near q city gate call
ing back the son Of q widow on his
bier to life: a crowd of people looking
through the open roof Of a chamber
where he sits and letting down a sick
person on a bed with ropes: the same.
In a tempest. walking on the waters;
In a ship again, on a seashore. teach
ing a great multitude; again. with a
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 a cross, watched by
armed soldiers, a darkness coming on.
the earth beginning to shake and only
M voice heard. Forgive them. for
they know not what they dor
Encircled by the social thoughts Of
Christmas time, still let the benignant
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
me yet. and let me look once more.