Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1920-12-20

A good deal of water had run under
Beulah Bridge since Lefty Boynton
had sat at her window on a Decem-
Der evening unconsciously furnishing
copy and illustration for a Christmas
card: yet there had been very few out
ward changes in the, village. Winter
had melted into spring, burst into
summer. faded into autumn, lapsed
into winter again,-the same old,
ever-recurring pageant in the world
of Nature, and the same procession
Of incidents in the neighborhood life.
The harvest moon and the hunters
moon had come and gone; the first
frost, the family dinners and re-
unions at Thanksgiving, the first
snowfall; and now, as Christmas ap-
preached, the same holiday spirit
was abroad in the air, slightly modi-
fed as it passed by Mrs. Popham's
mournful visage.
One or two babies had swclled the
census, giving the minister hope of
larger Sunday-School; one or two of
of the very aged neighbors had
passed into the beyond; and a few
romantic and enterprising young
farmers had espoused wives, among
them Osh Popham's son.
The manner of their choice was not
entirely to the liking of the village.
Digby Popham had married into the
rival church and as his betrothed.
was masterful young lady it was
feared that Digby would leave Mr..
Larrabee's flock to worship with his
wife. Another had married without
visible means of support, a proceed
always to be regretted by thoroughly
prudent persons over fifty; and the
third. Deacon Todd's eldest son, had
somehow or other met siren from
Vermont and insisted ON wedding her
when there We're plenty of marriage
able girls in Beulah.
i've no patience With such ac-
tions!" grumbled Mrs. Popham.
Young folks are so full of notions
nowadays that they look for change
and excitement eyerywheres. I spose
James Todd thinks it's a decent,
respectable way of actin, to turn his
back on the girls he's been brought
up an gone to school with, and
court somebody he never laid eyes
on till a year ago. It's a free coun-
try, but must say don't think it's
very refined for a man to go clear
off somewheres and marry a perfect
stranger!'
Births, marriages. and deaths, how
ever, paled into significance COM
pared with the spectacular debut of
the minister's wife as q writer and
embellisher of Christmas cards, two
at least having been seen at the local
milliner's store. How many she had
composed, and how many of them
(said Mrs. Popham) might have been
rejected. nobody knew, though there
was much speculation; and more
than one citizen remarked on the size
of the daily package of mail matter
handed out by the rural delivery man
at the parsonage gate.
No one but Mrs. Larrabee and
Lefty Boynton were in possession of
all the thrilling details attending the
public appearance of these works Of
art; the words and letters of appre-
citation, the commentator, and the
occasional blows to pride that at
tended their acceptance and publ
cation. '
Mrs. Larrabee's first attempt, with
the sketch of Lefty at the window
on Christmas Eve, her hearth-fire
aglow, her heart and her door open
that Love might enter in if the Christ
Child came down the snowy street.
this went to the Excelsior Card Com
pany in large Western city, and the
following correspondence ensued:
Mrs. Luther Larrabee,
Beulah, N. H..
Dear Madam
Your letter bears a well-known
postmark, for my father and my
grandfather were born and lived In
New Hampshire, up BeuIaha way"
L accept your verses because of the
beauty Of the picture that accom-
panied them, and because Christmas
means more than holly and plum
pudding and gift-laden trees to me,
for / am a religious mana minis
terial father and three family dea-
Gems saw to that, though it doesn't
always work that way!-Frankly, I
do not expect your card to have a
wide appeal, so I offer you only five
dollars.
A Christmas card, my dear madam,
must have. a greeting. and yours has
none. If the pictured room were a.
real room, and. some one who had
seen or lived in 1t. should recognize it,
it. would attract his eye, but we can
not manufacture cards to meet such
romantic improbabilities. am en-
boidened to ask you because you live