The Ely miner., 1943-12-23
By KATHLEEN NORRIS

n TOW that Christmas is so
NJ close some of us who are
getting on in years are
remembering other Christ
masses. It rather sobers me to
realize that my Christmas recol-
lections go back more than half
a century-say to Christmas in
1893.
We lived in the country then;
father, mother, unmarried aunt
almost every family was sup
piled with one of these, and six
children. My father was a bank
manager on salary of six thou
sand a year, which was consid-
cred wealth. We had a horse and
a surrey, two cows, chickens, a
cook and an upstairs maid. The
cook did all the washing in a day
when ladies and little girls revelled
in white starched petticoats and en-
broidered muslin nighties; she did
all the cooking and put up 400 jars
of fruit every year. The maid helped
with ironing, made the beds, swept
the rooms, and acted as nurse about
half the time. These girls were
paid $22 and SIT a month, respec-
lively. Beef was 10 to 16 cents a
pound, "soup vegetables came for
nothing; bread was five cents loaf;
children's "pebble-goat" shoes cost
less than two dollars a pair.
We children had plenty of jobs;
we had no sense of sitting back and
being waited upon. My older broth
er had full responsibility for the
cows, horse and chickens; my sister
and I had to dust rooms, to fill II
lamps every day, to set and clear
the dining table, to sweep porches,
to run errands for the grown-ups.
When the semi-annual sewing orgy
was on, and Miss Wilde came, we
had to clear the sewing room every
night, job / think of even now
with loathing. Scraps and threads
and paper patterns
Church Important at Christmas.
Christmas was a great time. Prep
arations had to 60 on about four
fronts. Church was one important
item. There must be special music,
which meant night rehearsing with
all its thrills of walks in the swing
ing lantern light; there must be spe-
cial decorations. There was a Sum-
day School tree for poor children,
always wonderful spiritual uplift
for the luckier children who wrapped
and distributed packages.
Then there were presents to make
and-more rarely-to buy. There
was the tree to find, and fell, and
trim. There was the kitchen excite
ment of seeding raisins and chop
ping citron, with all the grown-ups
buzzing about. And finally, there
were family arrivals, cousins, aunts,
Grandma, coming in cold and BEAM
ing, and being welcomed by roaring
fires and dancing children; dinner
all ready, beds carefully assigned,
red berries on the table and fra
grant wreaths at the windows. And
the solemn ceremony of stocking
hanging for the last thing Christ
mas Eve.
There was no war then, no talk of
war. There had been a Civil war
not too many years earlier, but as
the family had been sharply divided
between Boston and Richmond, it
was never mentioned. What was
going on in the Balkans, in Lady,
smith or Manchuria concerned us
not at all. That the machines that
men were even then inventing would
one day grow into such hideous pow
er that whole cities would fall in
ashes beneath them; that war would
reach out across the wide oceans
and engulf us, never occurred for
one instant to the ladies who sat
rocking before the great wood fire.
Telephones were new and consid-
cred somewhat fearful power. No
mention of automobiles, radio, NOV
les as yet. No wireless; no planes.
Without all these the world was a