HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Times, 1899-12-22, Page 8E WINGIIA . TIMES; 1iECE E13EIi
Tia better to live than receive:"
Tie words make a poor fes row one
A Fellow so smitten,
! gave the coeuattish ASOWOO
heart and a diamond ring:
55e. gave me the mitten!
A POSTPONED
CHRISTMAS.
BY 1'. Ai' At:THIIR
•
:Copyright, IS9S, by the Author.]
r; .,.e HIE story of the
• t -. ,; ; postponed Christ-
mas is a tradition
•::• of the Preston
family; but, like
most traditions,
it requires a few
words of 'espie-
s.-
~
nation to make it
• .••- clear how such
e' an unaccountable
,r.,.
-- thing could hap-
pen.
Seventy years
ago, when. I' -try Preston, the patriarch
of an impcL.ant Canadian family, set-
tled in Kemol-a, the strangely directed
energy of Colonel Talbot was changing
the. wilderness on the northern shore of
Lake Erie into afruitful province. Year
by year shiploads of peasants came from
Great Britain to take upland in the ter-
ritory where he was almost an absolute
monarch, and with them came many
younger sons of noble families 'who
were an!' :t:cl:s t;, u.r::e !:.Lir tortuues
in the new world. Among the latter
came our hero, and it was in the first
year of his exile that the little adven-
ture occurred that all who enjoyed his
acquaintance often heard him describe.
In those days a Canadian winter had
many terrors that have sicca become a
memory. The autumnal rains cbanged
the level country into a series of vast
swamps, and when these miry reaches
were frozen to a. depth of several feet
the winter had •a foundation on which.
to build. In consequence, from the 1st
of December to the middle of 1iereb
there was ablest enit:tc:rt ptel cold
weather, when the thermometer remain-
ed steadily at a point it cannot now
reach without the aid of a -cold wave
from the northwest, but the swamps
are now drained, the forests that held
the snow have been cleared away and a
'variable climate has taken the place of.
the earnest weather that was then the
rale. Even worse than the cold, how -
veer, was the almost unimaginable lone-
liness. When the winter had fairly set
in, the intense frost put a check on all
oonimunication, even though it solidified
and improved the roads that were usual -
tho forest nud: gladden the eye with a
viow that would- give the imagivatiou
tho sense of freedom it graved. *What
wonder that ill such a situntiou the pio-
neers were sometimes.. known to climb,
the loftiest trees at. the risk of their
lives so as to gain 'a wider prospect each
as they were accustomed to in the oivi-
lized and pleasingly diversified countries
fres, whieb they came.
i Bat this distressing state of affairs is
now n thing of the past. Instead of the
isolation that tortured the pioneers.
thele is now a danger of overcrowdiug,
instead of monotony there is overmuoh
variety, where lumbering stagecoaches
toiled oncea, week over corduroy rail-
road trains pass every hour, and a
Canadian winter is now a season of
leisure and enjoyment.
The village of Ilemoka, where Pres-
ton kept store and'vas the postmaster
from. 1820 to 1880, was one of the
dreariest spots on the continent during
the thug wintersthat, then prevailed.
It wasdeep in that forest that gave a
name to the Longwaods district, and
the settlers who patronized the store,
blacksmith and inevitable tavein wore
scattered over a large territory. In a'uch
a place, where companionship was so
necessary, it was but natural . that a
man who bad been gently nurtured
could notfind it, and during his first
winter young Preston was often on the
verge of despair. In his position as post-
master the poverty of the pioneers was
brought home to him more keenly than
in any other way. .At that time the
young colony was so misgoverned and
every department of the publio service
was so scandalously conducted fcr the
benefit of private indit'iduals that the
extortionate fees charged by omciala
frequently made letters cest'fiom 5 to 7
•
OT a woolly fleece the animal wore a
idea of overcoat made of hempen wives
sawed roughly with cords of basswood
bark. A careful examination convinced
bim that his assailant was tho vener-
able leader of a email flock of sheep,
though he could by uo means guess tile
meaning of bis masquerading appear -
anon. Having satisfied biniself that the
creature was not supernatural, ho jump-
ed down from the stump tnteuding to
proceed to the house, bat before ho had
taken five steps he was sent lieadlouse
intoa snowdrift. He ¶vas blinded and
1--,--r-4---1,-.• Ji'.-
man wbo was at home with nature and
had a way of makiug the best of the
rougher side of life, His wife was a
woman who was in every way in accord
. with him, and. wlieu Preston was ushere
ed into the one room elf the but she rel-:
turned his greeting shyly, hilt still
frankly.
1 "This is the new postmaster, Jane,"
1 the farmer had said by •way.of, intro-
• duction, "and old Melohisedeo Vent at
him as if he'd been keepiu back a
i registered'lotter, and do yeh knew," he
• added, with a wink that required fully
half of his whiskered face to . exaoute,
"he didn't know that.today rist
• mas until I told him,
The woman looked at her •husband
,laughingly nna1, understanding, the
. meaning of bis wink, she chimed in;
"That is funny,. but I don't suppose
he'll object to, havin his Christmas
dinner with us just the same.."
"Well," replied Preston, lookb.g'.
hungrily at a huge wild turkey flint
was browning in 'a heavy iron pan on
tho coals before the roaring fireplace, .
"you may be poking fug it me, bat
that old gobbler is no joke, and he
ismells asipetizing." • "
1 The hill of fare, though,hrief; was of
a kind to satisfy an appetite sharpened
by vigorous exercise in the open air.
Tho savory turkey was stuffed with•
cliestnuts,'anekthere was a large wooden
� .1 dish full of steaming potatoes that had
i"•e . meta saved for the os;caeioq. These,' with
1 fresh scones of johnnycake, cQinpleted
"THAT'S THE LITTLE ;an. TFIAT COT UM- the homely banquet.
CHRISTMAS IN.CIIINA.
INTERESTIN&JjOLIDAY GUSTOMS'1N.
THE FAR EAST.
Festivities Over. the Return of the
Sun That Somcsrliatt Resemble the
Festivities of Christian' Lands—The
Angel of Light..
[Copyright, 1898, by the Author.]
031E. of the fes-
tivities popular
at di' ristmas
time are of groat
antiquity, . The
feast oo Yule was
held long before
the time of King'
Solomon. Toseoe
(otho'-Germanio. ,
ancestors living.
in the north . of
W:;Europeitwasthe
festival of the
'winter solstice„ when the days begin to
lengthen and to hint at coming spring. '
bowl or t
'shor , hdrinkingle log, the
e boar's head, the hoy, u i8Ue-
toe and evergreen 'were then symbols o$
1 material rather than spiritual truss.
The American, Scandinavian, Ger-
man' and Englishman keep up the an-
cient custom, while the Latin races seem
to know nothing about it. They cele-
brate New Year's day, and do it in the ,
same fashion as we at Christmas.
The Chinese and Japanese came'oen-
CtI SEDEC IUTU THOUBLE•" While they were at the table there i turies ago from. Mongolia and Siberia, /
half smothered by the dry snow, and as was a sudden stir in the pieces of blast- their earlyif not original home. Living:
he partly rose to his feet, spluttering ket that covered a large sap trough in ; in a land whose winter brought snow
and clawing, he was. howled over again the oorner, and the queruloua cry of 'a ' and ice, they also .uotioed and rejoiced
• by his aggressive enemy. baby `Was heard. The mother hastened ' ober the solstice and the return of the
Now Preston had heard in his youth , to take her child from its primitive sun. Their merriment took the•form of '
that when attacked by a butting ram etftulle, and while she was hushing him eating, drinking• and; generous hospital-'
one should Iio still and wait for the , the father explained to the guest: ' ity and developed into a great festival "•
` ear
Now Bridget plies
thobroomwlth
_' •
caro
And bakes tial
biscuits light
'as air
,And never breaks .
tho si1 'err -
w are -
Christmas gift! •
•Your. wife smiles " 1
sweetly as of•
yore,
Greets you with •Tel
kisses at the 11111
door,
At "lodge night"
lateness scolds
leo afore=
Christmas gift!
e ..
brute to go away. He decided to try th i That's the little man that got Mel like our own. By degrees ee9 i 1 t was na-
tra
plan, but ho made the mistake of bis '. ohisedeo into trouble and made us poet- ' ferred to their New Year's, where sit ►
life. He had bare]y flattened himself pone Christmas." still remains. ., •<
(����out on the ground when the ram landed "But I don't understand bow," said Yet. even today the astrologers notice
on the small of his backwith the force Preston. the solstice in their almanacs, hero- •
of ]piledriver. The ram.seemed inclin- °"Well," replied his host half humor- scopes and tables,'and;in the last week
�IIoEI Is
ed to use him as the caroms clowns do oust , ball= defiantly; "JiardwOrkin .qf the month are, two festivals, ,vhoee
y t na ur is c i t
saults, • and he quickly realized that 1 mas, but when this little fellow came
though such a scheme might have been ' along it didn't seem just right that. he.
all right with a bellwether reared in 1 shouldn't have one. But "things wasn't
the lap of luxury; it was a complete i ready just in time. Yeh'-know yourself
failure with this . crook. gated, Dross there couldn't be no Christmas without
1 grained old wretch who had taken to baby havin Books to'be bung up, 'so we
X wearing a burlap'overcoat and had a had to shear old Melcbisedeo to get
7'. pair of horns' that would have done : wool, and as the souks didn't get made
',,• credit to a dilemma.. As soon as Preston till this -eek wo just naturally, had to
trecovered his breath he uttered a yell postpone Christmas until we were ready'
i that roused the echoes' foremiies and for it.,'
grappled with histormentor. He caught .1
Preston entered into the spirit of the ding goodby to the cruel ice spirit. He
bim by the horns and, together they occasion and adced a handful of pennies does not wish the latter: to see his liner -
rolled thrdugh the drifts, collided with . to the little doll acid string of glass ity lest spiritual vengeance be aroused
stumps' and sent the snow flying in beads that Santa Claus had left in the and a cold. spell in March or April rein
cicada,' while Preston's yells mingled :'staff `little pair' of stockiugs, and the the crops. So ho pnts. little' cups' of
with the frightened bleating of the ram. 1 shadows were long bbfore he passed the' fragrant tea; plates . of sliced boiled
The uproar brought the farmer on the a guard of Melohiseded and returned to chicken' and pieces of roasted spiced
•
the cushion on whicht' they turn comer folks like us never have time forChrist-nature • 1 armtngly poetic Ab
8
•. :l
Deo. 25 is that. of the . genus of the
north (who is the evil spirit of ice and.
winter's privation) stud about Deo. 29 is;
that of the angel - of sunlight. In the-
sameweek=:is the day of Chalag Sin, the: s
tutelary deity of, parenthood, towhom-
young married maples pray for healthy
maleissue. Tho fiat and. second are the
equivalents of Pule, the. pre-Ohristian
Yule. Tho, first contains -au element of •
humor. The Mongolian .is gladly bid-
"now DID TEH GFT INTitI3 TH>r 'MASSE^s scene, and with a few well directed his lonely office pork on n well- carved table where the
WITH MEL= ISNANO" kicks be made the ram lose interest in winter ghost can regale himself with
comfort. Bat at tho same time, to pro-
s vent his invisible visitor playing any
prauka, John Chinaman pastes written
SeeiW y,, talismans on the wall, burns joss sticks
in groups of three at every point valuer-
,/ li/ i' able to malicious goblins -and even fns-
tens a porcelain charm to his rooftree.
CVhen it comes to the festivao
l f the
shillings when they' reached the office the battle and return to his neglected • - The Chri
Ht which they were to be delivered. flock, with his coat trailing after him.
Letters from home were' naturally the The. farmer helped Preston to his feet
greatest • source 'of pleasure to these and inquired:.
lonely people, yet many were so poor "How did yeh get Intel] the ',Oriole
that it was impossible for them to pay With 11Zelchisedec?"
these fees. Letters that were no`s re- ' "Beelzebub, you mean, don't you? I ho
n' o oa hen then
deemed were exposed in the window of was coming up t . your use w
the office, and it web no unusual sight freak bunted me." •.
to see some of `the unfortunates to whom , "Well, yob mustn't be too hard on
they were 'addressed gazing at them him, if yeh ain't hurt: Yeh ain't, are
with hungry eyes. Sometimes they rec.-yeh?" ,
ognized the handwriting as that of a, "No."
loved one beyond the sea, and then the "Yeh see, he's bad a lot to try his
disappointment was all themore bitter: l speerit this winter. The'tvind may be
To escape from the thoughts and feel- ! tempered to the aborts lamb, as the sayin
ings provoked by such surroundings and I is,. but it ain't by a long shot for a
social conditions the young postmaster shorn ram, and 1 kinder gads the at of
often pat on his skates and found relief his overcoat ain't exactly to his likin.
in the exhilaration he derived from But 'settee zee for talkin so much before
skimming through the forest along the wishin yeh a merry Christmas."
stman' Spirit!
angel- of light, the observant traveler
can see the spirit of 'Yule shine ont in
Chinese colors. In place of the Yale
tog, there is a ateaming pot of tea; for
the boar's head there is a young pig
roasted; for the punch bowl and drink-
, lug horn there is a wicker covered bottle
or a graceful wino pitcher filled with
some etrange but aromatic stimnla}it.
The mistletoe and holly are replaced by
• bouquets and garlands of artificial flow-
ers, , and here and there are pots of
blooming narcissi or even a rosebush.
'glassy streams, justas a business man I A what?. asked Preston as ho bo re "Peace on earth, eh?" growled bM On the family altars and nearly every
of the present time escapes frons big i ed at the farmer with an airof bowil• .'Crusty to his wife the day after Christ-, Chinaman, no udder bow poor, has bis
L cares by retreating to his yacht and derment, ,ruse, own altar, before which lie prays and.
racing over the water under full sail. "A merry' Christmas:" "Peace on earth, eh? And you bought makes silent repeutance, are burning
On one of these occasions about the "Nonsense, man. This is almost the that boy a drum I" incense stinks, 'a bronze casket with
v0 middle of February of a forgotten year end of February. Christmas was over—
antoldering sandalwood within, a light -
he plunged farther into the wflderne s two months ago." Santa Claus Was lin It. ed candle and often a flaming votive
'M tt 1 than ever before, attempting to trace a, "Not by a long shot it ain't. Today .- "Theed Americans down there," said candle, gay in scarlet and gold. At the
frozen creek to its souroe, and about`, is Christmas, !tell yeh. Yet] most have Santa Claus, as he sat on the lee sideof temple a throng visits the angel's par-
` e• noon suddenly emerged into a little of twisted when Navin it out with ,an iceberg and waited for Christmas
•.e 3 oe he had not lahlsedeo, Ile didn t hit .yeh on the eve, seem to think I m not ti to data. flouts: shrine. Some eJeplode 4treppraolr-
' p era ii] her honor. Others ]suite
I s'rTgltas P' WESIO) i4 NOT
WINDOW. WEtsil:
'1y quite as bad as those 0f Scotland "be-
fore they were made," As neighbors in.
rare sae] y twenties often lived ten miles
,,trrtvuritswere infrequent, and during
n dreary wit trot few of the
s .>4l from shear
�1p6 give as ttri devolatio'n was
`Peeling of being
arli forests rest on
aisr s>tagia8
pa Ito of
•
clearing of whose existence "'
previously been aware. Knowing the het), did he?" Now I wonder," he murmured as he joss sticks in gratitude for her favors
p
hospitality of the pioneers, he decided "lbw, see here, what sort of non... went in I:Iady rang up' .his polar stables, .the past year and in hope of their eon-
to visit the little log, hat that stood on sensei, is this you are talking about "what they'd think if they saw me at tinuanoe during the harvest to Dome.
the edge of the olearingand get his din• C,hristkitas: asked Preston, .with the it just at present?" Then he pressed a Then come those who ask the angel, to
net" before returning to his office, air of is man who was ready to get button in the aide of the iceberg and be present at the funeral of a parent or
After unstrapping his skates he start. aBg1 said] "Grizzly, run out that new deer~ child, the marriage of a son, the setting
toward the house from the stone None all. Yoh must come to the less motor Sleigh of mine, while I load out on •a journey, the bedside of a sick.
eel ,
chitnneyof••tvhieh got -medal smoke was house and ]► Cbristti:ae dlntier with her ftp: And look here, Grizzly, the
,
ascending. He had proceeded but a few us and mar— n -st'ai'convince yc9, noxttime you take out tba new elec-
k it just
n'tr let you
fate kr
hat he Could to remove tri,`," airship of mine and bi
the effects of tee PIl. when 1 want to use it, 1w
irisedec and followed play in that toy orchard of
i.n ::a: .1!P4 Inca !rot yv'Irele year!
af, , •to date, eh!" sista
d ihto tutee int
f :mimic '" jtrt
ole r"
steps when he WAS oonfrolated by an 1 Preston did
aggressive apparition that ((startled hies !u'' tlt
i. into t sad! areti^vtt r. J'*st in time to ''
male a gn'erl'dd anti, twisted 'pit
r OA t '!r w i bh t� ,nnrr ly.*rf atop
tp. • �s •,3}(„ 0al vi ;pi G k tt n i nen n bre saran
ad I
sr tend,
Silete' h. iIsik
t
S'
room. . After prayer the poor priests
and servitors of the temple are rsmen -
beret! in a few ,hall coleys .A btroidld
\1sf • (4y p r .11r1"64 baa q t
w
ni (ni} Inia:ii9 � 1 V. JL�J Ctp (iui-
k,. !W) t ,tthl 4t1C gag
ptr `lb Elicit tbp
Your daughter
playsthetunes
. you like,
Relrainsfrom
bloomers on
her bike,
For opera tickets
doesn't strike -
Christmas gift!' ;
Youryouthfulhelr
has grown po-
.1lte,
Ile ; hails your •
coming with
delight
And cons his let-
sons
e -
sons half the
night
Christmas' gift!
But .pater knows
their `little
game:
This time eaoh
year 'tis Just, the same, '
Et ' makes him
• mutter toW: •
Gosh blame
Christmas gifts!
Mow • janitors .ars
willing chaps,
Politelymail mere
• ,:tots h .th'tr
caps,
And office 'boys
lag not at.
craps --
Christmas gift!
•
Chrintmrts In Oxford.
England,. the land of the wed:bevel
Yuletide festivities, is the home of
many strange and interesting Christmas
traditions, This is especially true of the
toWn of Oxford; the place where Shakes-
peare and his company of fellow actors
were wont to hold down the boards at
Christmastide three centuries ago. The
day of the strolling player has passed
away, but the old time Christman:
choral singers still go through the
streets of Oxford singing from door to
door their quaint old fashioned songs.
A strange old custom is kept up at
Queen's . college, Oxford, where eaolz
Christmas day a huge -boar's' head is
carried into the big old dining hall,
followed by the choir boys singing a.
Latinhymn of thanksgiving. The
greens with which the head is dressed
are afterward distributed among the
guests present at .the festival, and the
head itself is given to the poor of Oxe
ford town. The peculiar part of the
ceremony, which has been held with-
out a break for several centuries, is that
the boar's head always appears with
New Testament in its mouth* Tra-dla
tion explains this as foilovnt
the sixteenth century a pinus follpv
Queen's college was walitiaxg
over hill, ju'dt. outside i_ b
xtrtordals • ens' ,: ,deli
!nig the
b