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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times-Advocate, 1966-12-22, Page 8ailluatata.„ Remembered Herself, It is a wise and kindly plan, at Christmas, to remember those who will ,probably b. forgotten by others, or who have no earthly ties left to be drawn closer at that loving time. An incident, as pathetic as it is absurd, which happened within the knowledge of a minister, made him, as lie says, resolved to carry, at•every holiday time, some Sunshine to hearths that had grown cold and lone. ly. It was before his ordination, when ho was turning a penny by teaching school in a country district, and "boarding round.' On Christmas week of that year he stayed at the house of a middle-aged widow, a cneery uncomplaining matron, who always insisted on her share of the teacher, "for company." When Christmas Bye came, they went together to the town hall, where there was CA be an entertainment, to see the gifts taken from the tree. Just as they were about to enter the door, the good lady turn ed to the teacher and said, with a quizzical look and a comfortable laugh,— "I'm going to tell you something, but don't you laugh at me." "Indeed, I won't !" You see there's nobody left to give me 2hristmaii presents, and it makes me ,...el sort of blue not to have any—so guess went ve done I" "I can't possibly." "I've bought a pair of gloves. and sent 'em to be hung on the tree, marked with my name. Now when you hear me called you'll laugh, I'll be bound 1 But I sha'n't care ; it makes me fuel more like Christmas to have something, if I do give It to my• self." She evidently regarded the little affair ra an excellent joke, and when her gloves wore taken from the tree, nodded and smiled at the minister, in high good. humor, and with a pretence that. elm knew who hail given than to her. Ilut upon the young man the effect was lint qui to the name. 050217- MBMINialLOILMOINNEWRIGEN0292 Times Established 1873 Advocate Established 1881 Amalgamated 1924 exeferZimalktuocafe SERVING CANADA'S BEST FARMLAND Member: C.W.N.A., 0.W.N.A., C.C.N.R. and ABC Publishers: J. M. Southcott, R. M. Southcott Editor: Bill Batten Advertising Manager: Val Baltkafns Phone 235.1331 Published Each Thursday Morning at Exeter, Ont. Authorized as Second Class Mall, Post Office bep't, Ottawa, and for Payment of Postage in Cash paid in Advance Circulation, September 30, 1966, 4,427 SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada $5.00 Per Year; USA $7.00 ERRS • May your day be bright with the joys of Christmas, glory shone in the heavens. May great joy be yours. ZCCCCtEZCO'WfZC:Cfi'tCO':.Cf:f1:tfzCC:#: WOW,Cti:CCCO44 113v..f for an 01r1-3a5hioutNti 01:11ristmas Because this is our last issue before our Centennial year arrives, we decided to combine our Christmas greeting to all our readers with an additional wish that the year of Canada's 100th birthday will not only bestow upon you all the blessings possible, but that it will also be filled with merriment and reward. The items appearing on this page, with the exception of Randy Jones' annual contribution and the advertisements, were photographed from papers dating back to 1887. As you can see, things have changed in newspapers but not the wish that its publishers, staff and contributors extend •— that this Christmas and the New Year will be the best our readers have had in the past 100 years. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF CHRISTMAS. After nineteen centuries of Christianity it may .still be doubted if the treesignifie- ance of Christmas Day has passed into the common intelligence. The very slowness with which the day came into observance proves the difficulty of grasping the deep- eat meaning of the festival. Of all the. festivals of Christendom, Christmas was the latest to b recognized. Easter and Good Friday date from the very events which theycommemorate. Pentecost and Ascention Day were adopted into the calendar while yet the Church was a suffering and persecuted body; the death- days of martyrs and of saints were cele- brated from the earliest times. But it was not until the Roman Empire had embraced Christianity, not until the victorious Church had sent its missionar- ies to subdue the Northern barbarians to its sway, and the necessity of giving to the populance a Christian festival in place of suppressed heathen observances had become apparent, that the Roman Satur- nalia and the Scandinavian Yule became Christmas, and the commemoration of the birth of the world's Redeemer took the place of that celebration of the cessation of the year's toil— that hailing of the birth of the powers of nature—which to the Southern and the Northern mind respect- ively seemed the tit occasion of fullest joy. Very little did rude Viking or over refined Italian realize of the deepest significance of the change. Few among them could have seen the promise of Winter solstice fulfilled in the birth of the Lordand Giver of Life, or the Saturnalian leveling of ranks made permanent in the equal brotherhood of men in Christ : none the less is Christmas Day the fulfillmentof the prophecy of both. And that it is only within the memory of men now living that the celebration of the birth of Christ has become universal proves only how tremenduousare the truths which it brought to light, and which the human mind finds so hard to grasp. For what dues the Advent signify, indeed, but the revelation of a new life, the eternal, by which anew light is thrown upon the relations between man and man, between the human and the divine, be- tween the present and the future, between the things that are seen and the things that do remain, the transitory and the permanent? Say what we will of civiliz- ations in which Christianity has had no part—of China, and of India, and of ancient Greece and Rome—their intelli- gence, their culture. their respect for law, the consistency of their institutions— taking them at their best, and owning, as we must the shortcomings of Christendom its Philistinism, its berbarity its failure everywhere to roach its own standard— this, at least, must always be confessed: that its civilization is formed by an idea entirely undreamed of before; an idea whose inspiration is boundless, whose promise is not limited to the boldest conception of the human mind, whose standard is not a conceivable perfection, but a grand consistency with eternal beauty. The birth of Christ flung wide the gates of the inFnite, the eternal, and by that one act gave boundless possibilities to human endeavor. This is not a mere matter of creed, Skeptic, agnostic. pos- itivist, no less than the most literal believer in revealed religion, hold the great truth of solidarity which makes all human endeavor, past, present and to conic, but parts oeone colossal act— the uplifting of the nice to ideal perfection-- and gives to every mortal span, however brief, the power of an endless life. That there are these who do not recognize the source from which the truth is drawn shows only what may be the limitations of even the noblest minds, Thisis the great truth revealed at the birth of Christ—the oneness of humanity in him who was the Son of Man. By this fact both life and immortality are brought to light. No life is bounded by its birth and death; no work is incomplete which is so begun =hat another may go on to build upon its foundation; no pain or pang of human soul but is felt through all humanity ; no victory of human endeavor that does not uplift the whele human race. Thus be- lieving is to live indeed— thus living is to enter ins, the tIcaLee of Christmas Day. ...••••••••••••.•14 His Christmas Gift. It seems like a hundred years ago, That we travelled once through the drifted snow To meet round the Christmas tree. You were a child, with a fair, round face. And you hung on the tree with a shy, sweet graoe Your Christmas present for me. 'Twas a scarlet beaded pincushion heart, Brilliant and shiny—a triumph of art— With a bead bird on it—a dove, 'Twas bought of a "squaw's (who spoke with a brogue), And you said in your note—dear little rogue — That you gave it me with your love. Well, that little red heart has been with me Through distant countries far over the sea, Crossed river, mountain and lake ; Though never a pin have its tough sides known, For the heart was hard as Pharaoh's own, But I love it for your sake. We're very much older and wiser now, We meet with a formal word and bow, And many snore things we know; We don't hang our hearts on trees, I'believe, Nor wear them either upon our sleeve; Ti it better, I wonder, so? The tree is laden with gifts to-night, And the colored tapers are gleaming bright, And the Chriet-Child floats above; Bit my hoped for gift Isn't ou the tree, I want a heart—will you give it me, As yen did before, "with your love?" RIRS VIA S On Tuesday next we will reach the greatest season of the year for which the young can, hardly wait and which. speaks to the old with a power that the lessening years alter but can never obliterate. The spirit of the day is young enough after 1000 years to completely conquer its foes. The fes- tival had consecrated to itself, the the holly, the mistletoe and evergreen. The puritan. spirit which ruled old England for nine years and founded New Fd ttgland, hated (and it could hate wen) with deepest intensity this festi- val which had for many years, been the greatest observer of the church and pegple. When they landed on shore the Journal of the Mayflower contained an item for December 25th, 1(114, stating that upon this day they went on shore and all hands labored, no man resting on that day. Could the old and grim sectarian with his bell shaped hat and queer garments, return to the land in which he was then making his home he would find that the spirits of Christmas had been too strong for him and had conquered his posterity in the face of all his hate and measure of stern repression. He would find the emblems of Xmas. deck- ing hall, cottage and church and all his efforts to obliterate then in vain. In order to banish them he had banish- ed himself from England and now they are living where his history is unread or forgotten page, Christmas has grown to be the great re-union day. All the absent ones come home for Christmas. Sad is the one who can- not come; sad is the one that misses him. It is the children's day and a page of coining hopes that are vanish- ed is turned when the stocking hangs no more in its accustomed place. How pretty are the legends of the day. On Christmas the aspen leaves are still and tremble not, the wood is forgiven its sin when out of it was made the cross for which it was condemned to tremble for ever. Pilate rests till the dawn and then again begins to wash his bloody hands. The wandering Jew sinks into slumber and until the sunrise his black hair is as white as his pillow of snow. The Germans say that if you sleep in a manger on that night all your future \;,-.7111 be opened and told. Th-e-boarAsc--too, they say, Kneel wh'2.Whe planets se to and pray for men. Our Danish ances- tors say the Saviour's crown was made of holly and when its berries which once were white became stained with his blood they turned scarlet and so have since remained. The mince pie once contained mutton for its meat in memory of the shepherds who watch- ed their flocks by night and its fruit and spices are a symbol of the gifts brought by the wise men from the East, who came to worship the Baby born King of the Jews. How the beauty of the day touches with its own beauty every symbol and hour connected with it. So in the best spirit of the day we wish all our read- ers a happy and merry Christmas. hbleguy of Um Old Bow. They are • k.ving it good time in the home, to day. My !limiter hitohed n u, lip yeeter day and look me to the city, bringing back it load of goo I things for the eeloymont of every rournl”r of the family except me. I don't understand why I'm not entitl- ed to a little share of the (livid+ rid that the farm has this year declared. What eou1d have been done without me, I wonder? I have plowed the ground, pulverized the soil, planted the grain, cultivated the oorn, reap- ed the wheat, gathered in the harvest, and done odd chores around the farm, and what have I got to show for my work ? I don't want any fancy togg'try for my head, nor any gimcracks about my body. I'd like a good warm blanket to keep me from taking cold after I've been so over-worked that I'm reeking with perspiration, bat I take notioe I haven't got it. I wish my master would pay &little more attention to my stall and keep it in better condition. I like to breath swe:,t, fresh air just as well as he does. Sometimes I get a little too manila it, thought, Those wide cracks and that broken window make it nn• comfortably cold sometimea. My master growls 4ecause it takes AO much corn to keep me in flesh, but how can he expect me to put flesh on my bones and warm up all out doors besides ? Just listen to the uproar and the shouts of merriment over the Christmas cheer to which I was the largest contributor. Yet I am standing here suffering for s drink of water. My master allowed one of his young cube to hitch me to the sleigh this morning, and I was whipped, yanked and yelled at until excitement, over-exertion and labour threw me into a profuse perspiration. But here comes my master with some water and s good feed of oats, I Suppose. Another disapointment, for he is getting the harness down, and I suppose somebody has been promised a sleigh.ride. Well, there is noth• ing far me bta to submit. If I isboilld at• tempt to make any kind of a protest, I should teet the worst of it. If I should ven- ture to kink or balk even when goaded to it by hunger, thirst-and fatigue, I should get a heating that would make my bones ache for many a day. One day the minister was riding with my master and I heard him say "Come unto me all yye that labor and are heavy Wee and I will give you rest." I -think he said this was an invitation extended by some great. AI aster. 11 iiw I wish I could find him, or that my musler would adopt some of his me• thods, "Merry Christmas 1" shout the boys and girls, and 1, wish I had (Anse for whin. nering a joyful response. Hints for the Preparation of Christmas et New Year's Dinner. We assume that some Canadian house— holds will this year be keeping their &et Christmee. To the young housewife, ancl. even to some of greater experience, the fol- lowing hints will be valuable : To Clean Turkey or Chicken.—When 1701 picked tinge by removing the stove cover and putting some paper io, pass the bird over the fl time, taking care not to blacker it or burn the skin. Cut the neck off as near the body as plea sible, pushing the skin down before you elte it, so us to leave enough skin to cover the place where the reek has been cut ; cut off the feet below the joint ; with your foreciln ger loosen the crop and take it out without- breaking or emptying it. Neat cub a slit right under the rump large enough to run two fingers if a chicken or a duck, your hand if a turkey or goose, into the body. Before rettemptine to draw out the entrails, loosen with your finger all the tiny strings; that attach them to the body—be sure that your fingers can pass between the oontentee of the stomach and the body in every direr tion without obstruction ; then bend your hand or fingers round the mass and draw it forward. This will briug the whole out ir, a ball ; by no means drag it by any par- ticular part or you will break the entrails or gall bladder, and the whole process, in the- former case, be an unclean one ; in the lat- ter, the bird may be spoiled, for it is impo:a• Bible to wash away the bitter of the gall if broken. Cut off the vent which will free the main entrail. If properly managed the bird. will he quite clean inside, and need only wiping with a wet cloth ; if not clean, pour lukewarm water through the bird, wipe in side and out with a towel, but do not wash the outside unless necessary from accidental soiling. With care a chicken or turkey may be emptied without any uncleanliness ; lay the bird aside, The gall, a small dark green7blailder, is attached to the liver ; cut it off, leaving e bit of the liver with it to avoid breaking. Throw the liver into cold water ; by cutting; the gizzard very carefully at the wide side without penetrating the inner skin, it can be peeled off, leaving the inside whole, thus avoiding the usual mess made by inexperi- enced hands. Scald and skin the feet ; put liver, gizzard, heart, feet and neck on in a pint of water if chicken, a quart if turkey, with a slice of onion and piece of carrot if at hand, and let them stew slowly down to the quantity, when they will be a stif. jelly. TIIE STCFFINO. To Truss and Stuff ,'Chicken or Turhsy.e... For roasting, twist the pinions under the: wing ro the back, push up the legs until they lie Het against the side of the lerd aril the lower joints are even with the rump; pees a skewer through the centre of the thighs, bringing it out opposite ; fasten them in that position, with a cord ; fasten the ends of the legs close to the vent ; press: on the breast bone hard with the palm of. the hand. If the bird is to be stuffed,, loosen the skin of the breast and put the forcemeat (see recipe) where the crop was turn the neck skin over to the back and sew. it. To Roast Chicken or Turkey.—Flour it.;. put it in a dripping pan with a few slices 'fat pork, or if you prefer it put a good piece of butter in a, wooden spoon, pressed to make it stick ; to baste, rub the butter- over the bird ; keep the spoon in a cool spota when not in use. A chicken takes one hour or less to cook, according to size ; a ,turkey three to four- hours. If you uee'pork, whenithe bird is brown-' edall over (for which purpose it must ho: turned over and round) pour off the fat very- carefully and-remove the pork. Have the. gizzard ready chopped, the liver mashed fine and a teaspoonful of flour mixed with it, Pour the broth from the giblets to it, stir well and boil in the pan on top of the etuve a few seconds. Remove strings and skewers, set the laird in a dish, and if turkey garnish with a feve sausages or fried oysters. The English and Continental journals continue to publish articles varying in ength from a column to a page dis- cussing the chances of an almost immedi- ate European war. Military circles in Berlin are imbued with the conviction that war is imminent, but there is a sus- picion that in this case the wish is father to the thought. One high official in the German military service is quoted as saying that the situation has assumed a phase mlking it possible that war may come over night. The Berlin Post is also a firm believer in the nearness of war and goes to the length of fixing the time during the month of February. The Loudon Observer; on the other hand, while deprecating hostilities as the result of any of the existing differences between the European powers; believes that there will be no war. "Everyone," it says, "inclines to the belief that a war precipi- tated by Russia is inevitable ; but this is hardily possible, Whether Russia wants to fight or not, and is doubtful if she does, there Call be no war without the consent of Germany, and thus far there is no reason for assuming that she enter- tains a wish for war." P.a. 042 NA sul* men su:, sun v,,4"As7.a Happy Holiday Warm wishes and sin- cere thanks to our loyal friends and patrons, Sander's Grocery Exeter 235-0822 ..teesea,;;ZAiOaleee*.Neaii:VAWaiieSkr41,es Stephan Orenczuk Tailor & Upholsterer Exeter 235-1877 MacGregor Welding Exeter 235-1273 Wz:Nilq:kit:NEt;?•.e.i-Ggil:Nceray41 ,;:?y Fisher's Hardware For Everything In The Hardware Lino EXETER PHONE 2 3 5.2 1 90 Oatte4iuVatiIlkittNIrtatti'<404.1iPiac?,i6Wfa xoter ones. THURSDAY, r)Ec. 22ND 1887