The Clinton News Record, 1931-12-17, Page 11UT S, DEC, 17, 9)
CHIIISTPlIOGri
gg
stEori Foo.„otli ist
Iilela t)ld 4h'aro s ere intzg
and fir-c?tm !acted.
A simple fireplace -arrangement
wvill make a peasant and Suitable
background for. the Christmas limo- -`
raikereto suggested for the, school-
room.. •The• selections to be read, of
• acted, group themselves naturally
•about the -hearth- Children lbvo
"drew ape lad may do so, for• ,the
• niugingtiof the iiarols, as 'well` as fcr
the acno.
The 'Christmas carols suggested
rare old favorites. Others may be
-substituted or added where the
°te+aeher ,finds it advisable. The pro-;
'dram will be brlefty 'as, follows:
1, Christmas 'Music. "1t eat e . yr -
,ort the midnight 'clear.'
Z. $elections from Snow -Bound
!lay 'Whittier.
3.. Froth "A Christmas Carol" by
Dickens, the scene, "Bob Cratchit'a
lChristman."
#. "'Swan the Night : Before
aCerietmas," •
1 S peristmas Ieinale, "Holy Night,
...'Silent Night.!'
Castrxmea Lor.the Chriatmaa muaie
Imam bite shutter to these need for the
}Dlekens!� sketch. •
"Snow -Bound," a Winter 'Idyl ,_by
Cohn Greenleaf' Whittier, "ebeuld 'be.
?appropriately announced. Two small
geeter heralds.: might do this, or
lone of •' the members . of the coat
paigbt 'Come bathos the curtain and
live the title,
ii'' Th. poet. ie too.tong.to be alien
�ht full. ft would need' to -be Guts
e boys' would probably like the!
Slant parts. and the girls could take
cup the part starting with:
1"Shut to from edi the world 'without.
We sat the Glean winged hearth
• about."
Different actions for the group are
suggested in the tines: •
'We sped the time with stories old
Wrought, puzzles out,• and riddles(
told !`
Or stammered trout our acbtwll
book lore," etc.
The aunt and tiabie'could be given.y
but perhaps not ht tall, and the "mats
tot; of the district school."
''Another guest" could lie emitted •
to advantage and the poept taken up{
at point: •
"At list the great logs crumbling
Sent out a dull and 'duller glow,"
ami finish with the description of the
Doctor.
Ifany alight changes -are notes-
munh oom
for
sea nextl before the•
youthful pages announce; "A Chrfst-4
• was Carel" by Charles Dickens. ;
A reader for the descriptive Parte
will be neeeesary and he can art at!
one tilde of the stage in front of the!
curtain. icor it would never do to'
Mutt, "Then up robe Mrs, Cretehtt
Bob Cratchit'e wife, dressed out but
Poorly in ribbons which are chewl�
and make a goodly show ,for si
pence," etc.
The Bret action will be shown in`
pantomtne, while the reader gales{
the east long paragraph. Mrs. Cra'
chit's first line status, "What bats ever)
got your preeloes father, then?"
The dialogue continues in a ltvely1
, manner until the reader takes lip the
tale 'with, "Bob's voice was tremu-
ieus as he told them this," and con -
Unties with the Christiana dinner, thej
actors performing in iiantomine.
The dialogue starts again with "Aj
Merry Christmas to ua all, my deare,l
God bless us."
The parts of Scrooge and the'
Spirit seem necessary to the story °
and can be acted by two Children
orread by the reader. A last para-
greph seems to clone the pretty little
episode .nicely with "Scrooge had,
his eye upon theta and especially eel
Tiny Tim, until the last."
The song suggested, 'Holy Night,
Silent Night," would be a bappy fin-
ish as a sort of, benediction; leaning
a pleasant and yet reverent thought
to carry away borne.
Mil CHRISTMAS WREATH,
With holly. and 'ivy
So green and so gay
We deck up our Jtouses
As fresh as the day.
With bays and rosemary
And lattrel complete;
And everyone. new
Is a king in conceit.
—Old Carol, 1695.
{ A Cern:B aas Wish.
'"'Puddings steaming, candies gleam-
Ing;
Branches weighted down.
'Christmas ;on the farms and ranches!
Cbristtnes in the townt
Christmas en the mountain ridges!
Christmas on the acs!
3day`your Christmas Day be marry
Wheresoe'er you bel"
Baking .Vereatbe at Nome.
'Inexpensive Christmas• wreatnn
shay be made of fettttings from pine
trees; barberry and bayberry with
plus cones wired 'on. At, any ftorist'a,
a wire :circle tali be bought with
bunches of thin wires, malting It this
easiest of tacks to build ttp•a wreath
that is unueual:in its beauty.
"0 Little ,Town of 13ethlcttena."
Dr: Brooks wrote "0 Little Town
of Bethlehem" while living Jt, Phila-
delphia. The organist et his, church
get the hymn to, music, The. inaptra
tion for the composition came to tjte
organist the night before the hymn
was to be used in a Chrintmau pro.
tvTtl T, tf)0b united in al-',
most sul)CtstittoUS' amaze.
menti P•
\lentil!" site gtia!,ed,
'"(bine here! Ii,'s---btu>-
oeneti again 1"
Bertha dropped the tetters
she was sorbed and ..-hur-
ried i'to the door.
"Laurel" her tone espressedl awed
unbeilef : "Are you
"Perfectly. Aren't you?"
Bertba's eyes narrowelt reflectively.
"rest"
For a moment the two stared at
each otlter in tight-Ai:Med• silence:
"'Aid you nee anyone when yon caner
to work?"
Bertha shook her head, "Not R
soul. The building was locked.
"If it weren't so near Ohnstmas anti
the whole force 'reeking overtime, it ,
would be easier to imagine" • -
From her brown curls and sparkling
eyes to her slim ankles Labra was
beautiful and genuine, Because Otte
never posed she wasn't set!-coeseioua.
That may have been her charm, and
why—in spite_ of her youth --Culver •
• had elected her postmistress.
"Imagine a young girl running a
post ottice i" some -said. But immedi-
etely they added, 'Laura eau' do it if
ntxybody can?' •
And Laura had been doing it. She
had tee Aunt Jules, bad left her only
a smallannuity and • the use of the
old residence for five years, at which
time It went to seine ebarity. That,
was all.
No, It wasn't quite all. And strange-
ly this task, this legacy to another,
was apparently causing ell the trouble.
)Sven the °rice myatere had begun at
about the time of the aiaappearunee•
of the grandfather clock. Laura loved
that clock. it recalled ehildhood as-
taociations. Maybe that was w7ty per-
verse old Aunt Juley, dying, had made
her premiae to repair it tor an Ernest
Hamilton, the son of Aunt Tnley's girl.
hood ,d7Im,
"The boy was always good to ale
when I visited his mother," Aunt enter
explainett
Restoring it would cost unbeliev-
ably. Aunt Ailey hadn't provided for
that, and Laura was saving every
penny toward It...
But by Chiletinas she'd have enough
to send to Lamest elemilton, a total
stranger, the most expensive present
she had ever })ought.
"With my first ef' December cheek
I'm going to send it to the clock-
ninkers,' she told Bertha and Bob,
her two, beat Mende.
But one evening just before that
Laura lind missed the old clock! it
was un awful feeling. She couldn't
believe it. Neither could Mrs, Adams,
the earetaker's wife.
"It's spirits, Miss Braden l" Mrs.
Adams gasped. "Your dead ain't
•
"tit's Spirits, Miss, erasion1" Mrs.
Adams Gasped,.
gonna see that clock leave the family I
Past week I've had a feelln—"
Laura didn't listen to Mrs, ,Adams'
sincere but terrifying theories,
it must have been stolen, But, by
whom? A stranger couldn't slip un -
.noticed este Culver where everybody
Mame eyerybody else.
"And," Bob reasoned as h and
Laura talked it over the next ' day,
"Culver people don't go in for . an•.
tiquese'
"Then, too," Laura added, "there.
wasn't u signof breaking in. In the
winter Mrs. ddams locks everything.
And everything was still locked this
morning."
. Bob whistled, "Looks like ,inside
work,,,
But Laura had known the Adainses
tea long not to be certain they: were
guittiese.
Bob's eyes held more concert) foe '
the slim, wonderful girl then •for the
Clock. "Don't you worry," he adtnon-
' tshed. "i'm going to trace thle4 Please,"
he pleaded; "don't worry.,' •
Because Laura didiet want Bob to
r think her foolish, she hadn't spoken
about the myatery in the °Mee. ' But
f for_' days she'd had a feeling .that
1atrange bands had arranged things at
!her disk, i'ihewaan't.positive at first.
• There ,was something so strange,
aibeitt it that Laura's petva5 tightened.
"ere going to find out about 1111x," she
determined.
7hen,Oob-waited las le titways did
to stroll the seven BTncke le her tort
seer, he ebelaimed Laura, you're
pals! Ton ought to get more help
during Ole Istanas week, I'd kelp free
et elutrge—"
"It's wail the Law.' Bele • Thanes
nAiaywai.". ,Laura smiled tnto bus
008 eyed.
lob was tall and straight and goad
Woking, He'd been -practising law in
"so, • .R*bort Hewardi You!
Common Thief 1"
Culver for almost a year xnd ‹lulrer
people were saying ",At last there's
s fellow good enough for Laura --only
itis tunny he'd nettle here. All our
boys with any git, go to the city,"
"A. lawyer's got to start in a small
Isl*ee, " Bob explalbed to Laura.
But Bob never intimated that she
was 'more to him than a. very good
' friend. And Laura tried to make her-
self regard him in as tale) a tight.
Three nights, 'without. telling either
Beth or Bertha, Laura. had hidden in.
her edict.
'Then it had happened. Tile light
burning over the sate had thrown
everytliing into grotesque shadow.
'Great heaps`af t;hristmas packages be-
came vague ghosts. into that silence,
a sound 1 Laura drew back. The door
had openedl
Slowly a circle of light advanced,
Behind It a shadow.' it reached her
desk. Laura suppressed "a 'scream.
She switched on a light,
In horror and hmazement, thetwit
faced each other—speechless. He
dropped his flashlight.
Laura's lips trembled from a sudden
deep hurt. ..
"So, Robert :Howard! Toll ..
common thief 1..
"Laura -1"
"Tell Inc, now, about my clack..
You're the only person—"
"All right." The man before bet
tightened his Saw.
"How did you get io?"!
"That night you left your purse in
my ear. i had keys (opted atter
yours. .. . I—I'm really Earnest
Hamilton"
Louth gasped. "Then wily steal
It--?"
"After you'd told me how you were
saving, and I saw how determined you
were to keep your promise. I thought
Pd get it restored, pay the bill, and
return 11 without your ever knowing
who'd alone It, I couldn't bear to have
you spend your money that way, . .",
"But ---i"
"You said. once, the old' description
of the clock, was in your desk. It's
till dime now; but one detail, I was
trying to find it for the man."
Debellef and t'elleved .hope played
.over Laura's face.' "If yotere Ernest
Hamilton, why come to Culver as—"
'Resolutely the young man reached
into his pocket. "Yon never saw your
aunt's trill."
"No, The lawyer Said site tasked
that it be, shown to no one for a
year of---"
Ile nodded. "Here's why—a copy
of it, She said you were stubborn."
Laura reed, " If ,Ernest
. Hamilton will marry my niece before
the year is out, my, entire estate will
go to them instead of to charities."''
"I wanted to see ,you. And after
had, and knew you for ,yourself, I
couldn't," tenderness moved in his
eyes, "I couldn't - even ask you until
that' year was up.' I wanted yeti to
know that I didn't--•"
Again Laura's heart sang, The rain -
rinse which' returns to youth se easily
re e ted to her egos. '
"Batt!" her heart Spoke the name..
"MI be busy Christmas, but what p11108
have: you Tor the Sunday before New -
Yearee?"
"Why, mane: y_"
She threw back her bead and smiled
a
happy eager smile. "Neither
have I!"
Ernest 1ituretthn sweet bewildeted
for moment Then over Ills sextons,
!audeome face moved the comprehen-
sion of a great happincss Ile•' opened
Ms' areas.' ' "Latent Laura,: dear!"
And it was his heart, too, which spoke.
yi
:GH TS S' ON C U 1' ip7 A
1 en,is of Snforntiitle,,,
t;£ming tot2
Good ' King \Vence 1 au - o ` fel
Tame, ti'as a, King a( Bohemia.
'Cennysiip once 'refustd,-ail o:{, o.i
'£1,000 ffor, a about yet of °;er»eii Por
Christmas cards',
The );de of .Pptplzany, ,pi `1'wolf�tb
Night (January f) is 10 -tile ohiid.ren,
of Some. what Christmas i.. to
• Straw is said to bo used for decor -
adieu) 1a1; Greo) hmos oil' f bristmuoi
day in n}ep}o}-y 'ot the iitable cC
;hethiciiens. "
Chrisi:mas carols originated- to the
eleventn century, being sung between
the scopes of the miracle and rays-
tery plays of the period.
The turkey has not- always been,
the favorita btzdd on the Christrnoe
mein, the peacock; in ancient ttwoxi,
taking its place on the festive board.
The oldest name for Christmas is
'rThe Feest of ,Lights,e" ie remain-
' essence , of-, tee, ••ligbted iekvenee In
which 'the angels appeared; an:'the
drat Christmas day,
I"hzrystxuaca 'bows'^ got-, tNoir, Hanle^-
from ,the boxes made of clay-- In
grbich,'at ;