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About The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 17, 1897)
-.--" THE HAPPY NEW YEAR. HE chill air Is crisp, for the frost king (Uncloses Ills tiny ice spears, . which he hangs on the trees. No fragrance of sum mer, no petal of roses. To brush as we pass; we Ree only dead leaves. Now, dear merry OhristmHS has swiftly departed. A New Year stands scanning the ghosts of the past. We gaze o'er his shoulders and feel heavy-hearted To think months and seasons are fading so fast. See, whirled In midair are white snowflakes descending! Each flake seems a spirit dropped down from above. As though for the New Year to earth they come, lending A promise of purity, blessing Slid love. The tall trumpet creeper, whose scarlet tinged Bowers Last summer made gay Its beautiful dress, Stood yesterday drooping and leafless for hours. Now, snowclad. It gleams in renewed love liness. t How they pile, how they gather, the snows In their whiteness. Led onward by silence, who moves with out sound! Their feet shod In crystal and sparkling In brightness, They drape frosted venture o'er tree, bush and ground. We thought with the summer all beauty was dying; We thought with the old year all joy flown away, , But spirits of snow to our shorn world came flying. And the New Year has blessings perhaps for each day. Hark! Wild beware Ejnglng! Yes, Joy bells . are flinging ' Out welcomes of glee to another New Year. May each moment be crowded with laughter and singing, And during Its stay may no sorrow draw near. Elng on, New Year-bells! Let thy ringing mean gladness! Elng all ills away, but ring love's warmth within! , Though the old year Just died, and we saw It with sadness, Yet happy may prove the New Year we begin! Christian Intelligencer. 1 A CHKISTMAS I 5 REUNION; i T was Nell who thought of it first. But about all of the clever ideas in our family had their ori gin in Nell's fertile imagination. Brother Tom often told her fthat she ought to put a card in the window and in the pa.persj of fering "Ideas , for Sale." Nell was grandfather's, favor ite and she was very 'fond of him. One day she evolved this idea and laid it on the family altar at a discussion we were having regarding the approaching Christ mas festivities: "I've just thought out the loveliest scheme forrandpu's enjoyment. You know that he. hasn't seen one, of his brothers for along time, and it' r twenty years since he suw our Uncle. Henry. Now, can't we get up a great family re union as a surprise for grandpa? Uncle Henry could come here in a day." "He's nearly 80," I said. "I know, but he is stronger than most men of 70. Uncle Harvey, who is only 73, could come in a day and a night, and Uncle Joel could come in ten hours. I " THBY'BB AL.L COMING, TOM.' think that it would be just lovely to see those four dear old souls, all over 70, to gether, and to hear them tell tales of their childhood and boyhood." . After imposing solemn vows of secrecy on all of us, Nell ran off to her writing desk to write letters to grandpa's three old brothers and to Lis sister Ann. A week later she met me at the door when I went home to dinner and said gleefully: , "They're all coming, Tom! I've had let ters to-day from every one of them! And grandpa said at luncheon that he'd give a good deal to see 'the boys,' as he called them. He wanted to know if I'd go with him if he went to visit them all in the spring. I could just hug myself for think ing up the whole scheme." - Each of my great uncles arrived on the day before Christmas, and grandpa's sur prise was complete. He showed no signs of needing Nell's-smelling salts, although he was visibly affected when his aged brother Henry aTrived and they clasped hands after a separation of twenty years. "You've grown old, Hiram," quavered out Uncle Henry. '"Seems to me ye look 'bout as old as I do." "Oh, I guess not, Henry; I guess not," aald grandpa, a trifle stiffly, for he was sensitive regarding his age. "Don't he, boys?" said Uncle Henry, appealing to his two white-haired broth ers. "I bet I could fetch ye to the ground first in a resale, that is if ye rassled fair, which ye didn't used to do when we was all boys together. Why, I'm hanged if Hiram don't part his hair, or what he's got left of it, in the middle yit. I reckon ed you'd git over that when ye came to bavin' one foot iu the grave and t'other one no bizness out." Grandpa flushed and said coldly: "The combing of one's hair is simply a matter of individual taste, Henry." L Nell hurried Uncle Henry off to show Mm 1 ' it IWW M him his room and grandpa said to Uncle Joel: . "You bear your years well, Joel. One would hardly guess you to be six years older than I." "No, Hiram, they wouldn't. One thing, I'm a good deal fleshier 'n you. I'm kind o' s'prised to see you so kind o' all skin and bone." . "Come, now, I ain't quite that, Joel. I weigh 130." "Is that all; why, Hi, I weigh 178 and " . "Come, Uncle Joel, I want to show you some of the family portraits in the par lor," said Madge, noting grandpa's rising color. This left Uncle Harvey and grana pa together. ' "Joel and Henry were always unneces sarily blunt in their speech," said grand pn. "Yes, but they gen'ally hit the nail on the head," said Uncle Harvey. "You do look as if the wind would blow you away, Hiram, and I notice you've a kind of limp in your gait." "I've no-thing of the sort, Harvey My ler, and I ain't more than two-thirds as bald as you are and not half so gray." "Oh, you ain't; I'll count gray hairs with you any time, and I'll bet you a jews- harp that " "Come, Uncle Harvey," I said, "let us go to the stable. I want you to give me your opinion of a horse I've just bought." The combined efforts of Madge and Nell and I sufficed to maintain peace at the dinner tuble. We kept up such a rattling fire of conversation that the four broth ers had hardly a chance to speak to each other. We saw grandpa wince when Un cle Henry ate his mashed potatoes with his knife, and we knew the full extent of our grandsire's agony when Uncle Joel poured his coffee into his saucer and blew it before drinking it. Uncle Harvey spoke but once, but that was once too often, for he said, explosively: "Oh, I say, boys, do you remember that Sary Jane Skimmerhorn Hi used to be so sweet on when we all went to the Hop vine school? You 'member how he used to kiss 'er there at the end of the lane? Well, she's livin' yit, an' I'd give a deal to see Hi kiss 'er now. She weighs 329 pounds and has a beard that Tom here might be proud of, an' she's had fifteen children an' they're all livin'. I was jest thinkin' what if Hi had married 'er as he used to swear he would! Eh, Hi?" Uncle Henry and Joel . roared with laughter and Joel choked on a mouthful of coffee. Grandpa turned pale and it re quired all of Nell's cleverness to prevent a scene. All of the cousins and uncles and aunts in the city had -been invited to come in that evening to enjoy a Christmas eve reunion of the family and to be entertain ed with family reminiscences by the four old and reunited brothers. At 8 o'clock we gathered around a great open fire to hear our aged relatives "reuunis, Madge mischievously put it. "Tell us all about when you were bays together," said Cousin Ned Drayton. "I guess there wasn't much time nor money wasted celebrating Christmas when you were boys." "Well, I guess there wa'n't," said Uncle Joel. . "I guess O, say, boys, do you re member that Christmas we four boys went bear hunting back there in the Maine woods when we wa'n't none of us fully grown?" . "I remember it as well as if it was yes terday," said Uncle Henry. "I remem ber jist how that b'ar squealed when I shot 'im." "You still stick to it that you shot 'im, Henry," snid Uncle Joel, "an' I am as sure as. I'm livin' that it was my shot that fetched 'im." "In a horn it was!" said Uncle Henry, testily. "Your bullet went clar over the b'ar and lodged in that big pine we found with a bullet hole in it." "There's no use in Henry an' Joel spat tin' so about which killed that b'ar," put in Uncle Harvey, "for I've an idee the beast would have got up an' walked off with both your bullets. It was my knife thrust that finished the beast." "Yes, it was!" sneered Joel. "Oh, yes; to be sure it was," snorted Uncle Henry. "I guess that the blows I rained down on the beast's head with the club I car ried, had something to do with finishing him," said grandpa, calmly. "Well, ye ain't got over drawin' on your imagination for facts, hev ye, Hi?" said Uncle Henry. "The rest of us kin re member how ye hid in the bresh tremblin' an' bellerin' until we was almost ready to skin the bear an' then you come out with your little club and give the beast a whack or two." "Henry Myler, that is not true!" "If it ain't I'll eat my hat!" "I clubbed the life out of him," said grandpa. "I tell ye I killed that b?ar myself!" , "Ye didn't!" "I know I did!" "My club counted for more than " "Your club! Pooh!" "Now, Henry, I won't stand it to " "I'd like to see ye help yourself." "Shet up, all of ye, for I " , "Don't ye tell me to shet up!" The dispute waxed hot and hotter un til Madge got Uncle Henry off to his room, and Nell had done the same service for Uncle Harvey, while I dragged Uncle Joel away for a smoke with me in my own room, where he berated his brothers fear fully. Grandpa stalked off to his own room. We managed to keep the four old hot heads from getting into a row on Christ mas, but Uncle Henry and grandpa did DISCUSSING TUB BKAK QUESTION. not speak to each other all day, and to tell the unvarnished truth there was great inward rejoicing when our three dear old uncles departed. Uncle Henry thrust his head out of the carriage door and screech ed out at the last second: "I .did kill that bear!" "You never!' called out grandpa, sharp ly from the stoop, and they never saw each other again. - vi lli m K.U ML. Wlrtr iff fctfWSLf flflr WTi&W&A A YAW THE event which Christmas commemorates possesses for humanity the deepest meaning. Compared with its profound importance all other events, or indeed the sum of all other events, sink into insignificance, and the great institution of which that event is the foundation-stone has from a very early date observed it with ceremonies of fitting stateliness and reverence, But the note of even the sacred celebration of the birthday of the Saviour has for centuries been one of joyfulness and glad praise. It is the one day of all the year when the whole Christian world puts into practice the cardinal law of Christ. The sternest, hard est and most worldly . man pauses in his planning and grinding, and for a day at least allows his thoughts to dwell on projects for making other people glad. The , Christmas-tide festival is the special season for renewing the . manifestation of those family affections -that are not dead but merely dulled by routine and fa miliarity. The head of the household, who spends hundreds of dollars in providing the necessaries of life for his flock without an emotion other than an occasional thought of what a tax upon his income it is, has his whole being stirred up as the result of the expenditure of a few dollars in rattles and trinkets. A sense of his blessings thrusts itself on his attention. A realization of the patient heroic performance from day to day, year in and year out, of the unheroic, uneventful, tedious and multiplied duties of the helpmeet and mother rushes on his mind, to gether with an uneasy knowledge of his frequent forgetfulness of it, She is the angel of his threshold, and he turns to the heaven that seems so faT away in his business hours, but now seems so near and powerful, as he asks for its bless ing on the little brood that clusters about her knee. For Christmas is essentially the children's day. Its specially religious signifi cance can of course never be lost, but it is doubtful if its spiritual influence woUid be so widespread but for the myth of Kris Kringle., With its dawning faculties the child learns of the wonderful little man with the queer, tufty coat and rubi cund face, whose advent on one particular night in the year is the most extraor dinary event iu existence, and when the revolution of many yuletides has turned reaJity into myth the disillusioned one enjoy at least half his earlier delights in witnessing another generation of Kris Kringle's little subjects enjoying that mon arch's senson of blissful lordship. In millions of homes the same picture is seen. ' Day breaking through the frosted pane, and on the dim stairs tiny white-robed figures stealing down the creaking steps. Eyes are dancing with anticipation' and apprehension, for there is something uncanny about this dear old king of theirs, and mother has to take up the rear in similar white-robed dishabille to inspire confidence in those little throbbing hearts. And when the chimney-nook is safely gained, what clamor, what pounding of drums and blowing of horns; what joy that the funny, fat, good-natured old gentleman is still alive and looking after his own. May every home in Christendom see this picture. "I admit that my dear little scheme failed," said Nell, when we were alone together. "The next time I bring four old gentlemen together for a Christmas reunion I'll select deaf and dumb men, or men who haven't quite so much dynamite and chain lightning and undimmed pugi listic vigor in their make-up. I positive ly believe that Uncle Henry would have troanced grandpa if he'd stayed another day." Utica. Globe. Puppets Made o' Gingerbread. The city of Amsterdam claims St. Nich olas as its patron saint, and during the first week of December confectioners' shops throughout, the city display one special delicacy, called "St. Nicholas cake," of which large quantities are sold at this season. "Men" and "women" made of this crisp, brown cake, or gin gerbread, can be bought in different sizes and at ajljtjjjrjes. These sweet creatures are ofte.ca'lJed "sweethearts" ("vrijers" we say "in Dutch), and the girls receive a "man," the boys a "woman." t remem ber quite well what fun it used to be to GRANDMOTHER UNDER THE MISTLETOE. hear the servant come in with: "If you please, ma'am, here is Miss Annie's sweetheart" and hand a gingerbread man to my mother. Christmas Gifts for Men. It is a great relief to note that some philanthropic writers throughout the country are engaged in telling what sort of Christinas gifts men would like. The writers are not all successful, and they reveal frequently the inspiration of wom an's ideas, man's innate modesty and self effacement precluding him from speaking for himself. . . But somebody should speak for him be fore another Christmas has elapsed. It is recorded in the seventh chapter of "The Autobiography of Pharaoh I." that the monarch's wife gave him for a Christmas present a necktie which he could not wear without inviting insurrections in all Egypt. That's where tlje'Christmas neck tie joke, began, the Cijjstmas cigar joke following it,-, when Sir' Walter Kaleigh first amazed, England by pujiing tobacco fumes. The jokes have, endured, but the joke has not not if the man knows it. He may have an incorrigible passion for neck ties, but to have his own wife go out and pay out his own money for a tie w hich he will wear only on dark nights and when his coat collar is turned up is what he ob jects to. The trouble being; probably, that a woman buying something for a man sees it merely as it looks on the counters, while the man sees it in its relation to himself and to the uses to which it must be put. , What is needed is a Wives' Information bureau, where husbands can leave a list of the presents they would find accepta ble, with details concerning size,, color and weight. The wife would simply have to join the bureau's, subscribers, find her husband's list, borrow the money- from him and give him a happy surprise on Christmas.- This scheme is worth consid ering. It ought to take a great burden off the ladies' minds, anyhow. . ... , , Thrice Happy. , He was a little ragged waif living in a village of southern Kentucky. A stran ger to actual comfort, it is not to be sup posed that he was very familiarwith the pleasures of life. One Christmas eve he was standing before a shop window with his lean little face pressed against the pane, devouring with hungry eyes the beautiful display within. There was a lady in the shop, deeply engaged in' purchasing gifts for her small nieces and nephews. She saw the waif at the window ragged, half-clad, and with out donbt half-starved as well. "Prudence," said she, in speaking of the matter afterward, "might have suggested food and clothes. Biit another idea had taken possession of me. I determined then and there that that boy should know the blessedness of happy childhood for one Christinas at all events." On the impulse she called him in. Toys, a wagon, an iron horse with a flying driv er madly sounding a fire alarm, a drum with gilded sticks, a tin horn, a pack of firecrackers, things which his poverty blinded eyes had never before looked upon in the light of real possession, were put into his hands. "There was a kind of awe in his solemn, earnest eyes," said the lady, "as though the joy of possession had stricken him dumb. "It was the day after Christmas that I came upon him again, hanging about the streets with that same old look of a beg gar about him. That is, in all but his eyes; they, I think, were never quite the same again. They fairly shone when he lifted them to. my face in recognition. 'Good morning, Joe,' said I. 'What have you done with your toys?' "Imagine my surprise when he said, 'I give 'em to Jack Parker, the colored boy, over yonder to Scruff Town.' " 'What?' said I, 'you have given them all away? All your beautiful toys?' He was silent a moment, and then his ragged little face glowed as he replied: " 'I had 'em; I had 'em a whole day. I ain't got 'em any more, but I had 'em, any. how.'" He was the proud possessor of three pleasures; that of receiving, of giving, and the ever blessed pleasure of a happy mem pry. Youth's Companion. A Warning. Rhymes on the mistletoe Are all very well, y' know; But In mistletoe season . The promptings of reason Are toward the adagio; The gallant had better go slow. For kisses at times rlng woe; To the doubting young Thomas May come brea oh of promise By way of the mistletoe! What Sru. Bought Him. i "No," said Mrs. Cumsp to Mrs. Caw ker; "I know .well" .en'qjjgh' not to buy cigars for my husb'and's''Ch"ris-tmas pres ent." , "What did you:tgef him?" "I bought him a razor fbnofl 'it do the bar gain counter and got it-for ninety-eight cent8."Judge, -,, BROADACRE'S CHRISTMAS. At Christmas play and make good cheer, For Chrisl mas comes but once a year. Old Uhynie. titusi .mas comes but once a year." Well, gosh all fish hooks! who 'At has the Christmas bills to pay 'Id ever ask fer two Or three or four, or any more 'an what we have to-day? There may be some, but say, by gum! I aiut built that-a-way. I've got to git a sled fer Ned and buy a doll fer Nan, And books and toys and lots of Joys fer lit tle crippled Dan, Fer he can't go about, you know, like other boys, and run, And that Is why we all must try to help him have his fun. And 'Liza how these girls come up! she don't want dolls no more She's got a beau It can't be so! a-clerkln' in a store; But after all, she's "bout as tall as was her mother when We fell In love we're In It yet lots deeper now than then. . . , And so a year 'at didn't bring a Christmas, seems to me, -'Ld be about the saddest thing a mortal .man could see, Fer who would miss the Christmas bliss be cause there's bills to pay? There may be some, but soy, by gum! I ain't built that-a-way. Nixon Waterman. ACROSS THE STREET. The Change that Came with Another Christmas Time, A S T Christmas the house across the street from mine was the brightest and gay est of any in the block. There were beautiful Christ mas wreaths in every window and the whole house ff M i X . . i was aglow. The shades were thrown up high and the soft lace curtains parted wide. The tree in the great parlor of the house across the street was larger and it had costlier presents on it than any other tree in the town. And most of the pres ents were for the little girl in the white dress and the big pink sash who could be seen from the street dancing around the tice, the happiest, sweetest little maiden in all the world and the light and life and joy of the house across the street. This Christmas time all is dark and silent and gloomy in the great house across the street. There are no Christ mas wreaths in the windows, no ray of light comes from behind the closely drawn blinds, no childish voice is heard within the house. There is no bright and b:"autiful tiee, but on the spot on which the tree stood last year there is some thing white and as beautiful in its s:ik and satin and velvet finish as the skill and wealth of man can make it. But the sight of it brought a chill to the hearts of those who saw it carried into the house on Christinas eve, and when the eyes of the mother and father fell upon it their hearts bled anew. . The passersby who saw the bands of white fluttering from the knob of the door of the house across the street went on to their own humbler houses thanking God that their own little ones were left to them, no matter how little of wealth or beauty there might be in their homes. The poorest house in which there was the laugh of childien was so mnch less desolate than ihe great mansion across the street in which the child's laugh was forever still. It added to the melody of Paradise that Christmas morningi It rang out clear and sweet across the jas per sea. It had gone through the Gate Beautiful and into a house not made witb hands eternal in the heavens. Christmas Carols. Christmas gifts of coal and flour are in order all this month. Philadelphia Ledger. That man never lived who had any in fluence over his wife the week before Christmas. Atchison Globe. Small boys with an eye to the future are willing to wear stockings many sizes too big for them. Philadelphia Record. People with bad habits might ease up on them a little before New Year's for the purpose of learning whether it vill pay to swear off. Cedar Rapids Gazette. If you want to give a man a Christinas present that will please him give him the right to act as he pleases about the holi day. Nine men out of ten are blackmail ed into buying Christmas piesents, in one way or another. Atchison Globe. "What shall I order for' dinner to-day, love?" asked Eve, as she absently pluck ed a green apple. "Oh, any old thing," retorted Adam, wearily, "as long as it isn't a spare rib. I'm sick of spnre rib!" He savagely swatted a rock at a garter snake. New York Press. Wife I think I will surprise you with the purchase Of a watch to wear Christ mas. .Husband It will be an acceptable gift, and I shall wear it with pleasure. Wife Oh, but the one I shall buy would be a lady's watch, suitable for me to carry. Boston Budget. Her father had said it could never be. They both sat in the parlor also in tears. After long searching and a desperate ef fort she found her voice. Then, in de spairing tones, she cried: "Oh, Charley! If we must part, let us wait till after Christmas!" Philadelphia North Ameri can ' . Christmas Eve on the Reservation. VII Banta Claus of the Tepee. Willis mmmrM 1 tfiM" m i i run vai i a s.