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About The Dillon Tribune (Dillon, Mont.) 1881-1941 | View This Issue
The Dillon Tribune (Dillon, Mont.), 19 Dec. 1924, located at <http://montananewspapers.org/lccn/sn85053040/1924-12-19/ed-1/seq-19/>, image provided by MONTANA NEWSPAPERS, Montana Historical Society, Helena, Montana.
THE DILLON TRIBUNE, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1924. 19 <~X \X “ X >X - X » X - X - X * X - X ~ X >*X»X»X*X»,X~X»<X » X -X * X - ,X»,X*,X-<><XK -,X ~ X - X ^ ‘X * X >X » X - X >X - ,X - tX ~X “<X> J O L L Y O L D S T , N I C K Celebrating Christmas ANNA DEMINQ QRA1] (©, 1924, Western Newspaper Union.) E SHALL have to go farther back than the Christian era to find the source of Christ mas celebration, for we borrowed It from the nations existing long be fore the coming of the Christ Child. Christmas came froip early Egyptian civilization, from the Teutonic barba rians, or the pagan Greek and Itonian nations—or perhaps from all of them. But in the days of the early Chris tians Christmas ceased to be observed merely as a day of merrymaking and feasting. They celebrated It ns a day of good will and kindliness, the be stowing of gifts, and a time of peace, bnt they considered it a holy festival and \too filled with solemnity and sa cred joy to be made a time of hilarity and boisterous jollity. That the very date is uncertain makes little real difference. In those early days of the Christians they thought it following the heathenish customs to observe- birthdays. We cannot wonder at this when we re member that every god and goddess, every noted man, and every animal considered sacred, must each have a special day of feasting and festivity. It Is not strange that they should have come to a time when they put the whole custom aside, and celebrated none at all, not even the birthday of the Child of Bethlehem. It was not until four hundred years later, not until Christianity had tri umphed and become a recognized fac- foi In the world that they even began to question the real date of Christ's birth. The Western empire had accepted December 25 ns the date, and the Eastern churches celebrated January (1, while other dates from September 20 to May 20 were observed, and each of these with some good reason for its selection. It was I'ope Julius who finally settled the controversy by ac cepting the ruling of the Western church and established December 25, nnd by the middle of the Fourth cen tury till» date was generally recog nized. In the pagan nations this had been the time when a festival of Joy took place, because It wns then that the sun wns supposed to begin to re cede from the equator. They celebrated the 21st of Decem ber by all mnnner of licentious revels and heathen debauchery, and even after the coming of Christianity It was centuries before these pagan customs nnd practice’s were eliminated. And it was not until after the Middle ages that the meaning and the sig nificance of the season began to dawn upon the minds and hearts of men. In old England Christmas became a time of feasting, drinking and hilari ous merrymaking—not a very ad vanced conception, hut a step beyond the pagan idea. Litter the spirit of Puritanism began to influence English customs and public zeal ran so high that all gayety and ail festivity came to he considered- sinful. a All observances of special days were declared designed by the “deville,” and the famous Roundhead parlia ment set aside the celebration of Christmas, Easter and Whitsuntide. For twelve years no special days were observed in England, and when they were once more taken back into favor the result was what might have been expected, for the Christmas sea son became a time of feasting, drink ing, dancing atfd wild revel, lasting for twelve days and nights. The lord of misrule came Into existence—this was the chosen master of festivities, into whose hands the keys of the house were given and whose word was Jaw while the revel lasted. The days and nights were full of “all manner of hilarity, and a most wild and menie time was had/* we are told. ,X*,X*,X”X*,X**X**XMt,,X-t\X-X t ne I :j: Song of Christmas | By JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY .j. \X~X~X“ X \ X ~ X “ X ~ X “ X ^ \ X r C HANT me n rhyme of Christmas— Ami though it is filled with laugh ter, let it be pure nnd strong-. Ring of the hearts brimmed over with the story of the day— Of thb echo of childish voices that will not die away. Of the blare of the tasseled bugle, and of tlie timeless clatter and heat Of the drum that throbs to muster squadrons of scampering feet. Dut, O, let your voice fall fainter, till, blent with a minor tone, You temper your song with the beauty of the pity Christ has shown. And slng^one verse for the voiceless; and yet ere the song be done, A verse for the ears that hear not, and a verse for the sightless one. For though It he time for singing a merry Christmas glee. Let a low, sweet voice of pathos run through the melody. At first only tlie royal households had these lords of misrule, but tlie cus tom spread until almost every house hold bad Its ruler of the season’s revels. But gradually, as time passed, these wild celebrations gave place to festivals none the less joyous, but more befitting the season. The ceremony - of bringing in the Yule log was observed, of decorating the house with holly and mistletoe, the lighted candle.in tlie window, and the midnight singing of carols. Still later Christmas became a day marked by bountiful dinners given to tlie poor by rich landowners, rather than merely a time of feasting and merrymaking. And slowly the real Christmas rpirit is coming more and more into thè hearts of humanity, as we grow each year to better understand the song the angels sang that starlit night on the Judean hills. And “on earth peace, good will to men,” means more with each recurring year as we open onr hearts to the Child uf Bethlehem. THE CLO W S CHRISTMAS wv By Mary Graham Bonner (©, 1924, Western Newspaper Union.) OR YEARS lie hat boon funny. Fnj years lie lind paint ed his face, won funny clothes am laid made jokes. Ilt‘ had I nu clei first of all In thi: couniry with ; road cirrus. Then,.when the road clr- ells was going out of business, niort or less, 1 h > joined a road cirrus abroad. And now lie was very old. Rut every aftenioon and every night for ten moulds of the year lie made Jokes, lie was in u small cirrus, ion, so sometimes lie hud to take other purls. The performing fox terriers acted with him. They were his pets. And how he loved lliem. Hew could some people he unkind 1o their pi is'/ Not tin) nl(| clown. There was the donkey, too. When lit' |>ahl Ino miieii alli'iilioii (n the dogs the donkey came along ami gat e him a push lo tell him Ida! Ihe dun key, too, wanted some atlenlioii. And how I k * had planned to have a holiday. A long holiday, lie would lake a little place and with liis don key nnd Ills fox terriers they would rest after their work. They would not join the circus an other year. They were all old. Ilotv tired lie hud heeoii|e after some of (In' performances that year, lit* had washed ids face in the liasin of cold water outside his wagon and had not even bothered to gel off all tlie makeup. Tlie water was cold. It was lmrd to beat water after the performance was over, and only a little of the paint came off—only a little cold look ing pink water was at tlie hot tom of the liasin. But the dogs didn't mind. They slept on the end or by Hit' side of ids cot in Ids wagon. They jumped in after 1dm each evening, and they each kissed 1dm good night. They didn’t mind paint. They were used to It. Oli, yes, lie would take a long, long holiday. He would rest on tile little he hail managed to save1. It would he enough for him nnd Ills pets. But as tlie days passed along lie seemed to fool rested and the pets seemed to have new vigor nnd strength. It was splendid to feel rest ed again. A family had Invited» 1dm to Christmas dinner—and tie had ac cepted and lie had asked, too, if tie could come with Ids donkey and bring ids dogs along. They, lie said, would help put on a little show for the children. It Was nil agreed. Bub when Christmas afternoon came and tlie Christinas dinner was over, and tlie old clown was beginning Ids show for the children, lit* knew then that he could never take more than a few months’ holiday from being a clown. .» The laughter and the delight and the shrieks and tlie cries of joy from tlie children were tilings tlie old clown could not get along without. This Christmas laid shown him that! Naughty Prpa “Mother, does Santa Claus love my nursemaid, too?” “I guess so, Thomas. Why?” “Well last Christmas I saw Santa holding her on his lap.” w<H 3 O-a-a-a 0 -n o a 000 ooa-a 0-000-0 0 a A Christmas Prayer By ANNA LOUISF. STRONG in Life ami Light a#00-0400 00 0tt0000000000 0 0 0 0 0 S WK1CT Child of l’eurp, iwross the lUK'lriit slrlfo Itti n n I li rr Kind irii'ledy of nngol pstiltn, Our heurts nre rontli'HH with tho care of tifi — O, tiring to us Thy calm! Dear T/ortl of Love, the world Is wait ing sun The high achievement of Thy gra cious plan; O, grant us Thine all-conquering good will, Thy loving faith In man! Master of Death, Thy greatest gift Is yet — To know Thy sacrifice, to share Thy loss. Lest In the mirth of Christmas wo for get The glory of the Dross. ’ ===3. Her Christmas IDedding Bq Emili] Burks Adams (©, 1924, Western Newspaper Union.) It A N D M OTHER, tell us n renl Christ mas story—one you really experienced. Tell us the very best Christmas you ever had—” Julia nnd Jua nita, grandmother's adored granddaughters, settled them selves, for, to them, no one could tell stories equal to grandma. “All right, girls, that won't he hard. The very best Christmas I ever laid was my wedding day. I wns married on Christmas day nnd the most pre cious gift I ever received was your grandfather. “Weil, it was like this: Our Christ mases ami weddings.were very differ ent from now. My wedding dress was a pretty calico, (lie first I ever laid,, and cost one dollar a yard. Cp to this time I laid worn woolsev, we called them, and I spun and wave it. My mother was afraid I'd take cold, so 1 had to wear my calico over the wool one. We didn’t have hope boxes then —-we had hopes, though. It Was a dis grace for a girl to marry nnd not pos sess a feather bed and some quilts and a pair of home-made blankets. I had all these, to be sure. “My worst worry was for fear Peg's cakes would be flat, for she had a habit of spoiling cakes by making tVin too rich, when- she wanted them especially good. I, too, wanted the plum pudding just so,i and the turkeys properly conked—In case we got any— for my father bad to go to the woods and kill wild turkey.” “Oh! grandma, how thrilling 1 Did you get a turkey?” “Yes, your grandfather came In with six. Teg cooked-four, for we were ex pecting all the kinfolks from both sides of tlu> bouse. This wns tlie day before, and our kinfolks began cornin'-' that ('veiling, for some lived ten C' and it was too far for the s' make the trip in time nor'’ Oh, yes, we drove oxenHf prefer them to these liuntf tomohlles of today. v Roth Julia and Jnnnitd “Ob, do go on, grandma!” “Well, we were to he mnrrieff*'ai high noon Christmas day, so by ten o'clock Christmos Eve our feather bedg were full. We didn't try to put more* than six In one bed—three at the head and three at the foot—beds were made on the floor till over the house, and we slept as soundly as you on your fine box- springs of today, and nothing.dis turbed us only an occasional snore, nnd tlmt wasn’t half as bothersome as tlie sputtering of these flying ma chines. “Well, the next day dawn off fair, and I think everybody said “iinppy is flit» bride the sun shines on.” Peg as sart'd mo the cakes were fine nnd tur keys tender. The great, long table wns “set” nnd we were married under a bough of mistletoe—nnd your grand father kissed me for the first time. I’m sure no girl of today can say that. Everybody shook my hand and wished me much Joy and we nil went to din ner.' Your grandfather nnd I ate at the first table; most of the women waited, for In those times the men always ate first. ■ I suppose it was proper then; anyway, they did. “The next day we drove over to your grandpa's home for the infare, and had another big dinner, and I had a cheaper calico. I called it my sec ond-day dress. We visited my folks nnd Ids folks about a week and then look our belongings in an ox-cart to our home, four miles away—a one- room log house built by grandpa. Your mother was born there. ‘“That was a great Christmas, and we were happier In one room than those In mansions today. ‘‘Oli, that-was a great day! Yes, it was truly Christ's day and Christ’s way. The same Savior reigned then as now, and he has the same mes sage—‘I go to prepare a place for you, that where I,am there ye may be also.’ “Good night, girls, grandma must re tire. Tomorrow is Christmas day, but sixty-seven years ago I received a gift better than any I’ll get tomorrow. I'll he with father before another Christ mas rolls ftfionnd and there’ll be an other great Christmas and the same Christ will reign. Good night, dears.”
