Democratic Sentinel, Volume 11, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 December 1887 — Those Christmas Bells. [ARTICLE]

Those Christmas Bells.

Christmas bells ring out the peals of nations. We want our standards less of the lion and eagle and more of the lamb and dove. Let all the cannon be dismounted, and the warhorses change their gorgeous caparisons for plough harness. Let ns have fewer bullets and more bread. Life is too precious to dash it out against tho brick casements. The first “Peace Society” was born in the clouds, and its resolution was passed unanimously by angelic voices, “Peace on earth, good will to men ”

Christmas bells ring in family reunions! The rail-trains crowded with children coming home. The poultry, fed as never since they were born, stand wondering at the farmer’s generosity. The markets are full of massacred barnyards. The great table will be spread and crowded with two er three or four generations. Plant the fork astride the breastbone, and with skillful twitch, that we could never learn, give to all the hungry lookers-on a specimen of holiday anatomy. Florence is disposed to soar, give her the wing. The boy is fond of music, give him the drumstick. The minister is dining with y i, give him the parson’s nose. May the joy reach from grandfather, who is so dreadfully old that he can hardly find the way to his plate, down to the baby in the high chair, who, with one smart pull of the tablecloth, upsets the gravy into the cranberry. Send from your table a liberal portion to the table of the poor, some of the white meat as well as tho dark, not confining your generosity to gizzards and scraps. Do not, as in some families, keep a plate and chair for those who are dead and gone. Your holiday feast would be but poor fare for them; they are at a better banquet in the skies. Let the whole land be full of chime and carol. Let bells, silver and brazen, take their sweetest voice, and all the towers of Christendom rain music. Tnimace.