Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 December 1892 — CHRISTMAS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

CHRISTMAS

' /M&BUIfr GOOD old-fashioned MV/Mini Chris’mas, with the lr fkM logs upon the heart h, ?-fpl pit lk# The table Ailed with 'l-M feasters.an'theroom .All —-.jl a-roar 'th mirth, V*u With the stockln’s jB II Ajif crammed to bu’stln’, (gLU an’the medders piled ' ’lth snow— A good old-fashioned Cbrls’tnas like we had so long agol Sow that’s the thing I’d like to see ag’ln afore I die. But Chris’mas In the city here—lt’s different, oh my I, With the crowded hustle-bustle of the slushy, noisy street, An’ the scowl upon the faces of the strangers that you meet Oh, there’s huyln’, plenty of It, of a lot o’ gorgeous toys! An’ It takes a mint o’ money to please modern girls and hoys. Why, I mind the time a jack-knife an’a toffy-lump for me Made my little heort an’ stockin’ lus’ chock-full of Ohrls’mas glee. An' there’s feastin’. Think o’ feedtn’ with these stuck-up city folk! Why. ye have to speak In whispers, an* ye dar’sn’t crack a joke. Then remember how the tables looked all crowded with your kin, When you couldn’t hear a whistle blow across tho merry din! You see I'm* so old-fashloned-Uke I don't care much for style, An' to eat your Ohrls'mas banquets here I wouldn’t go a mllei I’d rather have, like Bolomon, a goodyarbdinnGr set With real old friends than turkle soup with all the nobs you’d get Thero's my next-door neighbor Gurley—fancy bow his brows 'u’d lift If I’d holler “MerVy Ohrls’masl Caught, old fellow, Chrls’mas gift!" Lordy-Lord, I'd like to try It! Guess he’d noarly have a fit Hang this city stiffness, anyways, I can’t get used to It Then your heart I<4 kept a-swellln’ till It nearly bu’st your side. An’ by night your jaws were achin’ with you smiles four Inches wide. An' your enemy, the ivo’stone, you'd Just grab his hand, an' say: "Mebbe. both of us was wrong, John. Come, let's shake. It's Chris’mas Day I” Mighty little Chris'mas spirit seems to dwoll ’tween city walls, Where each snowflake brlrifcs a soot-flake for a brother as It falls: Mighty little Chris’mas sptrltl An’ I’m pinin', don't you know, For a good old-fashioned Chris'mas like we had so long ago. —Century.