Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 41, Number 30, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 December 1908 — A Family Geathering. [ARTICLE]

A Family Geathering.

(By Mrs. C. A. Pancoast.)

There Is to be a family gathering, A Jolly old-fashioned affair. Such as makes the heart beat lighter And drives away dull care. =1 There will be that warm, glad welcome That all human hearts so prise And that makes of earth an Eden By its tender family ties. The house will be filled to o’erflowlng With kinfolk from far and near. With faces kind and smiling Bespeaking love and cheer. There will be aunts and Uncles many. With cousins, full & score. And darling bright-eyed babies That never came before. And grandma with her glasses, And cap on all awry, Softly soothing and caressing The babies, lest they cry. And grandpa with his stories Of his happy boyhood days, And of how the country's changing In many of its ways. And the uncles will be talking Of the weather, flocks and grain And wondering if the price of stock Is likely to remain, While the aunts, with some neighbor women, That they’re always glad to see, Will be exchanging helpful methods And their favorite recipe. There will be music In their voices. And In the children’s merry shouts. And as for their real enjoyment Leaving none a cause for doubt. Then in time will come the dinner, Friends and kindred all in place, While over all ja silence falls, As father’s saying grace. He will thank our Heavenly Father For his blessings, day by day, And will ask for grace and guidance To go with us on our way. Then again when dinner’s over And the table cleared away, There will be sweet, merry muglc. And the games the children play. All the house will be a garden Over-run with human flowers. And to life they give sweet fragrance. Childhood days again are ours. * * * Hours of pleasure, so swift of wing, in nolsless flight you hurry past; It’s the joys you give while passing That In memory long will last. Rensselaer, Ind., Dec. 14, LOS.