it is well enough to keep the christmas tree standing until spring cleaning at least. there may be those who open the closet door once a year and let the christmas spirit out—somewhat like the family skeleton, to food and water—and then lock it up again. that does not suit me, for i would like to keep the door open so that christmas may be with us every day in the year. the celebration just closed is about the best our family and community ever had, and it will do us permanent good.
on wednesday evening the children had their celebration at the church. it was a cold clear night, with good sleighing, so we hitched the two big grays to the bob sled and filled the box with straw, and the children cuddled down into this nest and pulled blankets over them. the hope farm man drove, with mother on the seat beside him to direct the job and tell him when and where to turn out. tom and broker seemed to feel that they were, in their way, playing the part of reindeer, for they trotted off in great shape—a little clumsy on their feet, perhaps, but with strength enough to pull down a house. broker is inclined to be lazy, and tom did most of the pulling unless we stirred his partner up with the stick. through the clear starlight we went crunching and jingling on over the hills and through the narrow level valleys, for our country has a badly wrinkled face.
part of the way lies through the woods, and then a stretch along the banks of a little river. there was just enough wind to make a little humming in the trees. now and then a rabbit jumped out of the shadow and went hopping off across the snow. there was no danger—it was christmas, and we do not carry firearms. i think i can tell you much about a person’s character and circumstances if you will tell me what comes into mind on a lonely road, when the wind is playing its wild tunes among the trees.
“over the chimney the night wind sang,
chanting a melody no one knew.”
to some this melody brings sad memories or fear of trouble, but the happy group in our big sled heard nothing of these in the sound. as tom and broker pulled their load on beneath the trees i think each one of us heard in the wind’s singing something of the song which the angels sang when the shepherds listened long years ago. this may be but a fancy of mine, yet i think our little group came nearer to understanding what christmas means—on that lonely road—than we had before.
you know how pleasant it is to come trotting along a country road on a cold starry night and see the lights of the church burst into view far ahead. our church is an old stone structure, full of years and honorable history. it was here, at least part of it, during the revolution, and at one time hessian prisoners were confined in it. there were no prisoners except those of hope inside the church that night. the boys and i made tom and broker comfortable and then we went inside to find a big christmas tree and a crowd of happy children. surely christmas is children’s day, and they owned the church that night. mother marshaled her big primary class for one chorus, and it seemed as if the entire end of the church was made of children. a couple of our cherry-tops lent a little color to it. the hope farm man was escorted up to a front seat, where he was expected to look the part of prominent citizen. they ran him into the programme too for a christmas story, so he got up and told the company about “pete shivershee’s miracle”—a little christmas memory of life in a lumber camp many years ago. finally the simple presents were distributed, the sleepy little ones aroused, good wishes spoken and we all piled in once more for the home trip. broker takes life as it comes, but tom was chilly and disposed to be a trifle gay over the prospect of barn and cornstalks once more. he proceeded to pull the entire load, broker trotting on with dangling traces! it was a sleepy and happy crowd that finally turned off the road into hope farm. “we had a big time!”
in two of the villages near us the people organized community christmas trees. these trees were placed in the public square or some prominent spot, the electric wires were connected, and colored bulbs hung all over to take the place of candles. these were lighted on christmas eve and kept going all through the holiday week. it was a great success, for it brought people together, made a better community spirit, and helped us all. in addition to this community tree arrangements were made to have singers go about the town singing the old christmas carols. this revival of the old english custom was a beautiful thing and a great success.
shortly after three on christmas morning our folks were awakened by music. i think the cherry-tops thought it was santa claus, as it probably was. out in front of our house a motor car carrying six young men had turned in from the road. there in the frosty morning they were singing:
“o come, all ye faithful,
joyful and triumphant,
o come ye! o come ye
to bethlehem.
come and behold him
born the king of angels,
o come let us adore him,
o come let us adore him,
o come let us adore him,
christ the lord.”
they were beautiful singers and our folks will never forget that christmas morning.
“silent night! holy night,
all is calm. all is light.
’round young virgin mother and child
holy infant so tender and mild,
sleep in heavenly peace.”
finally the car started off, moving slowly down the road with the music creeping back to us through the clear air:
“hark, the herald angels sing.
our folks heard them at the next neighbor’s, far down the road. i have no doubt many a weary and troubled soul waking in the night at the sound went back to happier dreams of a better tomorrow. it was a beautiful thing to do, and never before did christmas morning come to us so happily as this year.
i thought of these things all day, and the conviction has grown upon me that what we people who live in the country need more than anything else is something of this spirit which binds people together and holds them. we need it in our work, our play and in our battles. it is another name for patriotism, which means the unselfish love of country. the duke of wellington said the battle of waterloo was won on the playgrounds of england, where boys were trained in manly sports. he told only half of it, for the spirit which turned that play into war came from the singers who in english villages sang christmas carols or english folk songs. in like manner the wonderful national spirit which the german nation has shown has been developed largely through the singing societies which have expressed german feeling in song. in 1792 a band of frenchmen marched from the south of france to paris dragging cannon through a cloud of dust and singing the marseillaise hymn, and even to this day the loyal spirit of france traces down from those dusty singers. do i mean to say that farmers can come together and sing their troubles away? no, for some of the troubles have grown so strong and penetrated so deep that they must be pulled out by the roots. what i do say is that before we can hope to remove these troubles and make our conditions what they should be we must feel toward our friends and neighbors the sentiments which are expressed in these beautiful old songs. the time has gone by when we can hope to obtain what we should have from society as individuals playing a cold, selfish game of personal interest. we have tried that for many years and steadily lost out on it. the only hope for us now is in a true community spirit of loyalty and sacrifice, instead of the effort to get all we can for ourselves. that is why i say that there should be something of christmas in every day of the year, and why i give these holiday memories.
