Show t f A II Thoma Tt del HERE was not to be any THERE I Christmas tree at the little church at the head of Smoke Creek that year and of the several families who lived there not more than half were expecting Santa Claus Glaus The dark days day's had left the dismal little valley vaIley or hollow even more gloomy than it had been in better setter years when the mines across the ridge in the next hollow gave some employment to the heads of the families of Smoke Creek Jim Knox who lived at the very head lead of the stream was perhaps I He De Noticed Something Like a Card Tacked on Hathway's Door the he most unhappy of all in the little ittle settlement His wife and only child a son of seven had died and his nearest neighbor was Joe Hathway a bitter enemy with whom he ic had had many difficulties So that hat lonely night of Christmas eve as Jim sat before the open wood fire ire with the light of blazing hick- hick hickry hickory hickory ory ry logs his only company he was not without fear for his own safety safety- he knew Joe Hathway had threat threat- threatened threatened threatened ened his life As he sat dreaming his eyes hap- hap happened happened to rest upon his rifle standing in n the corner of the log room That gun or Joe Hathway's will some someday someday day lay tell the tale he said to him him- self elf He meant that one day like so o many others down the lonesome stream tream either he or Joe would go and and using a common mountain ex ex- expression expression with his boots on on He Helid did lid not care care life life e had come to mean but ut little for him While Jim was thus dreaming Joe Hathway sat in another log cabin but a few yards down the stream By chance Joes Joe's attention was vas called to a book on a shelf The school teacher had given it to tolis his lis daughter who had died from the he epidemic on the creek The title appealed to him The him The Christmas Carol He took the book and be be- began began gan to o read Page after page and chapter after chapter he read on It t was the first book Joe had ever read ead It filled him with new visions and new ways of thinking He read on till tiB midnight and had been so impressed that he decided to read a chapter from the Bible before going to o bed By mere accident the chap chap- chaper chapter ter er was one on the birth at Bethle Bethle- hem Its teaching overpowered him he he had found the more abundant life ife l e. e S On Christmas morning when Jim Knox w rit out to sprint spring for a pail of water he noticed something like a card tacked on Joe Hath Hath- Hathway's Hathway's ways way's door He saw no smoke from the chimney Taking in the water cautiously he approached Joes Joe's cab cab- cabin cabin in door and read the note which said Dear Jim You will find me gone I was reading some last night in The Christmas Carol and in inthe inthe inthe the Bible I read that verse that told of peace and good will to man Said to myself My family is all gone the gone the last was Mary She left the book to get me on the right track Theres There's nothing in this hol hol- hollow hollow hollow low for me any more Maybe I can find work by New Years Year's over on Cedar Creek You and I never could get along So to make things better belter for us both hereafter I am leaving at daybreak And Jim as I say Good bye I also wish to say Peace on earth good will to men And as another result of The Christmas Carol two mountaineers were better men and though they had no Christmas cards or presents and no holiday programs the pines on the hillsides seemed a n bit green green- greener er and the music of the streams seemed sweeter S Western Newspaper Union 0 0 Cp Boxing Day Is Time for I Making faking Christmas Gifts THE T Pr HE first weekday after Christ- Christ Christmas Christmas Christmas is and mas Boxing day a legal bank holiday in England Wales and Northern Ireland but not in Scot Scot- land This is the day on which Christmas boxes or gifts are ex ex- expected expected by and given to errand boys servants letter carriers etc observes a writer in the Detroit News The name Christmas box is often applied there to the ordinary gift at this season of the year apart from this usage References to the apprentices box and butlers box as far back as the Sixteenth century indicate that these gratuities gratuities ties were at one time placed in an earthenware box which could be opened on Boxing day only by breaking it It appears also that the early church had boxes alms-boxes which were opened only on that date Chambers' Chambers Book of Days states that the institution of Christmas boxes evidently is akin to that of New Years Year's gifts and like it has descended from the times of the an an- ancient ancient Romans who at the season of the Saturnalia practiced universal universal- universally ly the custom of giving and receive receiving receiving ing presents 0 |