p. 9 | CHRISTMAS DOIN'S by PRISCILLA ANN BAKER

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Dec 16, 1897

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 23, No. 49.

CHRISTMAS DOIN'S.

By PRISCILLA ANN BAKER

IT had ben nigh onto eighteen years sence I had seen Hester Rogers (she wus a Brown), an' so as I wus comin' home from sister Melisse's, in Kansas, I stopped off an' made her a visit. She wus powerful glad to see me, an' I had a real good time; fur she hadn't changed much sence we went to school together, if she did show her age right smart, an' her man wus real clever. He didn't talk much, but I've thought sence 'twas because we kep' it a-goin' all the time—Hester an' me.

While I wus there Christmas come, an' they had a powerful sight of goin's on. I got there nigh onto a week before, an' Hester kep' speakin' about it all along, an' sayin' 'twus to be hel' in their church. I'd never ben to no sech doin's to Bean Blossom an' Nubbin Ridge, nur they didn't hev 'em to Bolton where I wus brung up, but then everything changes but truth, an' some folks try to change that. I'd always heerd about Cath'lics an' 'Piscopalians keepin' Christmas an' Easter an' Good Friday an' Lent an' St. Patrick's day, but I never thought Hester did, till I wus there. I never let on to her but what I knowed all about how they wus carried on, tho; but I didn't. She tol' me about 'em buildin' their new church that summer, an' jest dedicatin' it the Sunday before, so I s'posed it wus some kind of a sacred service or other.

We dedicate churches in Bean Blossom; but as Hester had one of Noah Webster's dictionaries, an' I didn't have much to do but jest knit, I looked up "dedicate," an' it means "to consecrate; to devote;" an' "consecrate" means "to declare to be sacred," an' "sacred" means "holy." So I knowed that in that new church that they had declared to be holy to God, they wouldn't think of havin' anything but a sacred service, for you know how Jesus drove the merchants out of the temple an' stopped its desecration, not even allowin' them to carry

any vessel through it. If it hadn't ben I thought of that, I'd have ben sure they wus startin' a store in the lobby or somewheres, the way the folks went in an' out of the church a couple of days beforehand, carryin' boxes an' bundles, only they took 'em in instead of out. It wus right close to Hester's, so I could watch 'em.

I didn't say nothin', tho, an' when the night (eve they call it) come, we got fixed an' went. When we got into the lobby, Hester's man went over to a man that wus behind a table that had a basket onto it (jest like the ones the deacons take up collections in to our church), an' handed him some money, an' he dropped it into that basket. I jest thought that wus their way of castin' into the Lord's treasury, till I saw him take two or three little silver pieces out of the basket, an' give 'em an' some cards to Hester's man, an' him give 'em (the cards jest) to a man at the door where we went in, jest like Baker an' me do when we go to the Brush County Fair. My, but I felt queer! Christ an' the tables of money-changers come to my mind like a flash. I didn't have long to think, tho, fur we went in an' got a seat. When we got settled down, like, I looked up to the pulpit, an', sir, up there, right under a arch, in the end of the church that had "Holiness to the Lord" painted on it in queer-shaped gilt letters, wus a white tent with toys an' clothes an' sech things hangin' all over it. There wus a evergreen tree, too, a little to one side, with 'em on, an' little candles burnin' onto the ends of the limbs. Well, I jest set and looked.

After a spell, when the house wus so full that men an' boys wus perchin' onto the pulpit steps an' standin' in the aisles, the minister got up an' said they would begin. He prayed, an' then spoke about Jesus bein' born in Bethlehem, an' the herald angels an' everything so nice, an' said that wus why they wus havin' the meetin'. I wondered why Parson Jones had never had 'em to Bean Blossom, an' thought to myself I'd speak to him about it when I got home. Jest as I thought that the minister said that he didn't know fur sure whether it wus Christ's birthday or not, so I reckon they jest played it wus, as the children say. I thought that would spile it fur me, unless 'twas certain, an' I could read it in the Testament jest what day he wus born, an' how it should be celebrated, if celebrated at all. Well, pretty soon they begun to sing, an' make speeches up there. Some of the little children spoke, an' real nice, too. I liked the music first rate, but I wus surprised that they sung songs, fur Hester had tol' me how they didn't think it wus right to sing anything but psalms in her church, an' I'd had a time of it all week chokin' 'em down, fur I'm always singin' 'round home. Hester an' the rest settin' back didn't sing with 'em, but I don't know whether 'twas because they wus agin' it or not; they didn't look mad nur nothin'.

They quit that, an' then the minister said something about presents, an' some men an' women went to takin' the toys an' things offen that tent an' evergreen an' handin' 'em to a man that roared out somebody's name as he hel' each one up, an' some young folks kep' takin' the things from him, an' carryin' them back to the folks they wus fur. This went on a spell, when, all to onct, all the folks begun to laugh right out in meetin'. When I looked, he wus holdin' up a white cotton nightcap. I watched the girl that took it, an' she give it to a man about forty-five years old, with a sleek bald head; an' he jest put it on, an' they all laughed agin. I did, too; fur I furgot about bein' to church, an' he looked so queer with that cap on, an' his face all over red whiskers an' grins.

Some got nice presents, too. They give Hester the nicest kind of a work-box, with spools an' needles an' a cushion in it all ready, an' I jest thought to myself I'd have one like it when I got butter an' eggs enough ahead at the store.

The first thing I knowed they wus callin' out "Mrs. Priscilla Baker," an' Hester's man got up an' motioned, an' they brought me one jest like hers exactly. It's awful nice an' handy, an' I keep it on a shelf Baker made me to one side the bay-winder.

Every onct in a while they'd laugh an' clap their han's an' stomp the floor like the boys used to to lyceum when I wus a girl. I didn't always know what wus the matter, tho. Onct it wus at a box of collars an' a bar of soap they give a man that Hester said needed 'em mighty bad. One young man got a old parasol an' a mince pie, an' another a emp'y beer bottle, an' the minister got a fine comb.

"Santa Claus, Santa Claus!" the little boys hollered, as a man all rigged out in a buffalo robe came out of that tent an' down the aisle, throwin' nuts and candy to the children in every seat. But I didn't enjoy it much more, an' wus glad when we got outdoors, where we could have a good breath agin. Hester an' me didn't talk much about the goin's on that night, fur it wus past bedtime when we got to her house, an' I started home early next mornin'. But it wus on my mind constant while I wus sailin' along on the railroad cars that day. After we'd past a few little towns, we come to a big one, an' a man got on, an' set down in front of me, an' 'twa'n't long till he tuck out a paper jest like the ones Hester showed me that her church prints, an' begun to read. I 'lowed from that he wus a gentleman, an' would know all about that service, so I jest tol' him all about bein' there, an' asked him where in the Bible it tells us how to do at 'em. He jest laughed kind of quiet like, an' said he didn't know unless it wus in some of the new version Bibles. When I got home I tol' Baker about it, an' he said, "Why, that hain't nothin' very new, mother, I've ben readin' fur some time that they're hol'in' 'em into most all the churches, back east, anyways." He wa'n't much tuck up with it, but I tol' him if we'd ben neglectin' something in the Lord's worship, we'd best fin' it out, an' commence.

Well, we read the Testament clean through, an' couldn't fin' one place where it says to keep Christmas, nur to have tents and gifts fur everybody, an' laugh an' stomp into churches. We can't even find out what day or month Christ come into the worl'. If anybody's got one of them new version Bibles with it in, I'd like to get it. The Lord killed Nadab and Abihu fur having strange fire 'round the tabernacle "that he had not commanded." So I want to see it in the Bible, an' be shore to get everything exactly like it's commanded, when we go to have 'em to Bean Blossom, an' so does Baker, an' I think Parson Jones.

PRISCILLA ANN BAKER.