A BEAUTIFUL CUSTOM

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jun 28, 1899

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 25, No. 26.

A BEAUTIFUL CUSTOM.

A PRIVATE letter from a lady who is spending a year among the peasants of Tyrol, says:

"The morning of our arrival we were awakened by the sound of a violin and flutes under the window, and, hurrying down, we found the little house adorned as for a feast—garlands over the door and wreathing a high chair which was set in state.

"The table was already covered with gifts brought by the young people, whose music we had heard. The whole neighborhood were kinsfolk, and these gifts came from uncles and cousins in every far-off degree. They were very simple, for the donors are poor—knitted gloves, a shawl, a basket of flowers, jars of fruit, loaves of bread; but upon all, some little message of love was pinned.

" 'Is there a bride in this house?' I asked of my landlord.

" 'Ach, nein!' he said. 'We do not make a pother about our young people. It is our grandmother's birthday.'

" 'The grandmother, in her spectacles, white apron and high velvet cap, was a heroine all day, sitting in state to receive visits and dealing out slices from a sweet loaf to each who came. I could not but remember certain grandmothers at home, just as much loved as she, probably, but whose dull, sad lives were never brightened by any such pleasure as this, and I thought we could learn much from these poor mountaineers.'—Selected.