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December 15, 1915] THE Selections CHRISTMAS THOUGHTS. 1 like the merry Christmas tree, The birch and willow, too, But still I really must admit My favorite is "yew." Every leaf of this holly is a wish for a merry Christmas, and every scarlet berry a greeting for the New Year. Christmas Carols. I heard the bells on Christmas Day Their old familiar carols play, And mild and sweet the words repeat. Of peace on earth, good will to men. A Christmas "good morning," With wishes sincere That your Xmas be merry And full of good cheer. If merry Christmas wishes Had wings of joyous birds, TV1 cam/I 1 A * u ocnu llicill lining iu you, A flock of happy words! I hope this card doesn't stray. Among the millions on the way, 'Tis sent across the glistening snow, To recall memories of long ago. Just the old-time Christmas greeting, Just the same great wish 1 send; Just the same old message, speaking Love that loves unto the end. May the year's first morning dawn for you with joy that will abide, as the days grow into weeks, and the weeks glide into months, until the months round out the glad circle of the year. A l lirlistnius Prescription. For absent friends at Christmas There's naught so fine, I think, As sincere and hearty greetings Formed of little drops of ink. Health, fortune, friends, I wish for you, If you wish more, I wish them too. The old year sleeps. The new year wakes? To better deeds and 1V1UUC1 lliuuglllt}. A Christmas Thought of You. This day would not be Christmas to me without a thought of you in it. On other days I may be busy with many things and forget the blessing of your friendship, but on Christmal Day, when the world is shut out and we are alone with those we love, my thoughts turn to you in gratitude. Your life has helped mine; your friendship has been precious to me. I give you greeting on this happy day, and wish you the joy of a merry Christmas and a happy New Year. I send to you no useless gift this holy Christmas Day, but something you may keep a while, then gladly give away. Here's love wrapped up in tenderness, and folded all about are ribbons of good wishes that nothing may fade out. 'Tis stamped with hope and sealed with faith that friendship will abide As long as memories remain of Christ and Chrlstmastide. If passed along, such presents grow As snowballs gather up the snow. I am thinking of you to-day, because it is Christ nan, nuu i wisn you nappiness. Ana to-morrow, because it will be the day after Christmas, I shall still wish you happiness, and so on clear through the year. I may not be able to tell you about it every day, because I may be far away, or because both of us may be very busy, or perhaps because I cannot find the time to write vou. but that makes no difference. The thought and wish will be here, Just the same. In my work and in the business of life , I mean not to be unfair to you or injure you in? any way. In my pleasure, if we can be together, I would like to share the fun with you. Whatever joy or success comes to you will make me glad. PRESBYTERIAN OF THE SO Without pretense, and in plain words, good will to you is what I mean, in tlm spirit of Christmas.1? Henry Van Dyke. 'Tis an old, old wish, On a tiny little card: I wish you merry Christmas, But I wish it very hard. Again the old-time wish I give, With Christmas greetings warm, sincere; iway ail tnat makes lire worth to live, Be thine throughout the coming year. A world of love and kindness, To make you glad and gay; And here's a hearty greeting For merry Christmas Day. Happy memories. Happier thoughts, Happiest wishes. Now hearts are warm, though winds blow cold, So say good-bye to sadness. For Christmas turns life's grey to gold, And fills the world with gladness. WE'VE ALWAYS BEEN PROVIDED FOR. "Good wife, what are you singing for? You know we've lost the hay. And what we'll do with horse and kye is more than I can say; While like as not, with storm and rain, we'll lose both corn and wheat." She looked up with a pleasant face, and answered low and sweet: "There is a Heart, there is a Hand, we feel, but cannot see; We've always been provided for, and we shall always be." He turned around with a sudden gloom. She said: "Love, be at rest; i'uu cut the gras3, worked soon and late, you did your very best; That was your work, and you've naught at all to do with wind and rain; And do not doubt but you will reap rich fields, of golden grain; For there's a Heart, and there's a Hand, we feel, but cannot see; We've always been provided for, and we shall always be." "That's like a woman's reasoning?we must, because we must." She softly said: "I reason not; I only work and trust; The harvest may redeem the day?keep heart wliate'er betide; When one door shuts, I've always seen another open wide. There is a Heart, there is a Hand, we feel, but cannot see; We've always been provided for, and we shall always be." He kissed the calm and trustful face; gone was his restless pain; She heard him with a cheerful step go whistling down the lane, And went about her household tasks full of a glad content, Singing to time her busy hands as to and fro she went: "There is a Heart, there is a Hand, we feel, but cannot see; We've always been provided for, and we shall always be." Days come and go?'twas Christmas tide, and the eratft firn hnrn?d cloar The farmer said: "Dear wife, it's been a good and happy year; The fruit was gain, the surplus corn has bought the hay, you know." She lifted then her smiling face, and said: "I told you so! For there's a Heart, and there's a Hand, we feel, but cannot see; We've always been provided for, and we shall always be." "A dragon fly cannot sting the sun." If our power of kindness is stronger than the power of the petty jealousies and animosities that encompass us, we can live in an atmosphere of peace above them. U T H. (831) 5 JEST FORE CHRISTMAS. Father calls me William, sister calls me Will, Mother calls me Willie, but the fellows call me Bill! Mighty glad I ain't a girl, rather be a boy, Without them sashes, curls an' things that's worn by Fauntleroy. Love to chunk green apples, go swimming in the lake? Hate to take the castor-ile they give for belly ache! 'Most all the time, the whole year round, there ain't 110 flies on me. But jest 'fore Christmas I'm as good as I kin be! Got a yeller dog named Sport, sick him on the cat; First thing she knows she doesn't know where she is at! Got a clipper sled, and when us kids goes out to slide, 'Long comes the grocery cart, and wo all hook a ride! But sometimes when the grocery man is worried and cross. He reaches at us with his whip, and larrups up his hoss, An' then I laff and holler, "Oh, ye never tetched me." But jest 'fore Christmas I'm as good as I kin be! Gran'ma says she hopes thet when I git to be a man. I'll be a Missionarer like her oldest brother, Dan, As was et up by the Cannibals that lives in Ceylon's Isle, Where every prospeck pleases, an' only man is vile! But gran'ma she has never seen a wild west show. Nor read the life of Daniel Boon, or else I guess she'd know That Buff'lo Bill an' cowboys is good enough for me! Excep' jest 'fore Christmas, when I'm good as I can be! And then old Sport he hangs around, so solemn like and still, His eyes they seem a-saying: "what's the matter, little Bill?" The old cat sneaks down off her perch an' wonders what's become or mem two enemies of hern that used to make things hum! But I am so perlite and 'tend so earnestly to biz, That mother says to father: "How improved our Willie is!" But father, havin' been a boy hisself, suspicions me. When, 'Jest 'fore Christmas, I'm as good as I kin be! For Christmas, with its lots and lots of candies, cakes and toys, Was made, they say, for proper kids and not for naughty boys. So wash yer face and bresh yer hair, and mind yer p's and q's, An' don't bust out yer pantaloons, and don't wpnr out yer shoes; Say "Yessum" to the ladies, and "Yessur" to the men, An' when they's company, don't pass yer plate for pie again, But, thlnkin' of the thing yer'd like to see upon that tree, Jest 'fore Christmas be as good as yer kin be. "OTHERS." Lord, help me live from day to day, In such a self-forgetful way. mat even when I kneel to pray. My prayer shall be for?OTHERS. Help me In all the work I do, To ever be sincere and true, And know that all I'd do for you. Must needs be done for?OTHERS. Let "Self" be crucified and slain, And burled deep; and all in vain. May efforts be to rise again. Unless to live for?OTHERS. And when my work on earth is done. And my new work in heaven's begun. May I forget the crown I've won, While thinking still of?OTHERS. Others, Lord, yes, others. Let this ray motto be. Help me to live for others, That I may live like thee. "When Coleridge was once asked for some proof of Christianity his answer was not a labored argument, but it consisted of two most significant words. "Try it."