Page 82 - HSLChristmasAnthology

HSL Christmas Anthology page 82

TWO CHRISTMAS CELEBRATIONS 203

there Is no higher law, ring their bells, and fire their
cannons, and let off their rockets, making more noise
than all those who honor and defend the great princi
ples of humanity which make Independence Day fam
ous; so on Christmas, not only religious people, but
scribes, and Pharisees, and hypocrites, make a great
talk about " Christ, and him crucified ; " when, if a
man of genius for religion were now to appear, they
would be the first to call out "Infidel!" "Infidel!"
and would kill him if it were possible or safe.Well, one rainy Sunday evening in 1855, just

twelve days before Christmas, in the little town of
Soitgoes, in Worcester county, Mass., Aunt Kindly
and Uncle Nathan were sitting in their comfortable
parlor before a bright wood fire. It was about eight
o'clock, a stormy night; now it snowed a little, then
it rained, then snowed again, seeming as if the weather
was determined on some kind of a storm, but had not
yet made up its mind for snow, rain, or hail. Now
the wind roared in the chimney, and started out of her
sleep a great tortoise-shell cat, that lay on the rug
which Aunt Kindly had made for her. Tabby opened
her yellow eyes suddenly, and erected her smellers; but
finding it was only the wind, and not a mouse, that
made the noise, she stretched out a great paw and
yawned, and then cuddled her head down so as to show
her white throat, and went to sleep again.Uncle Nathan and Aunt Kindly were brother and

sister. He was a little more than sixty ; a fine, hale,
hearty-looking, handsome man as you could find in a
summer's day, with white hair, and a thoughtful, be
nevolent face, adorned with a full beard as white as
his venerable head. Aunt Kindly was five-and-forty,
or thereabouts; her face a little sad when you looked