A Long Ago Kansas Christmas. 



An old-fashioned sort of yarn about an old-fashioned kind 

 of Christmas ; one with peace like snow, and snow like peace ; 

 on earth among the plain, simple folk on the Kansas border, 

 and yet one of the brightest- Christmas days in memory's store- 

 house. Back in the days of yule logs, carols and loving cups 

 Christmas day was enjoyed with love and simplicity, as it 

 should be. In this age of strife and competition, when one part 

 of the world has adopted the profession of money-making and 

 the balance of the human family are forced to the all-important 

 duty of making enough to live on, Christmas day has lost much 

 of its old-time tone. 



This story, that smacks of simple life and pioneer days, 

 may be worth repeating. It may be well to remember that we 

 shall not altogether forget what the early settlers went through 

 in developing the great prairies of the west. Western history 

 in its entirety reads like a romance. From the pioneer with 

 gun and ox team who first braved the dangers of the trackless 

 desert the midnight raids of the blood-thirsty savage, the 

 winter onslaught of beasts of prey, and the frightful barrenness 

 of the land itself to the civilization of today, which sees these 

 arid wastes transformed into fertile farms and pasture lands, 

 the upland hills and covers where often lay in wait the painted 

 redskin, now resounding with the hum of commercial, mining, 

 and agricultural industry, the history of the west is enchanting 

 as any volume of oriental life. 



There is no part of it so strongly encouraging and interest- 

 ing as that which relates to the triumph of man over that sec- 

 tion of the country marked in our old geographies as the "Great 

 American Desert." How well do I remember when a boy 

 studying my geography lesson of picturing in my mind's eye 

 the kind of country this was, and wondering if I could ever be 

 fortunate enough to visit this almost unknown country of tree- 

 less plains and drifting sands. 



[65] 



