She is So Very Gifted!

Gifted

By ANNE CAMPBELL

She is so very gifted!
If she should write a song,
The lyric would be garbled,
The melody all wrong.
But singing to her baby
She builds a world of peace
Where sorrow does not enter,
And dark forebodings cease.

She is so very gifted!
She cannot write a book,
But all the world grows brighter
Beneath her cheerful look.
Her mind is not creative,
But with homemaking hands
She fashions all the beauty
Her family demands.

She is so very gifted!
She tries sometimes to paint,
But on her day’s brief canvas
She sketches no complaint.
Her gifts are of the spirit,
And there is joyful proof
They do not go unnoticed
Beneath her star-crowned roof.

Syracuse Herald (Syracuse, New York) Apr 5, 1937

New Year – 2013

We ain’t got nothin’ but we’ll give you all half of that!

Nevada State Journal (Reno, Nevada) Jan 1, 1913

NOW WRITE IT!

Newark Advocate (Newark, Ohio) Jan 1, 1913

It’s All Yours

Albuquerque Tribune (Albuquerque, New Mexico) Jan 1, 1963

To Be Quite Fair

Tis Customary at Christmas Time — For Each to Hang a Sock —
But Don’t You Think — to Be Quite Fair —
Since Yours is Whole — n’ Mine’s Just Half —
That I Should Hang —– — A Pair?

Appleton Post Crescent (Appleton, Wisconsin) Dec 24, 1928

Old-Time Christmas Tree

The Old-Time Christmas Tree.

I oft recall the Christmas tree
That bloomed when we were boys;
It seems a mystery to me
How it could hold the toys
That clung in clusters on each limb
Like grapes upon a vine,
While many a colored candle’s glim
On baubles bright would shine.

All through the reeking branches’ rifts
The wayward, wandering wax
Would gurgle over gaudy gifts,
And leave long tallow tracks;
Soft pills of purple paraffine
Would punctuate the hair
Of dolls and make their tresses’ sheen
A polka-dot affair.

The limp wax-drippings, light and dark,
Seeped down without surcease,
Bedecking beasts in Noah’s ark
With rainbow stripes of grease;
And lo a miracle was wrought
When falling candle clots
The litheless little leopard caught
And changed the creature’s spots.

The tainted touch of tinted grease,
Made a kaleidoscope
Of many a toy; the lamb’s white fleece
Was flecked like mottled soap;
The dark-bay horse was dappled blue,
The elephant turned green,
And other beasts assumed a hue
That ne’er before was seen.

Now distance lends enchantment to
Those lights of long ago,
And oft we fancy that they won
Our hearts with radiant glow;
The Yuletide tree when we were young
Seems fairer far than all
The boyhood pictures that are hung
On memory’s wide wall.

— T.B. Chrystal in N.Y. World.

New Castle News (New Castle, Pennsylvania) Dec 23, 1912

Shallow Water

A HINT TO GIRLS.

An exchange paper says: “We have always considered it an unerring sign of innate vulgarity, when we hear ladies take particular pains to impress us with an idea of their ignorance of all domestic matters, save sewing lace, or weaving a net to enclose their delicate hands. — Ladies by some curious kind of hocus pocus, have got it into their heads that the best way to catch a husband is to show him how profoundly capable they are of doing nothing for his comfort. Frightening a piano into fits, or murdering the King’s French, may be good bait for some kinds of fish, but they must be of that kind usually found in shallow water. The surest way to secure a good husband, is to cultivate those accomplishments which make a good wife.

Wiskonsan Enquirer (Madison, Wisconsin) Oct 20, 1842

Gaiter Boots

Image from Laura Elizabeth on Pinterest

GAITER BOOTS.

O dainty foot!
O gaiter boot!
To piety you’re shocking;
I only know —
Of one thing worse,
And that a snow white stocking.

So neat and clean,
Together seen,
E’en stoics must agree
To you to vote
What Gray once wrote,
A handsome L – E – G.

The [lasting] theme
Of midnight dream,
The very [soul] of song,
Man wants you little
Here below,
And never wants you long.

By Plato ne’er
Sent tripping here;
By Pluto rather given,
To lead poor man
(An easy plan)
To any place but heaven.

Yet still I vow
There’s magic now
About a woman’s foot,
And cunning was
The wizard hand
That made a gaiter boot.

For while the knave
The gaiter gave
To mortals to ensnare them,
Mankind he hoaxed,
And even coaxed
The angels down to wear them.

The Hillsdale Standard (Hillsdale, Michigan) May 1, 1866

This Date in History – George Washington

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WASHINGTON’S DEATH

One hundred and thirty years ago today, on December 14, 1799, George Washington died.

On Dec. 12 of that year, Washington was exposed in the saddle for several hours to cold and snow, and attacked with acute laryngitis, for which he was repeatedly bled.

Washington sunk rapidly and died two days later. His last words were characteristic. He said: “I die hard, but I am not afraid to go. I believed from my first attack that I should not survive it. My breath cannot last long.” A little later he said: “I feel myself going. I thank you for your attentions; but I pray you to take no more trouble about me. Let me go off quietly. I cannot last long.”

After some instructions to his secretary about his burial, he became easier, felt for his own pulses, and died without a struggle.

Mourning was almost as widespread in Europe as it was in America.

Kokomo Tribune (Kokomo, Indiana) Dec 14, 1929

1893

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1911

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1928

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1929

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1967

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Rain, Rain, Go Away!

San Antonio Express (San Antonio, Texas) Dec 11, 1963

The Chronicle Telegram (Elyria, Ohio) Nov 18, 1931

Troy Record (Troy, New York) Dec 17, 1962

The Chronicle Telegram (Elyria, Ohio) Dec 5, 1928

Lima News (Lima, Ohio) Sep 15, 1950

Letter to Santa

Appleton Post Crescent (Appleton, Wisconsin) Dec 23, 1921

Letter to Santa.

Dear Santa Claus: My coal bill
Is ninety twenty-four,
If you will take it off my hands,
I shall not ask for more.
I don’t care how you fix it,
Just so you let me out —
O, that would be a Christmas gift
Beyond a doubt.

Dear Santa Claus, my grocer
Wants money very badly,
If you will see him when you come,
I’ll leave it to you gladly.
I don’t care what you give him,
Just so the trade is fair —
O, that would be a Christmas gift
Beyond compare.

Dear Santa Claus, my butcher —
But do I grow prolix?
What say I send them all to you,
With leave for you to fix?
I don’t care how you fix them,
So long as they are paid —
But I expect too much of you,
I am afraid.

— St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

New Castle News (New Castle, Pennsylvania) Dec 21, 1912

The Warmth of Perfection

Image from Etsy

Glowing Heat From Every Ounce of Fuel

The News (Frederick, Maryland) Dec 24, 1907

Clean Dry Heat

The Gettysburg Times (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania) Dec 9, 1911

Houses Without Chimneys

Olean Evening Times (Olean, New York) Dec 24, 1912

Baby’s Morning Dip

The Frederick Post (Frederick, Maryland) Dec 12, 1914

A Touch of a Match Brings a Touch of Spring

The Frederick Post (Frederick, Maryland) Dec 18, 1915

Emergency Heating

The Frederick Post (Frederick, Maryland) Dec 18, 1918

Don’t Waste Coal

The Gettysburg Times (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania) Dec 18, 1918