10 THE ACORN While his pen is dedicating What his restless hand can lift. Now the sewing girls together Hunt suggestions in their glee, To invent the which and whether, For the season's Xmas tree. Now the next year's local broker, Has quotations on the stocks; Now the next year's strike provoker. Has employees by the flocks. While the silent men are hunting, While the orators explode, Old Kris Kringle must be grunting 'Neath his season's Christmas load. But the day when all make merry, Comes along but once a year; And we need no dictionary To define the word called "cheer." We can all live on in pleasure, While we walk the upward way, And we reap another's treasure For the next year's Christmas day. Walter Emmett, A Christmas Prayer Oh Christ, to whom we dedicate This happy Christmas day, Send down to us Thy spirit bright o bless us on our way Protect us with Thy holy love, That we may never sin; Oh give to us remembrance Of Thy great work for men; Oh may we ne'er forget that trust But live befittingly, That we may in eternity A dwelling gain with thee. Sarah Williams '06. THE ACORN 11 "1906" There was a quiet buzz in the hall of Time! 'Twas nearly the last hour of the last day in 1906, and Father Time was waiting for the knight of '06 to appear. Soon there was a soft rustle and '06 came slowly in. He was old, bent, and gray, his face wore a sad yet wise look. Over his shoulder there hung a sack, and under his arm, he carried a book. The former seemed ever to go up, while the latter tried to slip to the ground, making him bend to the side to catch it before it fell. Slowly the knight advanced and kneeling at the throne, paid homage to his father. Father Time bade him rise and said, "My son, I see thy good deeds have overbalanced thy evil ones, for thy book is heavier than thy sack. I welcome thee home and will now tell thee why I sent thee." "Very far, yet ever near, there dwells a king. Thou knowest whom I mean, my son. But didst thou know that this good king took every good deed to make a silver brick or something else to help the building of thy palace of immortality? I say "something else" because sometimes thou didst give or do a thing reluctantly, then was the material that went to the building of thy house not so costly but of a cheaper grain. According to thy deeds hast thy house been built, some parts are golden bricks while others are common clay. Thy sack shows that thy deeds have not all been good, it bulges in several places; a bad deed can never find a smooth resting place but ever seekest a lump substance without shape or form. In thy book the pages are smooth and white, and on them, thy good deeds are recorded. Dost thou remember the time thou triedst to cheer the homesick friend who felt that life was not worth living? Dost thou remember the time thou gavest up one of thy most earnest desires for the sake of a classmate? Dost thou remember the time thy heart was wounded that thou mighst save another? Lastly, dost thou remember when thou shed the repentant tears for wrongs thou hadst done, and prayed for forgiveness and a better knowledge of right? This last did most for the building of thy mansion. "Now farewell, my son, the hand points to the hour of twelve. Thy time is nearly up. Thou hast done thy duty and in return hast gained a reward. The knight '07 will soon be here and 'twill be his turn to meet life's battle and build his palace of immortality." Slowly the gray-haired knight departed and Father Time murmered to himself, "Would that '07 might do better than this son hast done; each year must be more perfect than the last, or the end will never come." Ethel Guild '08.