Among other things

So called “political correctness” has robbed countless numbers of people of experiences of joy in many areas of the country – especially at this time of year. There are areas where officials are afraid to allow lighted Christmas trees on government or school property; more and more greeting cards and ads are substituting “Holiday greetings” or “Season’s greetings” for Merry Christmas. Christmas concerts are now holiday concerts and singing Christmas carols is discouraged.

Most families have fond memories of school plays, skits, concerts and other Christmas events. Each year it seems there are fewer of them, due to “PC” and threats of law suits.

I’m reminded of a Christmas story by the late Fred Ward in the Meagher County News of White Sulphur Springs on Dec. 26, 1945. Ward, then editor and publisher of the weekly newspaper, wrote about a Christmas program he attended as a district school superintendent 30 years earlier. Excerpts appear below. The full story was reprinted in Montana Margins, a state anthology compiled in 1946 by Joseph Kinsey Howard.

The program was held in Lame Jones School beyond the “breaks” of the Upper Sandstone country where the homesteaders were mostly Ukrainian Russians. They spoke German and English fluently. Despite the cold and snow, the entire community turned out for the event which included a candlelit Christmas tree. There were 14 students in the school and each had a part in the program.

Ward recalled a dialog featuring five of the smaller kids. It started with a boy named Ralph Sandaas coming out dressed like Santa Claus. He said, “I brekt the chimney off because ‘twas much too small for Santa Claus.”

But the most memorable part of the play was the final number. Ward wrote “In this, a little girl named Heisley Stockfisch was the mother of a brood of children.” When someone knocked at the door, Heisley was supposed to come out and say, ‘My day, who can this be, knocking at my door so early on Christmas morning?’”

During a short intermission before the final act, some sheets were hung in front for a curtain and the crowd was visiting among themselves. To quiet them down, Supt. Ward wrote, “Thinking to help the teacher, I pounded on the desk for silence. That was a mistake, for when I pounded, Heisley came out and exclaimed, ‘My day, who can this be, knocking at my door so early on Christmas morning?’

“The teacher, who had been behind the curtain helping the other children make up for their parts, rushed out and led Heisley back. The crowd was still talking so I pounded on the desk again. And again Heisley rushed out and she said, ‘My day, who can this be, knocking at my door so early on Christmas morning?’

“Again the teacher rushed out and retrieved this little girl. I knew better than to hammer on the desk again, so I bellered ‘Quiet!’ A woman standing within a foot of me almost jumped out of her skin.

“Order was finally restored. The mailman knocked at the door, but this time Heisley was not to be fooled. The teacher had to lead her out on the stage, and she said, with a sigh of deep resignation, ‘My day, who can this be, knocking at my door so early on Christmas morning?’

“Two of the Diesterhaft girls that evening sang a song in the tongue of their ancestors: ‘O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum, Wietreu sint deine Blatter.’”

After the program, Christmas presents were handed out, and Supt. Ward had to walk back to his car which had been left at the Stockfisch homestead because there was no road down through the “breaks.” There were deep drifts between him and the car but he was told there was a shorter way. Heisley showed him the way.

Ward wrote, “When we walked out into the night, the sky was clear. A slim moon hung over the rim of the prairie. Heisley clutched at her Christmas gifts as we waded through the heavy snow. She pointed to a big yellow star that was rising in the east. ‘Lookit,” she said, “just like the story in the book. The star in the east.’

“I might have told her that the light of the star of the Prince of Peace was not something which existed only in the ages of long ago, but like the brightness I had seen that night in the eyes of little children who were glad, it was something eternal and unchanging. But that thought did not strike me for thirty years. I had to await the coming of war and the uneasy peace after the war; then war again and another peace ushered into the world.”

Unfortunately, there have been wars since then as the goal of peace to all mankind continues to be an elusive one. Perhaps that’s another reason why we need to recognize Christmas with cards, carols, concerts, programs, and the joy of the season. Maybe, just maybe, mankind eventually will get the message.

Merry Christmas, everyone.