December, 1938
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
419
Junior King's Business By M A R TH A S. HOO KER
FLORENCE’S FIRST CHR ISTMAS TREE B y I one L owman *
F IVE-YEAR-OLD Florence had just come to the Mission School for Na vajo Indians at Ganado, New Mexico. Like many other children who live in Navajo-land, Florence had never seen a Christmas tree. Neither had she ever heard of the Lord Jesus and His love, so of course, she had never heard of the lovely story of that wonderful night when the Lord Jesus was bom in the Bethlehem manger. She had never heard of the angel’s announce ment to the shepherds on the hillside, or of the beautiful star that guided wise men from afar. She had heard of the day, "Christ mas,” from a young cousin who had at tended the Mission School before her. But this description of Christmas chiefly concerned the receiving of gifts. When little Florence
ger boys and girls reported that never was there a finer or more beautiful tree! Cur tains drawn to cover the windows added to the suspense of the occasion. The children, young and old, could hardly wait to see be hind those curtains. Hidden from view, the tree stood there, glittering and shining when the great night came. When at last the doors were opened and the curtains were raised, the children marched into the room in orderly fashion, the older boys first, then the girls, and finally the youngest of all found their seats on the very first row. Right at the end of the front row sat Florence. As she sat there, we saw that her little face was turned con tinually in the direction of the Christmas tree. All diming the program which fol-
lowed, the children cast longing glances at the piles of presents which had been put in to sacks, one sack for each child. But Flor ence paid no attention to the presents. She just sat and looked at the tree. At last came the time to give out the presents. Each teacher distributed the gifts for her own class, so that no child might be missed, for there were many who had names that were quite similar. It fell to me to pass out the gifts for the boys and girls in the group which included Florence. I gave her the gifts which had been placed in a little bag especially for her. She was sitting cross-legged on her chair by that time’, and I put the sack on her lap. She paid no attention to the bag, and I noticed that she was still looking at the Christmas tree with
that same éxalted look, She made no move to take the p resen ts. Finally, I opened the sack and took out a doll, handing it to her. I thought surely she would like the doll, for she had never had one. She looked at it, and took it in her little arms, and then she looked only at the Christmas tree! The boys and girls by that time were sitting on the floor around the Christmas tree, open ing their presents, en grossed with the dolls and tops and trinkets which had been given them. Florence simply sat there, her own lap laden with the gifts which had been given her, but paying no at tention to them, her eyes still fixed upon the Christmas tree. It was clear that to Florence that tree was the m o s t beautiful thing in the whole world. Its glittering lights and its brightly colored d e c o ra tio n s fascinated her. You could see in her little face the thrill that stir red her as she gazed upon it. Finally, t h e t i m e came when the things had to be picked up; the toys were all gathered a n d p u t away. One by one, the
came to school, she heard the other girls and boys saying, again a n d a g a i n , “How ma n y d a y s C h ris t mas?" That is one of the first thi ngs the Indian children ask when they come to school. W e had a cal endar on the wall at the Mission, and in answer to the oft-re peated question, “How ma n y d a y s C h rist inas?” we counted the days to Christmas and marked off on the cal endar each day as it passed. Florence be came very much ex cited as Christmas day drew near, and her lit tle playmates told her more about all the things she was going to r e c e i v e w h e n Christmas came. The days on the cal endar were nearly all marked off, and that wonderful time, Christ mas week, arrived. In each classroom, there was a tiny Christmas tree, but in the dining room stood the huge tree, which the older boys and girls decor ated with the lovely things which had been sent in by missionary societies who longed to s h a r e Christmas with others. The big- *M ember o f th e fa cu lty o f the B ible In stitute o f Los A ngeles.
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