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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 1879)
354 THE WEST SHORE. December, 1879 " MERRY CHRISTMAS I" BY I.. I'. VI: SEN. And ho litis welcome and aver blessed reunion hah come again. Mother Earth has completed yet another circuit of her vast orbit around the great central source of light and heat, scoring a full Ave hundred and seventy millions of mile, and here, like way-worn and weary travelers, once more have we arrived at the dearest of all old Time's 1 clay k, merry, merry Christmas. How joyously the pleasant congratu lation! hie from neighbor to neighbor, from friend to friend. How like the music of fairy chimes do the verv words seem to jingle as they ring forth from the pure, unsuspecting lips of childhood. I 'nsuspecting, do wc say? Yen, and let us not break the sweet delusion; it were cruel to prematurely undeceive them and make the now happy hearts beat to the slower measure of life's cold, practical realities. W e, too, were young once, and thought the great woild was brimming full of holidays; or, the rather, it was one big, noisy holi day all the year round, Spring, Sum mer, Autumn and Winter, were almost endless cycles to us, while the golden sunshine of day and the gentle shad ows of night succeeded each other like the ever varying hues in a landscape panorama. "We were Ikijt an girla U'K'tber once, in daya that ulumlwr nuw, Kre llm aurtlxl rant that cumber ua dad (hi- rowed cheek ami hrow; In IIik lilnunl ntft nt liimiicw, when pleaaure rule.! the hour, Vhil our amllna ami Iran nn fttf ully ai April uu and ahower; We wrt 1. . ami gitU tofttbar, tin. far in th hah you nut, Hut anew not that t ha row. wer too Ixsmutif nl to laal. Tin n let us give full scope and vent to the lend, t and lom.inlic scntimcn lalisms thai clusln aioundthc occasion. I e guise it as we may, there it no dc Bjrittg the fact that the winter holidays, far fvcfllemc, are fraught with associ 11I ions a thousand limes stronger than the iron will of theexnic or the self pi Ml of the traveled cosmopolitan.. Childhood, maturity, and age arc alike aflVctcd by it and haxe only to come u ithiu the sphere of ilt hallowed inHu rnce to succumb to the all-absorbing snit that pervades the very air thev breathe. Wc never wholly outgrow the faith that catrMMl devotion repose in the charming creed of early years. Its meshes may indeed be ruptured by a sounder wisdom, but the havoc of vears cannot brush clean away the shreds of its silken cords. The weekly turmoil and parade of Christmas preparations, the roaring brick oven, the savory smells, the old fashioned fire-place, the long rows of waiting stockings, big and little, short and long; the midnight bodily come-down of old Santa Clans, and after all the distribution and dis cussion of rare baubles and gimcracks. All these are are faithfully stereotyped in the memory's crumpled and musty programme, and no man, raised in a Christian home, cares at all to forget them. The fact that the natal anniversary of Jesus Christ, at every recurrence is so religiously and zealously observeil by nearly all the civilized and enlight ened nations of the earth is a pungent argument in favor of the divine authen ticity of that wonderful event which these popular festivities arc designed to celebrate. In searching the dingy tomes of the old chroniclers, wc read that in the second century, Tope Telesphorus first instituted the religious observance of our Savior's birthday; but as no defi nite time was assigned to it, the cele bration was for a long period included in the category of moveable feasts. A lit tle further on we arc told that, in the fourth century, St. Cyril, of Jerusa lem, in order to deduce authorized sys tern from the conflet of date., prevailed upon Pope Julius I., to issue a call for a council of the best theologians, that the) might investigate the question as to the exact day on which Christ was Inirn. Learned and pious delegates from the East and West met to gether in solemn deliberation, mak ing signal use of the "tables of llie sensors," preserved in the the archives at the city of Rome. The result of this council fixed the birth of Christ on, w hat would be according to the new style, the 25th of Decemlicr, and that memorable decision has re mained intact down to the present day. I'rom grand ceremonious displays of much solemnity, earnestness and been ty, Christmas feast days began at an early day to degenerate in staidness ami dignity until, during the middle ages, they amounted to little more among the populace of many cities. than fantastic parade and gay festivity- The custom of decorating churches with everp-reens and nn-rfh.. mas trees seems to have been an out growth of early Druidical practices. Branches of rosemary, holly, ivy, hay, laurel and mistletoe were largely used, while a yew tree was generally chosen to bloom with a showy array of little torches and bear its annual loadofpres cuts. To "kiss under the rose," "whis per under the mistletoe," etc., are among the phrases incident to the old Christmas games of the North. The following excerpt explains itself: "Bring holly-branch and mistletoe., Fait intertwine and haug them low, For lorea own mystic bower." St. Nicholas, a real character and patron of Russia, flourished in the third century. As Bishop of Myra in Licia, he suffered persecution under Diclctian. This personage, known among the children of all Christendom as "Saint Nick? "Santa Claiu,n "Knecht Rupert" and "Kriss Krin gh" is regarded by common consent, as the undisputed master of ceremo nies and dispenser of presents at Christmas-tide the wide world over. In proof of the assumption that the children have pretty good authority for their pleasing conceits, it may lie noted that St. Nicholas died in the month of December, either during the holiday season itself, or very near that period, and also that his name was early asso ciated with Christmas doings by the fathers of the church. Justinian dedi cated a chapel to him, in Constantino ple, about the year A. D. 560. He was reverenced by the people of the Western Empire in theMoth century and has been honored in various ways throughout Scandinavia, ever since the 12th century. In the Greek Church he ranks next to the great fathers. Christmas carols have Wen written in many languages and scattered broadcast over the world like leaves in autumn. The following lines, though in blank verse, may serve as a speci men: "A comely maiden, young and para Ai dwy global, ray of light, or breath That atirrad In wanton playful her kxk. Saluted a th bleated of her race And nr.mhedc.wed by the Holy llbost! And born to bar, e'en undettled, by traag Conception which till then had nerer biaaaad Th woaab of womankind, a ami bab' Sweet child of lowly birth, and yt who Ua Of royal lineage proclaimed him Priam Of Haar'a. th tret bora aoa of God ! "