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 ! "