The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1873-12-27 00:00:00

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It would be difficult to describe the many amoeba
lions which cluster round the ude word Christmas--
that joyous week which ushers the Old Year out and
the New Year in. Then is the season when men have
most leisure fir enjoyment, for by common consent
very little work is dune at Christmastide. I must,
however, make an exception, and that is upon the
railways, where the officials necessarily have an ha--
CLIBUde amount of additional labour oast upon then,
through the transit of vast number., of hampers an'
baskets containing Christmas presents for friends at
ifstancs. The goods der At at either of our great rail
way termiei—Euston Square, Kinsey i:lross, Si.
Pancras, or Paddin,,t,e, is aiiv.iyo a scene of heath
sad zactivity— a ccene which, howgier, in the few day
preceding the 2:ith of liceeniber, seems to be a con
o.mtrat d picture of the energy of weeks. The weather
CAVILI becomes a more than ordinary topic- of converse
troll and solicitude. Sometimes, as in 1860, Chriatrues
Eve 18 marked by such a frost of intense severity ea
to kill even the laurels which are, as a rule, Buy-
posed to flourish rver-greera an our temperate climate;
In: 'other yearn, the weather is mild and rainy,
and not in accordance with the traditions of the time.
lithe truth mast be told, the preference is given to a
'lofty hod braoing atmosphere. "Ring out ye merry
bright icicles!" wrote Edward l'apern,
the poetic postmau of Bideford years ago ; and there
is no queslion that a hard, grey Christmas morning is
A source of cons;derahle enjoyment to vest numbers
of our countrymen. Forth they sally in their warm
wraps in quad of healthful exercise. It may be that
skating is in full swing upon the frozen surface of an
adjacent pond, and none who have witnessed the
scactacle can have any doubt whatever of the un-
bounded delight of those who take part in this
recreation. Or, if no skating is available, ii rapid walk
on a country road, by quickening the circulation, im-
parts au agreeable glow to the whole frame, and
prepares the pedestrian to do full Justice tothose good
tbizige with which he is well aware his table will be
spread on his return.
But the appreciation of Christmas does not wholly PM
met in the pleasure naturally derived from good living,
for like many other earthly objects it. joys grow dim- -
Its glories peas away. One of the greatest gratifications
surrounding the festive season is in the meeting once
more of scattered members of families, and in the re-
kniiting of ties of old affection which may have become
too-erred in the constant struggle which is ever going
on In life's greet battle-field. The grown-up son
snatches a day or two from the pursuit of his avocation
in London to run down Into his native town in the
country, and spend a few hours once again under the
roof-tree of his parents, and where he passed child.
hood's happy days. The eldest daughter, too, thanks
to the holiday arrangements, is enabled to leave for a
short time that extensive m Winery establishment ia
the we-tend, where her exemplary conduct has pro-
mred her a good position, and she, too, goes home to
Aladden the hearts of proud and fond parents.
If ome " Why there Is a music in the very sound of
the word which even in the wildest turmoil of life is
,rateful to the ear. It recalls long-forgotten memories'
which, as they pass before the imagination, seem like
so many fleeting shadows from a land never to
be resoled again. Yet those visions of the past
are dear to every one of as, even though they are as
unsubstantial as dreams, and exist only in the re-
membrance. No wonder, then, that those who can do
so visit their ,Ad homes at Christmas-time, and call
hlck the recollections of departed years as they gather
roui the cheerful hearth and the social board. Then

is that merry games in which all ages join, awaken
• hearty pleasure. The Christmas Tree displays its
annual glories, diffusing radiance from its hundred
41:its upon the happy faces around it. It last Christ-
-1.1".515 that stern men unbend from business, and those
who eeldona at any other period of the year pass ths
time of day, are profuse in distributing the compli-
ments of the f eason. Then is the time to witness the
Innocent delight and t r listen to the merry laughter of
:lildren, as they open the packets which loving parents
tel them have been duly left by Father Christmas for
mood boys and girls. Then in the clear, cri,p,
wintry air are heard voices of wandering singers—the
last remna-,,t of English ruinstrehry—appealing to the
charity which at such a season rarely fails th sm. As the
sJunda echo along the silent streets, and slowly die
away in the illimitable folds of the clouds, the singers
seem to be reminding their bearers in the simple
.trains of antique harmony, of the solemn reason for
tneir happiness