The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1867-12-25
CHRISTMAS.

DoNAul NV puNiOll WulCu 10 NullbL VIZ LOIu.
To the reflective mind, the most thrill
ling associations cluster about this festi
val. II is the anniversary of the Savior's
birth, and calls up all the incidents Of
that wonderful story of The Nativity ; the
journey Of the Magi-the blazing stal
guiding them on their way-the lowly &C,
cessories Of the scene; the manger, and
the stable with its dumb inmates-the
song of the Shepherds. These are the
events that, although happening away
back in the mists of past centuries, were
the origin Of the happy festival which We
are to celebrate to-day. Few people,
howe yer, have a care for the origin Of
Christmas. The Nativity and the Magi,
are a dead letter to them, or are swallow.
ed up in the substantial, practical pleas.
ures of the day, as they enjoy it. Christ
mas is very dear to the public heart ; but
to the majority Of its admirers, the occa.
sion is not a holy festival 1t is rather a
day Of good cheer-the favorite of holi.
days-the chief Of gala days, among chill
dren-the great promoter of social ties,
and, in short, a day that crowds away
care, and brings happiness to all. Could
one but don tho seven-league boots Of
fairy tale, and strids over the length aud
breadth of our land, to-day-glancing
into every nook and corner-scenss of
happiness and social joy would every.
where meet his eyes; sights that would
make him almost doubt that Gin, wretch.
edness and unhappiness had a foothold
in our midst.
Christmas brings with it sweet memo
ries and associations, and when we see
the little ones jubiIant with their limo
cent pleasures, as free from guile as they
are from sin, the mar forgets the man
and the woman the woman, and all be.
come children. Every man has been a
child, his heart once pure, his soul once
innocent. Every man has found the
world the opposite Of what he dreamed
it would be in childhood's hours, but he
goes on in his dreams, only waking up some
festive day like this, to discover how far
he has wondered from the sunny path
marked out in boyhood's fancy. He then
finds that life is kept only by toll and
pain; that the shadow of manv SORROWS
mar the slender current of its joys. In
youth he was more feet and often escap.
ed pain, sorrow, toll, but as he grew old
er they overlook him, and,he.learns how
he has progressed in morality and acquir.
ed the faculty Of endurance. On Christ.
mas, something of that old feeling Of
mental comfort returns to him which he
enjoyed in childhood, when into the mar.
lc circle of his early consciousness Christ.
mas stepped all rosy, bright and beauti.
fu' as the fragment of a fairy dream
Then he thinks not of what he is, or
what ho is to be, but only of what he
was; all his years blend into one the
little vanity, the small ambition, the slen.
der hope are forgotten, and in the pres.
ence of the festal scene, the man becomes
the child again.
The Merry Christmas, heralded by
Ginning bells and welcomed by shouting
children is with us again-let us all re.
joice. 1t is the most momentous day Of
all childhOOd's jOcund year, and to them
it seems more especially devoted. But
it is also an occasion upon which chill
dren of maturer years may with proprie.
ty rejoice. Forgetting the vexntiopO aaa
cares OF everyday life, the strife and
turmoil Of business; leaving the "oarth,
earthly for once, it is we'll to indulge
the higher aspirations of the soul, the
nebler thoughts Of the mind, and the
better feelings Of the heart, with which
the day hat the Prince of Peace was
born, is associated.
70 our readers, one and all, we wish a
Merry Christmas