The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1871-12-23

CnfISCFf1dSs
The ChiIdren's Holiday has come again. We
say the g Children's" Holiday, for of all the days
set apart each year for rejoicing, and keeping
alive the remembrance of great events in the
worlds history, there is not one in which the
children are SO largely interested as Christmas.
From the time when the Angels sang, Peace on
earth. good will towards men down through
all the ages, the birthday of our Saviour has been
looked forward to by those whom Jesus drew to
his side, and of whom he said, Z" OF such is the
Kingdom of Heaven with an eagerness of an
ticipation not wholly born of that hope of then
receiving gifts, but with some idea of the rich
promise and hope held out to them, and to all
men by the advent of Him who, on this day came
into the world and became as one of them.
To those whose early days were passed IN
homes where 81 Christmas - came clothed in
snowy robes frost-gemmed, and whose feasts and
games were celebrated around the high-heaped
cracking fire that made warm and bright the
homestead, the rays of our tropic December sun
shine strangely warm. But after all, does it not
seem more in keeping with the general rejoicing,
that silent Nature should be putting on her
gayest and brightest robes, and scattering over a
ItuCtInGu nOElu nCE ColC OAOocOlhC1 OhHh NhNS
all her smiling landscapes should be bound in the
embrace of seeming death? And as we see our
children playing merrily beneath the shade Of
softly budding trees, upon the rich green sward-
who would wish that they had less of freedom, or
that their swiftly flying hours of perfect joy,
should be restricted to one short winter day?
Let US old folks sigh over the pleasant memo
ries of cold New England's holidays, but when
We see our grandchildren enjoying to their
utmost bent, the mellow Christmas evening of this
temperate cline, let US not dampen any of their
youthful ardor, by long tales of the vastly better
times that we enjoyed when young. When in trav-
cling, the future years shall bring to those light
hearted little ones new surprises at Christmas in
the country of their well loved parents 80 gone
BEFORE they will be able then to tell of Christ
mas in the balmy air of old Hawaii, of romps
beneath the spreading palms-of delicate festoons
Of fragrant male, making beautiful their sum-
mer home. of glorious picnics in the shadowy
woods thick with u thousand forms of ferns, and
trailing vines, and varied shapes Of messy rocks
on which the feast was spread. OF baths in the
bright bosom of still-lying pools, of cool soft
touches in the gnarled roots of some huge tree, DER
whose twisted trunk the 1.-the lizard with cham
eleon hues, slid, while the shifting light played
in the foliage of the dark green arches overhead.
Then can they tell how Santa Claus came steal
ing IN with the soft rays of the declining moon,
more like Oberon than the shaggy Frost King, and
bore within the folds of the light gossamer that
wrapped him round. the precious gifts, whose real
presence in the early morning light, confirmed
them in their sweet belief that twas indeed the
patron saint of Christmas that their sleepy vision
saw, and not a phantom born of the gentle waving
of the filmy net spread round their bed.
The Christmas Carols of our early home we
hear re-echoed from the modest church that hides
itself beneath our summer shades. The : : Merry
Christmas " greeting of our friends sounds as
sweetly on the balmy air of this, our island home,
as when twas uttered in the crisp sharp air of
winter. And here as elsewhere, Christ is our
Saviour. To us this day He was born, and from
the East the bright star of Bethlehem sends its
rays, and angel songs to this far distant people
bring the glad tidings, Christ is BORN To
our patrons and readers, one and all, A. MERRY
CHRISTMAS!