The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1873-12-18
THURSDAY, DECEMBER ls, 1873.
CHRISTMAS.

and will give themselves up TO merriuleDt
and general enjoyment Thursday next will
be Christmas, and we cannot but rejoice
with the happy hearts who will on that day
make the wekin ring with merry Christ
mas" and wishes of the best of cheer to all.
Who among US, OF mature years, can fail
to remember the joys of the Christmas days
that have gone? Who forgets the day when
his or her own childhood heart was made
happy by the little nlemcntos which parents
and friends in response to wishes OF good
cheer, bestowed upon him? There are no
recolIections which bring to mind so brilliant
a crop of unalloyed pleasures, as those which
cling around Christmas and It's antecedents.
And vet how apt are we elder ones to forget;
how apt are we TO meet the advances OF
childhood now, but following IN our own
Younger footsteps, with rebuff, or with cold,
premeditated Inconsistencies; as though in
these days it were shere foley for childhood
to do as childhood did in our days that are
past and gone We should be young again
on Christmas day, just rs we were young IN
the past; and to meet young hearts We
should recall young feelings, and by our every
cndeavor, strive to the utmost to make
young hearts feel happy as we felt,
But it is not TO young hearts alone that
our efforts should be turned. There are old
hearts that need the greetings of the day,
bestowed in all heartiuness, to make theni
feel happy and content There are the
infrm and the poor who should be made to
feel that Christmas is a day of enjoyment
for all. To these too should our attention
he given, and for these the hearts and well
loaded boards of the possessors OF plenty
should be made to supply the feast which l.
to break the fast which, in great measure,
in all times hug so snugly around the de-
serving Door. That is not proper ENJOY
ment of the day which contents itself with
setting down solely for its own pleasure-it is
selfshuess, and selfishness too which is un
worthy of existence on day which gave
birth TO one whose coming proclaimed peace
ON Garth and good will towards all men. We
shall snrrowfully fail to perform our part, IL
amid our own pleasures we fail to remem
Der those for whom it is our duty to care
Our feast of fat things will be all the better
If seasoned with the consciousness that we
have in the right performance of duty cast
our bread upon the waters. Let US think of
these things.
The history of Christmas day is probably
known to ALL and yet it will not, perhaps, be
amiss to take casual glance at its ante
dents The feast of Christ's birth, which
the day professedy commentaries, was not,
according to many critics, celebrated until
about the 4th century. This will appear
less strange when it is remembered that the
carly Christian usage was to celebrate the
death rather than the birth of remarkable
persons. The death Of the martyr Stephen,
aud the massacre of the innoeents at Bethle-
hem had long been celebrated before, in oppo--
sition to the doctrine Of the Manichaeans
respecting the birth Of the Savior, feast
was established in memory Of this event.
Somewhere about the 5th century it was
ordered to be celebrated forever, by the
Western Church, on the day Of the old
Roman feast Of the birth of the Sun, the
25th Of December, though no certain in
formation of the precise day Of Christ's s birth
existed From the Gospel of st. Luke, it
was known that Christ was born during the
night, and, hence, divine service was per-
formed during the night of December 24th-
25th, from which circumstance Christmas is
called, in German, Weighnaackte,s, that is
holy or consecrated night. This night OBJ
servance of the feast is still in vogue among
q portion of the Catholic and Episcopal
churches, 10 Europe as well as in this coun-
try
In the eastern churches Christmas was
celebrated on the 9th of January, and the
feasts of the martyr Stephen and the evan
gelst ST John were united with it, thus
forming religious festival of three days
continuance In the ecclesitical year this
festival gives name to period extending
from the first Sunday in Advent to the feast
of Epiphany on January 9th.
Some say that Christmas was always cele-
brated in the church, but the odds as to the
truth Of this are with those who fix the
4th century as the time of the commence
ment of the feast. That it has been cele
Drated for some fifteen centuries is evidence
sufficient both Of its antiquity as Christian
feast and of the worthiness of its observ-
ance. In Europe it is celebrated relgiously
by the atherents to the Roman and Greek
Catholic churches, and by the church of
England, and nearly all the Protestant
churches, those of Calvinistic predictions
being, probably, the only exceptions In
the Catholic churches three masses are per-
formed-one at midnight, one at daybreak,
and one during the morning In both the
Greek and Roman churches the manger, the
holy family, &c, are represented at large,
and some converts, in Rome, chiefly the
Francscans used to be famous for attracting