Whig and tribune. [volume] (Jackson, Tenn.) 1870-1877, 1875-12-25

know the great body Of the Christmas
poetry by heart. who in the generations
past were all able 10 repeat the hymn Of
the shepherds seated on the ground, and
who in the generation will recite 10 YOU
the hymn of Alfred DOmctt-that lost
Naring whom Browning sings about
appreciating to the full all its dramatic
intensity. How many Of US in the length
and breadth Of the land will recall the
childish voices that, half in childish
pride and half in awe, have lisped it
forth:
-- Twas in the calm and silent night.
The Senator Of naughty Rome
Impatient urged his chariot's Eight
Prom lordly revel rolling home
Triumphai arches, cleaning swell
HE breast with thoughts Of boundiess sway
What reckcd the Roman what befcl
psltry province far away
IN the solemn midnight
Centuries ago1
within that province FAR Iway
Went pluddiug home a weary boor;
A streak of light before hiui lay,
Falicn through a half--hut stable door
Acro,s his path. lie passcl-for uaught
Told what going on within;
How keen the stars, his only Thought.
The air how calm and cold and thin
In the solemn midnight
Centuries ago.
1t is the culmn and ulemn night.
A thousand bells ring out and throw
Their joyous peals abroad, and snite
The darkness. charmed and holy now.
The night shat erst name bad worn
To IL hsppy name is given
For in that stable lay new born
The peaceful Prince Of earth and heaven,
In the solemn midnight
Centuries ago"
Christmas, too, has quite sweet and
quite another significance, from the fact
that il is founded differently from almost
all other religious festivals; for it was the
custom in the early churches to celebrate
the day of the death Of the one cOmmem-
GRATED, since IL was usually martyr, aud
one whose death was the crowning point
of his years. But in Christmas we are
celebrating the day of birth-not death,
with the sad and dark images Of gloom
and of the grave, but birth and life, hope
and the bow in the cloud Here we cele-
brate not the death but the birth Of one
who was born TO redeem the world from
evil, and with every Christmas X Is as II
we renewed the victory over the powers
of darkness. Ii Is true that we are not
precisely sure Of the day, but that Is or
small consequences, however we may re-
gret the impossibility, since IL is enough
-
yond change for observance and prob
ably the early fathers acted wisely. in Tlla
cling the feast upon day sacred, accord
ing TO Roman usage, to Sol, the most gra-
cious of the heather deities, the great
guardian of the heavens, the siVer Of
light and warmth and life, by their creed
the visible heart of the known universe.
Thus all the sooner did they push the idol
frOm the throne, and since that time, in
deed,
The oracics dumb,
No voice or hdeous hum
Runs through the arched roof in words dcceiyingi
Apollo from his shrine
Can no more divine
With hollow shrek the steep Of Delphos leaving;
No nightly trance breaihed spell
Inspires the pale-cyed priest from the prophetic ced
Since that day, in truth, the dark tides OF
superstitiOn have been slowly drawing
down and retreating under the horizons
verge, now and then, perhaps, swept by
some impulse and surging back again for
a season. only to withdraw the father in
the reac,ionary wave under the clear IL
Elimination that was kindled when the
star rose in the East,