The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1875-01-02
CHRISTMAS CHEER.
Why Christmas Should be Merry The
Date of the Natiyity---The Phil0s-
Ophy of its Observance by
Present Giving.


Present-Giying.
WHY CHRISTMAS SHOULD BE MERRY.
"Christmas comes but once a year, >
sang Thomas Tusser, three hundred
years ago, but it does come: and here II
is close at hand, again, with Just the
same old reasons it ever has had to be
considered the merriest day of all the
year. Peculiarly appropriate are re-
! llglous services, rejoicing festivities,
and general geniality, at the time which
commentaries the birth of a world S
| Saviour and brings to mind the grand
angelic choral, "Glory to God i'll the
Highest, on Earth Peace, Good VIII to
! Men. The man or woman or child
who, unless wrecked Ill hope and tossed
upon a sea OF personal troubles, can
find no song of grateful praise to sing
at such time, must indeed be bankrupt
of faith and JOY and love. To many
doubtless, Christmas comes this year
as to many others the day has always
come and forever Withholding them sad
ly moping over selfish SORROWS or hiding
behind the gloomy shadow of some
great grief. Every heart knOweth It's
own bitterness; aud there be mourners
many to whom the losses, the bereave-
ments, the miseries of the year, have
left small margin for festive Joy. But,
this being 50, how much more plain is
the duty that those who may make mer-
~ and rejoice, should mingle, with their
grateful praises to the Giver of all good.
outtiowings of sympathy for the cheer
and comfort of the less favored, to
whom this can be no Merry Christmas
in the usual mirthful sense And yet
there is a sense III which all mustrecog-
nize the duty of highest, hottest cheer
fulness on this day. pre-eminent for its
glad tidings to a world of sin and sOr-
row. In the words of an old carol:
Now to the Lord sing praises,
All you within this place.
And with true love and brotherhood
Each other now embrace;
This holy tide of Christ
All others doth deface.
1idings of comfort and Joy
For Jesus Christ our Saviour
Was born on Christmas Day.
Thus interpreted and illustrated,
Christmas Day becomes the synonym of
"peace on earth and good will to men, )"
because it reminds us of the grateful
glory due from us to that God who $50
loved the world that He gave His only
begotten Son that whatsoever believeth
on Him should not perish but have
everlasting life" As another, and one
of the simplest and sweetest of Christ
mas carols, puts it, cheerful Joy is the
duty of all on the day that commemo-
rates the coming of Him who is the
priceless and unspeakable gift:
And all the bells on earth shall ring
On Christmas Day, on Christmas Day:
And all the bells on earth shall ring,
On Christmas Day i'll the morning.
And all the angels in heaven shall sing.
On Christmas Day, on Christmas Day,
And all the angels III heaven shall sing.
On Christmas Day iii the morning.
And all the souls on earth shall sing
On Christmas Day, on Christmas Day.
And all the souls on earth shall sing,
On Christmas Day III the morning.
Then let us all rejoice amain,
On Christmas Day, on Christmas Day.
Then let us all rejoice amain
On Christmas Day Ill the morning.
And no matter how deep or crushing
the sorrow that banishes from the heart
the very thought of JOY, let us all re-
member to be grateful, and hopeful,
and cheerful, las we think of Gods great,
universal Christmas gift-of which each
one of us may partake-a gift which
" the world can neither give nor take
away"
1t would be satisfactory, and possibly
might be useful, to the religious world, /
to know for certain that the day on
which it celebrates the birth of the Re
deemer actually is entitled to the dis
tinction which makes December % the
great festival day of all the year. But
while average humanity in all civilized
countries Will usually ignore this mOoted
question, in its desire to commemorate
the event itself, there have been those
who, looking back as far as they could
into the mist of the early centuries,
have been compelled to admit the vague
and traditional title which December %
has to the high honor it enjoys In the
earliest periods at which we have any
record of the observance OF Christmas.
We find that some Christians celebrated
the festival on the LIST or 9Th of January:
others on the 29th Of March, the time of
the Jewish Passover; while others. it is
said, observed it OH the 29th of Septem-
Der, or Feast of Tabernacles. There can
be no doubt, says Chambers in his
Z" Book OF Days" that long before the
reign of Constantine, in the fourth cen
tury, the season of the New Year had
been adopted as the period for celebrat-
ing the Nativity, though difference in /
this respect existed in the practice of
the Eastern and Western churches. the /
former observing the 9th of January
ard the latter the 18th of December. |
The custom of the Western church at
last prevailed, and both of the ecclesias-
teal bodies agreed to hold the ami
on the same day. The fixing of /
the date appears to have been the act Of !