The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1876-12-23
THE PACIFIC
Commercial AOOertlser
SATURDAY. DECEMBER D

As WE WALK through the principal streets Of
our city. we note that the show-windows of the
stores have undergone a thorough OVERLAPPING
aud %reftting; the glass has been cleaned to its
utmost brightness. and the most enticing wares
are exposed to view. Toys in endless variety
are seen, and hundreds of dolls of all sizes and
in all stages Of toilet, and many not even arrived
at any stage Of toilet, are recklessly exposing
their charms in showcases, to the great delight
and admiration of the little ones, whose noses
undergo a frequent hattening against the window
panes. The busy shopping Of ladies the numer-
Gus paper parcels passing along the streets; and
altogether a mysterious something that pervades
the community, like a shadow of a coming event,
proclaims that once more CHRISTMAS is near.
Once more, the Star of Bethlehem that stood
over the rustic stable where the gentle kline were
softly lowing their welcome to the wondrous babe
in the mangcr 1877 years ago,-is bringing
peace on earth, good will to man and salvation
to the world, and sheds its bright lustre over the
same earth as then. But happily its gentle rays
reach farther and farther still, from east to west,
from north to south, and the eighteen hundred
and seventy-seven years have been as many vast
strides towards the glorious end, when the prom
Use shall be fulfilled and the whole earth be
Illuminated by the light that proceeded from that
star. Star Of Bethlehem! Wonderful Star that
shone so brightly when the heavenly hosts sang
Z" Glory to God in the highest; on earth peace,
good will toward men," Cold and unhappy
indeed the human soul that is not stirred with
the echoes of the Christmas song of peace
From ancient times the anniversary of Christis
birth was celebrated IN church and in home by
4 -. ~ - II f.
and hiding places of the cataeombs of Imperial
Rome, the festival of joy and good will spread in
better times TO every Christian home of every
land to which a ray of the Star of Bethlehem
had penetrated through the surrounding darkness
and gloom. From England the generous hospi-
tality, from Germany the Christmas Tree, were
carried to the New World and from thence again
were brought to the isles of the Pacific, and
with every year these wo,-hospitality and the
Christmas Tree,-are marching onward. As
Christmas day is peculiarly the occasion for the
expression by Christian men and women of a
feeling of quiet and deepfelt JOY and thanks
giving, SO Christmas and Christmas eve are espe-
cially the occasions for imparting joy to the
little ones, whom the Lord loved SO we'll. The
twinkling lights adjoining the Christmas Tree in
remembrance of the Star of Bethlehem, have
sown many a seed in tender hearts of youth that
have borne fruits of love which never withered
even till LIES end. We have seen the white
haired grandsire, surrounded by his children's
children, sitting in silence in his easy chair, and
with dreamy eyes seeing rise before him from the
misty past the image of his own mothers loved
face, his fathers kindly smile, and the Christmas
Tree of his own boyhood in the long ago.
The Christmas Tree, brought over from the
German fatherland, has found and is finding
favor wherever introduced, and we are glad that
it is so. On Christmas eve, the fir trees will
blaze with lights in the huts of the Danish
settlements in ice-bound Greenland and under
the tropical skies of Hawaii many a similar tree
will gladden. the hearts of the little ones. And
we are glad to note the extension, with every
succeeding year, of the custom of celebrating
Christmas. 1t is to us Il sign that with the
advance of outward civilization, what may be
termed the civilization of the heart-of peace
and good will-also advances. Unhappy indeed
must be the callous heart that can look upon
a group of happy little faces on Christmas eve
a kindly blessing and he is to be sim
eerely pitied who, without home or children of
bis own, sits in lonely solitude on that evening
unable to find a way to make a child happy, and
thus bring a ray of the Star of Bethlehem to his
own soul.
To all our readers, old and young, from
Hawaii to Niihau, we tender our wishes for a
happy and a merry Christmas.