Morning appeal. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1877-1906, 1877-12-23
SUNDAY READING.


audience by force Of circumstances, or through
favorable conjunctures duly improved, as one
might say, with more precision. Thus travel
ers are thrown together by the accidents OF
travel; and your dull man with bee in his
bonnet, gets chance to empty his surcharged
mind unto more important ears than he might
ever find within the lines of his native village.
Moreover your sagacious preacher never
wastes his powder. He makes sure of a hear
ing by laying in wait for it. Thus we, the
Pulpiteer of the MORNING APPEAL, studying
the seasonableness of things, are not willing
to waste a Christmas discourse upon the list
less ears of Christmas morn We confess to
too much selfshness to be willing to share
with bulglng stockings and rocking horses,
silver spoons and sets 5f furs, wax dolls and
Jack the Giant killer, sleeve buttons and silk
dresses, candy and oranges, marmalade and
Guaya Jelly and like ,,henomena of the Yue-
tide dawn, a patient and attentive regard for
our compilations and dispositions under this
head. We prefer to button-hole our man
when and where we may have him all to our
selves and not share him, share and share
alike, ride and tie, with anybody. When
Mark Antony addressed the Romans he said,
Friends, Countrymen and Lovers, lend NE
your e"rs." He did not crave audience in
the name Of the State nor yet of any lyceum
or corperation; he spoke for himself The
precedent is worth needing. Here and there
we have picked up some scraps and odds and
ends of Christmas lore For the reasons
limited at We do not propose to defer the pre-
sentation of the same until Christmas day
but we herewith offer them as the substance
Of a sermon for The Sunday Before Christmas
Having recourse to authority we are re-
minded that Christmas or "Yule," as it is
called in England, from the Gothic word
''Yool," Jul" or F'Jol, signifying "a sump-
tuous feast began on the eve preceding
Christmas day The Yule Log was brought
from the forest and burned on this occasion
amid much jubilation Christmas was not
observed in the early Church. The precise
date Of Christ's birth is not known. Three
hundred and fifty years after Christ, julius,
then Bishop (or Pope) of Rome appointed the
25th of December as the day to be generally
observed. This is the authority for the pres
ent day and date of Observance The pious
Julius probably chose this day inasauch as it |
was at a time of the year in which the Satur-
MALTA of the Romans was at It's hight. The |
old Germans kept the ''Yule feast" Oh Dec |
% long before they kept Chris tmas, even at
period Of their existence when they worshipped |
in accordance with their own crude mythology |
and not in the temples erected to the God of
Israel. st, Luke informs US that Christ was
born during the night; and from this circum-
stance we get what the Anglo Saxons called
& Mother Night" the Germans 'sHoly' or
'CoHsecrated Night" and we call "Christmas
Eve. The Dutch stand sponsors for Santa
Claus; and on the night of the feast of St.
Nicholas Tor Santa Claus, that is to say on
The night of January 6, presents were put in
;hildrens Shoes About two hundred years
.go the stocking was substituted for the shoe
md the custom transferred to Christmas
Dur custom of making Christmas presents
comes from an old heather usage at the feast
If the birth of Sol, engrafted in our religious
ceilings and endeared by the practice of ages,
Out of a great mass of old English Christmas
ore unearthed by Washington Irving when he
vas in the old country he discovered the fol-
owing: "The Yule Clog is great log of
wood, sometimes the root of a tree, brought {
nto the house with great ceremony, on Christ .
mas Eve. laid in the fireplace and lighted with
he brand of last years clog. 1t was to burn
IL night; if it went out, it was considered
IGN of i'll luck" Also it is related that eff
quinting person came to the house while the
log is burning, or a person barefooted, it is =
onsidered an i'll omen" One of the old Eng
sh songs would seem to ignore the statement
lade by st. Luke; for it has these lines: :
s'Reioice, our Saviour he WIS born
On Christmas day in the mornng"
The Roundhead Parliament in 1862 abol- {
she'd Christmas Day, by edict, and profaned p
he occasion by holding session for business
a the 25th of December. An old pamphlet G
ntitled, Round About our Sea coal Fire, says: is
An English gentleman, at the opening of the
reat day, that is Christmas day in the morn il
1g, had all his tenants and neighbors enter 81
is hall by day break. The strong beer was tt
reached, and the black jacks went plentifully
bout with toast, sugar and nutmeg, and good G.
l, L Il IL. /zx y |