Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1878-12-28
"Merry Christmas 7"

|
OF thought attaches to it's utterance.
Who can detail the changes that
have convulsed the great world of
Christehdom since the last return of
this pleasant anniversary! How
many bright smiles and ringing
voices that enhanced the pleasures
Of the festal board one yenr ago, are
to-day, no more forever, but are re-
"embered only as among the things
hat were. The prayers and hymns
that consecrated and blessed the
hearth-stone then, are now gathered
with the loved ones that uttered
them, into the great arena of eter-
nity-the sad, the mournful, the
shadowy, the dreamy and myster-
ious past.
Like the dew on the mountain,
| Like foam on the river,
Like the bubble on the fountain,
| Thcy are Eonc-and forever"
And yet, thank God, not forever;
for in tho deep, silent watches of
the night, robed in the gorgeous
sunshine of beautiful dreams, they
come back to MS Axe good angels
from the land OF E't.ih, and in the
still small Wi ! .. conscience can
not hush, they tell us ever to be
faithful, brave, coniding, true and
happy. So. in the mellow light of
memory, we live over again other
Merry Christmas scenes that glitter,
like the everlasting stars, all along
the otherwise dreary wastes of the
dimly lighted past. Then let US
hold them in sweet remembrance for
the blessedness they have afforded
us, since somebody has said, " It's
better to have loved and lost, than
never to have loved at ALL" So is it
always with the pleasant memories
of the long ago. We are, to-day,
really better and stronger and no.
bier, for having once participated in
scenes of festivity and caught the
scintillations of their zest, even
though We have lost them forever.
So comes another anniversary of our
Saviour's natal day, Christmas.
What an array of tender associations
cluster around this beloved word
How Drumming full of sparkling re-
membranes, and how suggestive of
the hopes, the fears, the joys, the
loves-ah, the sorrows and disap-
pointments that sanctitied and con-
secrated the dear old days that
crowd the somber mausoleum of the
past. What if we could ring over
again those dear heart chimes that
even now charm the listening
soul with the enhancing harmony of
silver bells, or be one again in those
hearthstone gatherings, wooings,
and marriages, meetings and greet
ings, and-alas, partings us we'll!
The cold. practical man of the
world may knit his brov's and scowl
at all this, the Travelled cosmopolitan
may call it sheer nonsense. But
watch then in their sober moments,
and our word for it you will see them
suddenly arrested by the sight of a
Christmas tree, the or carol of hap
Ply child. This is not q national an
niversary, merely, but, in fee simple,
it is the property of the great COM
monwealth of the Christian world.
Who does not love to read about
the chivalric holidays of our rude
ancestors in the middle ages when,
The mistletoe hung in the castle hall,
The holly-branch shone on the old oak
wall;
And the Baron's retainers were blithe
A keeping their merrie Christmas day."
And how the old cbroniclers, in
their quaint style, loved to dwell on
those scenes which constituted part
and parcel of their very being. With
them, indeed, the day was national
festivity, even as the Christian relig-
ion involved the issues of life and
death. Well did they sustain the
character and solemnity which its
name imports, and we only wish
that it could be more SO with us at
the present time.
But to consider the subject in re-
gard to its more substantial claims:
&" Now the birth Of Jesus Christ was
on this wise" So runs the charm
ins tale, in which was delightfully."-
.utarvavau such relatinns aS were