Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1878-12-21

And the plums stand by,
To fill the paste that's a-kneading.
The great essential was that the liquor
should be potent, and in this respect the
wassail was the king of the bowl. The
word originally meant Health to you"
and naturally came to mean the wine In
which the greeting was given. Wassall
was compounded Of wine or ale, sugar, nut
meg, toast and roasted apples, and must
have been powerful tipple. 1t was in the
wassail, bubbling over the flame OF the
mammoth yule log, that old feuds were
drowned on Christmas eve and old friend
ships fervently renewed. Nor were the men
the sole patrons of the wassail bowls. Sings
an old carolist:
The wenches with their wassail bowls
About the streets are singing.
Sobriety, indeed, was in the olden time an
utter stranger to Christmas. Sings another
carolist:
Lordlings Christmas loves good drinking,
Wines of dascoigne, France, Anjou;
English ale that drives out thinking,
Prince of liquors, old or new.
Every neghbor shares the bowl,
Drinks of spicy liquors deep;
Drinks his fill without control,
Till he browns his care IN sleep.
CHRISTMAS CAROLS.
The most beautiful custom of the Christ
mas-tide, and the one which most of all de-
served to be perpetuated, is the Christmas
carol. 1t has existed almost from the birth
of the church, whose bishops were the first
to make it a feature of the celebration
What was the first Christmas carol?
His place of birth, solemn angel tells.
To simple shepherds, keeping watch by night;
They gladly thither haste and by choir
of squadrond angels hear His carol sung.
Jeremy Taylor embalmed this sentiment
OF Millions in prose. Said he of that won
drous seen on the plains of Bethlehem: Gas
soon as these blessed choristers had sung
their Christmas carol and taught the church
hymn to put into her offices forever on the
anniversary of this festivty, the angels re-
turned into heaven" We have already
quoted from some OF the oldest carols. The
earliest of which there is any record dates
ed in Norman-French: Although primari
ly confined to the nativity of Christ, in
course OF time the carol came to include
secular rhymes, reciting or lauding the fes-
tivities of the season, and famous one by
George Wither, written in the last half of
the seventeenth century, is occupied entire
iy with description of the popular customs
of the day. One of the Oldest, and at the
same time quaintest, is the following, which
dates back to the sixteenth century:
When Christ was born of Mary free,
In Bethlehem i'll that fair cite,
Angels sang there with mirth and glee,
In E1ce's's G'oriG.
Herdsmen beheld these angels bright
TO them appearing with great light,
Who said: " Gods is born this night"
In ErceiSts Gloria.
This King is come to save mankind,
Az in scripture truths we find;
Therefore, this song have We in mind.
In E1celsiS Gloria.
Then, Lord, for Thy great grace,
Grant us the bliss to see Thy face,
Where we may sing to Thy soace,
In Erceisis Gloria.
"Christmas carols are sung" SAYS an ola
writer, on Christmas eve as we'll as on the
morning of Christmas day; and, indeed, the
former is regarded by many as the more APP
propriate occasion. Then the choristers
attached to the village church make their
rounds to the principal houses throughout
the parish, and sing some of those simple
they are sung are frequently no less plain
tive and melodious than the words, and are
often accompanied by instruments" One
of the most exquisite of Christmas carols is
that written by the poet Herrick:
Tell us, thou clear and heavenly tongue,
Where is the babe that lately sprung :?
Lies he the lily banks among?
"Or say, if this birth of ours
sleeps, laid within some ark of flowers,
Spangled with dew-light thou canst clear
All doubts, and manifest the where.
declare to u.s. bright star, if we shall seek
Him in the mornings blushing cheek;
Or search the beds of spices through,
To find him out
Many things combined to give the Christ
mas carol strong hold on popular affec-
ton. At this holy season it was favorite
belief that the evil spirits are shorn of then
power; that bees stay in their hives cattle
at midnight of Christmas eve kneel down in
| their stalls, and that cocks crow all night
long Shakespeare has given the supersti.
| ton Immortality. "Marcellus," in Ham.
let, thus expresses it:
| Some say, that ever 'gainst that season comes
| Wherein our Saviors birth is celebrated,
The bird of dawning singeth all night long;
And then, they say, 10 spirit can walk abroad;
| The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike
| No fairy takes. nor witch hath power to charm:
| SO hallowed and 30 gracious is the time"
Some of the carols did not adhere yer,
closely to the truth OF history, but they ar
none the less charming.