The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1879-12-25
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Christmas.

| AlEefiiers Yeas gone Dy, AUG merry
! Christmas comes again to greet us. 70 the
man Of years. this festal season brings to
view other scenes than those OF revelry, and
bounsiless joy, and childish happiness. 1t
simmons up the reeordof the twelve months
past, and leads him back. i'll thought, TO
traverse once again the rugged path Ger
which his weary feet, with many a fGltering
step, bave trod, and brings once more TO
mind, With startling emphasis, the pangs Of
pain, the CHEEKY notes of joy, the shadow
and the shine OF LIES strange pilgrimage.
Aud stretching farther still across the waste
| of by gone years, the changes time has
with wondrous accuracy at Memory's call,
and standing forth in detail and detachment
| to answer 'shere,' when'er their place is
reached. Strange changes those. None
Ee~me quite un. expected, but, ike the seasons,
foiio"~d in gradual succession, and like the
seasons, to-, were nurtured in decay. We
count them all. and trace the germ of each
to ashes. The knowledge of tine word we
gained was purchased at the price of child
ish faith; each step to manhood's higher
sphere crushed out some fragile flower we
thought perennial. and where the upward
bounds were made, the dead and withered
| leaves bestreW. knee deep, the round.
where faith and hope and childhood's purest
thoughts lie buried. Back. back. we turn.
until the home is reached where all our
infant aspirations centered around the
Christmas season. How tediously the days
dragged on; how slow the hours pas ed !;
how many times the tiny figures counted,
DER and DER again. the creeping weeks
until the grand and awful Santa Claus, il,
deer-drawn sleigh, with breath of frost and
white and shaggy beard, should come to show
erforth his gifts, and bring delight to all good
children. And as the heightened nights
draw on, prone on the rug before the blaz-
ing fire, the little form would'lie, and eager
eyes would watch the upwal d ight of sparks,
and making each a messenger to him who
passed that way. freight it with wishes,
whilst all the while the smoke and glowing
Goals assumed fantastic shapes, and wrought
on fancy's canvass pictures of queer design.
With what undoubting faith the stocking
close was hung beside the chimney, and
when the strained and weary eyes were
closed. bright visions came to people dreams
with forms OF Deauteous likeness, and weave
web whose warp and wool blended In
strange confusion the wishes of the day.
We cannot tell, exactly, when Kris Knkle
first became a myth, but myth he did
be come, and all the fair decisions that clus-
tered round his parsonage faded away, and
carried, too, the inner core of childhood's
faith. Then fairy books were offered us.
and for while We lived with strange inhab-
itants of earth: and sky, and sea. Giants
and gnomes; stately knights, on coal-black
steeds, and fair-haired beauties whom a
breath transformed to witches, weird and
dreadful. With hated breath we read those
wondrous tales; and oft at evenings hour.
when shadows dense and denser grew, and
from the freight Pickering rays were sem
athwart the wall, dancing to fairy music.
and stirring fancy's depths, the gay anG
grim procession moved out in grand review.
and wrapped US, for while, In awe and
wonderment.
Bus these, toe, passed away, and school
boy days came on apace, and life's realities,
with what we thought were harsh demands.
W. re thrust upon u /. Hard lessons to b.
mastered, and earnest efforts to excel. Will
eyes OF restless longing We watch the class
y I
fever Fl led the veins and made US al os
miss the W rd that gave US victory. Thei,
for a while our pride Of place was well-nigh
torture. for fear it would BIZ lost.
And so with hope and fear, and boyisi
happiness. the years went by, and childish
ways and childhood's treasures, one by one.
melted before the rising son of yout... ALL
what a stage was that; that season of the
chrystalis, of dreams and asp irations. Ambi-
ton, love, the power OF wealth, the great
ness OF name, teemed through the brain.
and disappointments came and scared and
FILTERED ere manhood's earnest duties were
yet begun. The days that have gone BY
since then are marked by many changes
changes that LETT US wiser in worldly way,
and charged with sage philosophy, an yet
there mingled with it all stray streaks of
golden sunlight, whose halo fingers long
and radatss the darkest hours we know.
| And now when all the world makes merry,
and every face we meet seems frightened
by the gladness of Christmas time, the
heart is dead indeed that does not echo
back the joyous notes that everywhere re-
sound. To-day all Christendom rejoices,
and almost every household feels the spell.
Old age renewsi its youth while listening to
the infants gleefu prattle, and parents find
a rich reward for all their trouble in Joining
| in their chldren's merfiment.
That the day may bring to each and all
of its readers wholesome happ ness and
| pleasure unalloyed is the wish of the
| VIRGINIAN.
CoMMIssIoNED.-Judg j. NJ. Quarles,