The Saline County journal. [volume] (Salina, Kan.) 1871-1893, 1880-12-23
MERRY CHRISTMAS.

MERRY CHRIS MAS.
1t is a pleasing reflection that the
glad day comes after the longest night
of the year. Then the light Of the
worlds homes grows brighter and the
hearths throw out a ruddier glow and
the season of rejoicing finds Its focus
in the dawning of the Christ-child's
birthday What If the winter has
breathed over the lakes and streams
and concealed the earth's limpid arte-
ries--the crust only has been touched,
the great, clear currents of life move
] on unseen, unchecked. The heart of
the world beats more steady, more
grandiy when the elements are con-
trary. And it's often warmer under
ice and snow, where the chill blasts of
December cannot come, than on the
crest of some mountain in midsum-
mer. No one cares now for the whist
ling winds, that only remind us of the
cracked voice of some old fellow who
long ago lost his voice with his teeth,
and has grown SO dull as not to be able
to hear the discOrd.
Then, too, Christmas season and
Christmas Day suggests that Time has
made another mark on the roll of the
years. The festivities Of the great
Masters birth eve and dawn crock
the tedious year rs in a delightful
dream" The children romping about
the house keep time to the music
of their merry laughter, and chase, in
their glad way, the frowns from faces
that were once as smooth and inno-
cent as their own. The sound of fife
and whistle and drum and bells, on
any other day, would be Invested of
their pretty jingle, but now at the very
thought they make "heaven dreary
with the harmony" The day has much
in it to take the thinking ones away to
the by-gone hours. So Time is always
pictured AS an aged man, with flowing
locks and snowy beard, tottering step
and Bonded form. Age lives i'm the
past. The autumn of harvesting is
followed by the winter of whiteness
and snow and repose. 1t is beauti-
full thing, also, to remember that there
is always, after the winter, the spring
of the resurrection of flowers. The
children at the window laugh and clap |
their hands at the fall of the first |
fleecy flake; the older children laugh |
i'm a soberer way, and with more mean
ing, when the first silver thread APP
pears among the gold. Then other
flakes fall, sometimes in storm, then
gently, until the entire head, like the
summit of some hill or mount, is trans
figured. And the whittier the peak the
more beautiful can it reflect the lights
Of the celestial land.
The week and the day do not come
TO all alike. There are many to whom
the all-prOviding Santa Claus is un-
known. His name has no CHEEKY AS
sociations to them. Their feet have
rod stony places and been bruised
md wearied by the hard way. God re-
the little ones who are forgot
en and neglected by all else! But i'm
heir darkness and loneliness they are
mere just now like the queer littlesnOw-
birds that hop around on the frozen
ground and snow and ice, and still the
Master cares for them. And the chill
lren will not be given less attention
hat these wee feathery things--the
'nly reminders that are left TO help us
Keep our acquaintance with the wild,
chorus of the summer sky.
If there is one who does not come
nut of himself any other time of the
ear, let him prepare now at tn '"er
y, holy day TO do again his fir, -"rd
works, and unbend q little. his is
me way to he happy yourself; try TO
make some one else glad. For God
lelp the man so rapt i'm Errors end
ess maze" that he will not once i'm his
alter days gladden. hearth where, per-
nance, the fire has gone out.
In many houses will gather circles
which been broken since the last
christmas. The silver cord has been
oosed, the pitcher been broken when
[ was at the edge of the fountain of
life, and the memory is left to fill the
picture. This Christmas reunion
eebly foreshadows the Frightening
birthday celebration of the Babe of
when the incomplete har-
Monies of the brief to-day shall be
made perfect i'm the choir of the long