Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1881-12-24
CHRISTMAS.

CHRISTMAS.
SIXTY YEARS AGO.
"REMINISCENCES OF ITS CELEBRATION
Dr. fsathvon's Comparisons Of the Old Time
Christmas.
For the CHRISTMAS ISTEILIGENCER.
ITO every one II must be clear.
That Christmas comes but once a year"
Christmas day is not now what it was
sixty years agO-Or perhaps that is not the
most proper way to state it, should have
said, that popular festival sixty years ago
was not what it is to-day; and by saying
this, | do not mean that it was less sincere,
less expressive and less significant than
its more magnificent, more expensive and
more pronounced successor of the present
period. Sixty years ago very considerable
portion of the Christian community of the
American States practically manifested no
special recognition of Christmas day, rs
a Christian festival; and this was ospeci-
ally SO in the Eastern States, whatever re-
gard they may have entertained for it from
the standpoint of piety. Possibly the pres
ent generation may he too sensational, too
ostentatious and too elaborate in its mani
festations of display; but even this might
be looked upon with cOmmcndablc indul-
gence, so long rs VIC felt sure that the
whole was not merely "a tinkling cymbal
and sounding brass"
But, whether rs an external Out.bIrth, or
an internal affection, it cannot be denied
that the whole Christian world at this day,
is influenced by an almost Irresistible im-
pulse (unaccountablc to the many) rs soon
rs the Rubicon of Thanksgiving day is
passed, which impels their thoughts
Christmas-ward. They may have accorded
thanks to Beneficent Providence for the
bounties and blessings of the year; they
may have acknowledged His gifts accord.
ing to their respective conception of their
value; and now their desires. intents and
purposes are turned towards that time-hon-
ored period which furnishes an occasion
to bcstow or confer those gifts upon each
other. Wherever civilization and Christ
ianity arc dominant, almost every human
being, whether Christian or Gentle, and
also to some extent Jewsand Pagans, seems
to be moved by simultaneous impulse to
give or receive some token of affection,
goodwill or personal regard,a the Advent
anniversary approaches. No matter how
poor, how selfish, how penuriOus, or how
churlish the individual may be, he is not
quite satisfied with himself until he has
bowed before the Gift-shrinc--Or, until the
holidays are numbered with the past, and
no longer rebuke him for his want of prac
tical sympathy with a custom that is so
universal. Gift-making or gift-taking may
be perverted or abused. With that have
nothing to do: The value and the motive
are clearly within the ability of the givcr
and the searchcr of hearts, and we have a
right to infer that they are the representa-
tives of peace on earth. and good will to-
ward man." 1t, however, cannot be the
result of mere caprice, or selfish impulse,
that the entire Christian world is thus SIM
ultaneOusly exercised when the ''great an
niversary" approaches, whatever may bc
its faith in the advent which it essays TO
celebrate.
The very air we breathe rs the period
nears seems to bc more and more charged
with peculiar aura, which affects almost
every one as they are affected at no other
period and on no other occasion throughout
the entire year; aud, under the impending
stimulant to general goodness, they may
find themselves mentally, if not audibly,
calculating. "Glory to: God in the high
est" even though they may profess to have
no very definite perception of who or what
God is, or whether, perhaps, there be any
God at all; and this is all because God cX-
lists, without regard to human recognition.
That there is misapprchension, and
hence an abuse of the Christmas frstival,
which seems TO travel side by side with a
more enlightened conception and a more
devotional use of it, does not initiate
against its real significance in the category
nf foa ho oAu Of ho fret or
mas on earth, the illiterate but gOdly-
minded shepherds who were watching their
flocks in or near " Bethlehem of Judea,'
felt the same influx (because proceeding
from the same source that mankind does
to-day, and that the manifestations was the
more perfect or pronounced, was because
the medium of communication was more
Obedient and more pure To sincerely be-
lieve that Jehovah "bowed the heavens
and came down." and became the Emanuel
-" God with us would have a marvel
Ous influence in forming that conjunctinn
between God and man, through which the
anniversary of the Christ.child would be
more properly celebrated and redeemed
from cant, hypocrisy and abuse.
OF course, the outward manifestation of
the Christmas festival has been gradual
and progressive, and every succeeding year
seems to be enlarging the sphere of its OPP
erations; but no one now living in Chris
tian country, perhaps, can look back to the |
period in his life's experience when there |
was not some illustration of this festival,
however insignificant and humble it may |
have been. Many of its customs and also
gross superstitions were doubtless derived
from paganism. eliminated and adapted to
the new USE This, however, is not neces-
sarily disparaging, because some remnants
of the good and the true have existed
among all people on earth: from the earliest
Of human society down to the
latest. This part of the subject we waive,
because, if the reader turns to the files of
The newspapers of one or two years ago,
he will find illusions to Christmas, its Ori
gins, its festivals, and its order of obscrv-
lrce among many Christian nations, more
numerous than pOetical effusions on "Thc
Beautiful Snow" ! therefore. also. need
rot say anything on the Christmas of now,