The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1884-12-24

Her room, where in th Onr 5 !. giosmIne
by the freight, and listeA Gu W .ne olstsnt
Christmas chimes we knel. Jose uer
blessing. 1t is the brightest, b. ~ ptS'Irs on
memory's wall, In many g fas oI ,, Iotue
the lights CLEAN out for the absent nlidren.
With pride the silverhsired mother looks
for their coming. Home for ChrissN As
is flashed along the wire 70
the farmhouse, and glad surprise fills The
mothers heart while tear falls on the tsle-
gram in her trembling hands.
The stars glitter and the earth is glorified,
and the lights throw long, bright rays on
the snowy path, and the mothers face is
pressed to the window pane TO catch the first
glimpse OF her loved, long absent ones.
Joy to the mother, they are here! and thy
aged heart is full Of sweet peace. Surely
Heaven is nearer to earth for thee.
christmas Eve!' The wondrous Santa
Claus comes TO the children with thee. What
visions OF dolls, games, books candies and
all sorts of goodies; drums, trumpets, whis-
ties, with all sorts OF squesks and discordant
blasts; and the wonderful Christmas tree
with its brilliant lights, gay colors aud mys-
terious packages, some of which may contain
the long wished for skates, or huge Jack
knives. 1t is all enchantment, all the colo.
OF the rose the rainbow that spans their
young lives. Not all the agony in the man.
ger, all the wonder of the story OF
the Star of Bethlehem, OF the follow
ing and guiding of the wise men
to the lowly cradle OF the coming King;
not all the sad beauty of the Old old, story
can fully satisfy the juvenile heart like
these. But are we not children OF a larger
growth?
In spite of the solemnity of the occasion,
in spite of its deep and tender meaning, the
gifts and goodies and merry.making are all
dear to us, children in heart as we are. Then
ring out merry Christmas chimes; fill the
air with your Joyous music.
Sound the glad tidings
Messiah is King"
Weave the bright holly, the emblem Of
peace and good will. In every Southern
home will the holly be twined, in every
Northern home the hemlook and pine, and
beneath them all blessings, peace and good
will and fun and frolic. And then the
Christmas stories. What charm Dickens
hiss tbrewn around Christmas. Who has not
felt contempt for old Scrooge who thought
of Christmas only as "a time for paying
bills without money" and that every idiot
who goes about with merry Christmas on
his lips should be boiled in his own plum
puddings, and buried with q stake of holly
run through his heart" And how startled
Scrooge must have been when he saw
Msrley's face on the knooker of the door flor
Marley was dead.) And yet we have pitied
poor ScrOoge for having been visited by
ghosts on Christmas Eve, when in his agony
be aWoke thinking he was holding the hand
of one Of them, when instead it was his own
bead post; it was that Christmas
dream that made the fiinty hearted
fellow wiser and better man. How our
hearts have melted at the woes of old Toby.
Poor old man; go crushed by work sud poY
erty that all he could hear in the Christmas
chimes was rejoicing at his misery, for all
they said to him was Put 'em down, put
EN- down-facts aud figures, facts and fig
ures put 'em down, put 'em down." How
the sorrovs of Meg and Lillian have melted
US to tears.
Have we not sll heard "The Cricket on
the HesTtb?'
Yes, the great master has made it so real
that we hear the chirp, chirp, chirp, and the
kettles hum, hum, hum, and laughed ct the
race OF the cricket and the kettle grown
sober at the poor carriers trials and laughed
again with Tiily 6lowboy fallen in love
with sunny Dot, pitied John, despised
Tsckleton, and wept with Caleb
and his blind daughter Bertha.
Then the Haunted Man." Have we not all
looked over our shoulder with fear, as we
crept tremblingly up the stairs after hearing
the story? So mastery have all the Christ
mas tales been told: No master like Dickens
ever sounded the breadth and depth of
human nature its loves and hates, joys
and sorrows, smiles and tears. "And in its
gravity from the darkness Of the paueled
wall like life" hangs his face entwined with
eyergreens, and below the words, I'VE will
keep your memory green" In merry Eng
land the mistletoe will be hung in ivied
church and proud old hall, and on lowly
cottage walls. kissing under the mistletoe
was handed down to rs from our Saxon an
cesiers. In the feudsl ages the gathering
and hanging OF the mistletoe was per
formed with great solsmnity. Holly
| was first used by the early
Christians at Rome and the Romans sent
| bougas Of holly to express good wishes, aud
rs Ere still following the good old customs;
AND " hhssiis we deck oar dwellings with ever
., green's and weave our Kresthes and garlapds
our hearts 60 ont to the pure and exalted
| Jesus who brought the glad tidings oil
| "Pesce snd good will toward men" and wn6
uttered those morals that should
I be engr9ven on every aeart
: DO unto others ss you would be done be.
| Methinks earth's children come nearer to the
| golden rule ct the Christmas time. We
| seem 10 grow less selfish, there is less OF
fthine and mine" and more OF fellowship
and love. There is gooS will towards men.
| But alas! It's over with the merry time, and
We sre slaves again to pride sn1 gain and
selfishness. But the lowly teacher spirit
still sSideth with as still, brirgeth light, still
| calls 10 Us "Come up higher" And the soft
| chimes 10 night fill our hearts with gentle
| peace ans good will towards al"
| Indianapolis, Ind.