Millheim Journal. [volume] (Millheim, Pa.) 1876-1984, 1884-12-25
CHRISTMAS DAY.

Amid all the festivals which shine in
the calendar of mans DEVOTION there is
none 80 radiant with holy JOY and glad
ness as the Feast of the Nayiety.
!. Christmas that ''comes but once a
year" has come to Rs. The time-hon-
ored holiday. when age, smiling on the
infant at its knee, renews in memory
its own youth. reyels in the joy which
graSps the present and believes in the
future, and when Middle Age forget s
the burdens aud heat of the day III its
sympathy with the repose of the one
aud the glad energy of the other.
How full of associations is the recur-
renee of this great .Christian holiday.
How many on this continent will haye
their tenderest sensibiities aroused in
memory Of those far-away Christmas
times, i'll far-away lands. when there
came on The eve of the Nativity those
musi :al waits" waking you out Cf
the dreams of heaven with the notes of
strayed angels,and Oh the day of Christ
mas ushering you into church which
was bowery, like the spring with Its
ample vegetation. and warm, like the
radiancy Of 4 great joy. There, amid
bOughs, which recalled the most pOeti-
cal Of the Jewish celebrations-the
Feast of the Tabernacles Was com
memoIated the tabernacling in fish of
Him whose advent WAS TO the dreary
life of :he world what spring is to the
year. And the public devotiors of the
holy day over, with winter and with
Christmas came, in the circle of home,
the generous fare of the Christmas sea-
son, the warm interchange of kindly
feeling and family loyingness.
Many will indulge in the luxury of
grief; the looking back with sad mep-
ories to the old Christmas times in the
old lands. But here there are compen-
sations in the present. New families
have grown up aud new circles extend
ed and new homes with all the asSoci-
ations of the old formed Houses are
decked With evergreen, fires are blazing
orsVely. merry groupes are meeting, ,and
bigh up In the steeples bells will wag
and wayer and shout with mighty
voice welc0me to the festival.
Christmas has come 1t is bleak De-
cember without, but there is the
warmth of atmosphere, as we'll as the
warmth Of heart. 1t is pleasant time
indeed for those with whom the world
has delt kindly. Light, warmth laugh
ter, loyed companies Of old times and
wine and wasSail, are with them atthe
feast. II they are not happy and COM
Portable it Is not anybody'S fault but
their own. For them Christmas is a
pleasant time not easily or willingly
forgotten. They watch for it all the
year, and when it comes they give it
good grip for Old acquaintance sake.
But, alas there IS a reverse to the
medal. To-day in this land of Charities
how many thousands are there to
whom the advent,of this festival is but
an intensiticatiOn of misery. In cold
and cherries ga rrets, in foil and fetid
tenement novels, with scant clothing
and still scanter food, there are squalid
wretches cove ring over some half-haat-
ed stove or expiring ember, thinking
bitterly OF the days when they tGo well
coined Christmas and participated in
It's enjoyment days when they entered
with young and happy hearts into the
spirit OF the munifcence of Santa Claus
and waited to welcome or came to be
welcomed at the profuse and hospitable
board.
What gift more acceptable to the
Saviour than that ont of the abundance
with which we are blessed, we shall give
even little to make the day of His fes-
tival day Of fes'lvity TO his poor also
and ":he poor We have always with
Us 2" Christmas tins is indeed the
time for generosity. 1t is pre-eminent-
ly the holiday of the year, time of
charity, time of the meeting of alb
sent friends, of the making up of old
quarrels. the cementlng of old friend
ships, the opening of closed hearts and
closed purses, the shining of bright
eyes, the making of love and the Great.
ing uf happiness-a time but for the
annual recurrence Of which the lives of
many would he al determinable jnurn-
ey across desert with no olsis in the
path, no Clnaan but beyounl the
grave.
We wish to all y happy and IA merry
Christmas.
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