Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1886-12-25
The Merry Christmas Day.


AnIther Christmas is at hand. Let the
bells ring out joyful peal on Christmas
morning, and again proclaim to the world the
day on which the Christian nations celebrated
the birth of the Redeemer of Manknd AS
the years go by and Christmas after Christmas
succeeds each other the world pauses briefly
to note another milestone on the great journey
to eternity. These thoughts pass quickly,
however, and to many the name of Christmas
has only the sound of festive season, when
they give and receive gifts. To the toiling
masses it means a brief holiday, when they
lay aside the implements of their craft and
snatch a short breathing spell before they
again plunge into the vortex of labor where
they spend their lives and give their strength
for mere subsistence, ii may be. Christmas
morning will dawn, it daWned before, on
rich and poor, on joy and sorrow, on high
hopes and the gloom of despair. 1t will re-
call to many the shadows of former Christmas
days, when the weary heart of to-day was joy
GUS and free, without thought or care, and
when friends and relations FASTENED to pour
their gifts at the feet that now are weary and
fain would rest, even to stepping on the thres-
hold of eternity, and leave behind the sicken-
ing heart and that pain which is worse than
death itself. The shadows will pass, and the
ghosts of loved ones long laid beneath the sod
will be con iured up for the nonce, and sit
around the fireside in the bright glow of the
vule log, or they Will appear around the fes-
tive board, where wassail and good cheer
abounds. They will join in the Christmas
carol, and sport in the festive country dance,
ending in the game of forfeits and the never
to be omitted rites of the mistletoe. The pic
ture will call up the old memories, and with
them open the old wounds thought to have
been long healed. The coming Christmas
will have all these joys in reality, and people
will be as happy in the present as many have
been in the past. They will in their own way
spend the day to their liking, and when it is
DER, it too will become memory According
to the time of life, so will Christmas appear,
and it would not be well otherwise. Child
hood and youth, apart from the religious
fervor which the season of Christmas invokes,
is the period of life when there is a glow of
splendor and enchantment about Christmas,
which fades as the years go by. From the
time when we used to hang up our stockings
to let Santa Claus remember us to the end of
life the old scenes will never be tffaced from
our memories. Christmas eve! Why, sleep
was out of the question: there was so much to
speculate upon; and we had to keep watch
which we were determined to do at all hazards
for Santa Claus, just to make sure he was
real. Not an eye would we close, not half an
eye, and it was only when we awoke in the
morning that we could believe that we had
been asleep at all. What was most astonish-
ing was that Santa Claus had really been in
the house and had left goodness knows what.
1t took days really to comprehend what he
had left, and it was not until next Christmas
that the vision of the former Christmas eve
faded out. Later on the belief in the person
atty of Santa Claus became less vivid, but
there succeeded pleasures that were equally
good and apparently more lasting. There
were the holidays, the parties, the entertain
ments, and the days that we went skating and
had no lessons for next day, and there were a
thousand other pleasures. These, too, passed
till at q later period We had arrived at the
very summit of life's pleasures and finally, as
l.c4 1, c,.l I
settled soberly to the realities and duties of
life. There were yet pleasures left. as there
are to all ages if we only look for them Alright,
and Christmas brought its round of happy, So
cial enjoyments. Then we had assumed the
realities of parents and their responsibilities,
and had to live again the days Of our youth in
the lives of our children. At last in old age
we listen to the Christmas chimes and think,
as We cannot help thinking, that they are
drawing to close on ears that will soon be-
come deaf to the voices of time. Then the
one great thought stands forth pre-eminent,
alone, and clear as the sun at monday, and we
feel thankful from our heart Of hearts that
there is day called Christmas, that there is
Christ who gave his name to the day, and that
the Oliver of the name is to be our eternal
King. Let the bells ring out! Let relatives
and friends gather from afar to meet at the
family board. Let us bring up onr memories
OF pleasures long forgotten, till like lost
chord found the key note of which is struck,
it all comes back! Let friends and foes join
alike in celebrating q Merrie Christmas The
storekeeper will display his most tempting
wares, and the tables will groan with luXuries
from all parts Of the world. Peace prevails in
our land, and although there is misery and
want in our midst and always will be, We will
try to forget they exist, and will try to make
those who are not so fortunate as ourselves
forget their existence to. Let the bells ring
out as the angels proclaimed centuries ago:
Peace and Good Will Towards 0Ien!"