Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1886-12-24
OLYMPIA. WASHINGTON TER.
OLYMPIA, FRIDAY EVENING, DEC. u, 1856.
Merry Chri>tma>!

year At twelve o'clock tonight, all
over the civilized world, the JOYFUL
hearts Of Young and old will respond
to the glad tidings re-echoed for more
than eighteen hundred years, OF D." Peace
on earth and good will among men"
Tonight in thousands of churches the
simple yet grand refrain of the Christ
mas anthem will tune the hearts OF
hundreds of thousands to unity and
concord. In almost every family cir
Gle the note Of preparation is heard,
the children are in a state of expec-
fancy, and the older people are scarcely
less swayed by the subtle influence
which the hallowed associations of a
lifetime bring.
Christmas! what a food of hallowed
memories its cadence calls forth
How eagerly the mind reverts to the
scenes of the past, as we turn over the
pages of life's volume, and dwell upon
those hallowed moments when We
have all become as children under the
spell of the wonderful creed that makes
the world akin! How we love to pic
ture the blazing hearth of the old
farmhouse, with its gathering OF
young people engaged in such old
time rollicking plays as Blind Mans
Buff" or "Copenhagan," to be followed
later on by the distribution of presents,
either by Santa Claus in person, or
from his orthodox substitute, the taper
blooming Christmas tree!
With what rapture We turn to an
other picture of the hearthstone on
Christmas morn, with its array of
stockings crammed with all sorts of
CONNECTIONS and toys, and the heaps of
larger articles piled symmetrically I'M
der each that the good old saint with
all his occult power for forcing his own
portly form through the smallest OF
chimney flues could not crowd into
the tiny foot-coverings! What JOY
prevailed as each appropriated his
share of the gifts, and how speedily
the feeting hours passed amid the
bray of trumpets and the rattle Of
drums!
Then came the Christmas dinner,
the feast of abundance, in which the
"children of older growth" took the
more prominent part. Plum-pudding
and mince-pie were by tradition as es-
sential for this banquet as the turkey
now is for thanksgiving. Then in the
evening came modified renewal of
the sports of Christmas eve. The
younger people were by this time tired
out by the surfeit of amusement and
feasting, and content to observe the
pastimes of their elders, generally con-
sisting of some of the more dignified
games of forfeits, rubber at whist, in
terspersed with music, and sometimes
dancing.
The celebration of Christmas, two or
three centuries ago, in "Merrie Old
England" was of much more bois-
ferrous nature. It was scene of rev.
elry, in which the populace paraded
the streets on the eve before Christ
mas, dressed in fantastic costumes,
singing carols and accompanied by
tambours, guitars, violins and other
musical instruments. A sort of IL
cense prevailed. A branch of the
mistletoe being hung in the doorways,
the youths were understood to have a
right to kiss any maiden whom they
could inveigle under it. 1t was, like
wise, the custom to select Lord Of
Misrule, who went about taking the
lead in every kind of extravagant mer-
riment which the wit of man could de-
wise. A glowing fire made of great
logs, the principal of which was the
yule log, or Christmas block, kept out
the severity of the weather, after the
season of outdoor minstrelsy. Var
ious old-time games followed, promi-
nent among which were hot-cockles,
fool-plow and snap-dragon, the precise
rules of which are now lost in anti
guilty. The generous wassail-bowls and
bowls of punch never failed to bring
forth tumultuous joys; and this is
probably the reason why the Puritan
fathers were at first stern opponents OF
Christmas pastimes. The day has,
as consequence, always been much
less generally observed in New Eng
land than in the Middle and Southern
States.
Wherever the benign influence of
charity and love extends, it makes the
people better. These are the prevail
ing characteristics of Christmas. 1t
is bound by no sect or creed. 1t
is season of benevolence, OF good
will and brotherly love, conditions
that prepare the heart for good
resolutions at the Threshold of the
new year.
In full sympathy with the spirit of
and every one of its patrons Merry
Christmas and a Happy New Year.
The aurora Borealis is the name
Af