The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1891-12-23
acquired of our own Importance? ]

christmas Day is over, The dinner
MAS great success-too great in fact
we should have felt better if we had
not eaten quite so much, to saw moth
ing OF that glass of punch. However
we nave nothing to do to-day-the
Jay after Christmas is always a holt
Qay-lt is early yet, not ! O'Clock.
wen just turn over and have another
snooze; Oh, the delight of those fortv
Wlnks between Z and 8 A. NJ. on holt
uays! We are just on the drop, when
great goodness, what was that? A
ring at the door bell loud enough to
wake the dead. In a few minutes
tnere is a knock at our door.
Well?n
Christmas, SIR"
You have to get up and get the half
crown.
After moments hesitation as to
whether its really worth while to get
into bed again, you decide that as It's
quite early and an hour before the
breakfast bell, you may as we'll sleep
for half an hour. So to he'd YOU 90.
to sleep-perchance to dream. In fact,
you are just in the midst of a most
delightful scene in dreamland when
you are rudely brought back to the
realities Of this prosaic world by a
pull at the bell more vicious if pos
sIbie than the postman's. The cats
meat man-and so the morning pro-
ceeds, and what is particularly
annoying about the whole thing is,
that the girl who generally Keeps
your friends waiting two, three or
even tYe minutes at the door, dis
plays the most eXasperating energy,
apparently throughly enjoying the
constant flow of unbidden guests.
There is something of demOniacal
triumph in her face, when she an
nOunces another postman, and when
you suggest feebly that you have
already received the congratulations
of the pOstman, she floors you with
Second delivery, sir.n
Now, from what manner of acorn,
think you, did this gigantic oak-like
nuisance spring? Would you believe
tit is simply true to say that in it's
inception it was religious. In days
gone by, children used to carry
boxes containing q representation of
the first Christmas, of Mary and
Joseph and the infant Savior lying
in the Manager; and people even in
those days used to do what was
equivalent to dropping nickel in the
slot, and small donations would be
dropped into the Christmas-boX to
reward the ingenious proprietor. To-
day, in certain parts of Yorkshire,
children carry round what is known
as the Milly-boX-a corruption, no
doubt, of Mylady's box, soliciting
subscriptions. The figures have dis.
appeared, but the main raisoa d'etre
of the box has survived, and pennies
flow into the Milly-boX, shorn as it is
of every trace of aesthetic or religious
claim upon the public generosity. 1t
recalls the conduct of the sailor who,
in the presence of death by ship
wreck, wished to sanctify his last
moments by some act of religion, and
failing to remember any prayer or
form of supplication, passed round the
hat for the collection.
But the Christmas-boX itself was
the offspring of another and more pre-
tentiOus custom, LOngfellOw, in the
Golden Legend, gives US the idea of a
Christmas miracle play, which indeed
was the progenitor of the box. When It
became impossible to render the mira
Gle play ormystery whether from want
in public interest, the less imposing,
still-life representation was resorted
to, and the Christmas-boX supplanted
the Christmas play. But in churches
before the Reformation, and indeed
since that time in Roman Catholic
countries it has been the universal
custom to have a representation of
the Stable at Bethlehem with the
Holy Family. Some of these are
quite artistic, and display an unusual
amount of labor and skill, while the
majority, like so many other things
of the kind, are ridiculous attempts
and failures. Nevertheless, among
the illiterate they are much priced,
and certainly constitute an excellent
object-lesson for those who cannot
read. 1t may not be altogether out
of place, at this point, to give brief
outline of the origin of the Christmas
cribs in churches, and for this purpose
I shall have to ask leave to infiict
upon you q short lecture in Church
History.
Ito be continued.)