The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1892-12-30


ing that iaero was convulsion of ma
ture at That particular spot which was
felt In lone of the surroundings, then be
could afford something unusual, solao-
thing br liant, something positive, sonc-
thing tremendous at the nativity, III II
king at the birth Of II son can have the
palace illumined and couriers sent with
swift dispatch to announce the gladness
at the gates and wake up an empire
with c&unonade, lam not surprised that,
ut tde Birth oI The Son OF God there wGs
celestial agitation, and my only wonder
Is that, instead Of one star or one meteor
giving signal, all worlds did not make
demonstration. Why not other worids
take interest in the event when Christ
came from another world and anc,he'
world was to got the souls that would
be saved by this celestial descent 1t
would have been stellar disgrace, an
astronomical scandal, if. when the God
head lay compressed in the form of an
infant, som, thing from aloye he'd not
pointed down, as much rs 10 say: "Itc"e
he is! Look, all earth ard heaven! Loo;,
il time and ull oternityv
CuRIsT MUST NEIDs SUFFER.
You see, the birth NJ Bethlehem must
have been more novel and startling to
the heavens than tho crucitixion on Cal
vary. 1t was expected that Christ would
be nialtreated. Tho world always had
maltreated its l;od and great friends.
Joseph hurled in,o The pit, Shadrach Pat
into the fire, jeremiah lowered into a
dungeon, David bounded from the throne,
Elijah compelled to starve or take his
food from the beak of a filthy raven, and
Socrates condemned to death, SO tnat the
Caivarian massacre was in the s;ne o.d
line of maitreatment. But the nHvcItyof
all The ages was the conjunction of d.
vinity and humanity. Invisible Geity,
muscled ard nerved aud feshed ia mas
culine physique. A child and yet ~ God.
Why, il the meteor Lad not pointe>s down
that night, some angel would havelEsSe'!
down and pointed with his i;Estcrip9
scepter. Isaiah and David and Ezekiel,
who foretold tire coming, would have de.
scended from their thrones and ssoai on
the roof of TIC barn or III some way d, j.
ignated the honored locality. As the
finger of light that Dec. IS pointed L,
the straw cradle, now all tine In. ers
OF ChristaG;,om this momert, f1.st Is Il
childhood and old age, fingers Of sermcn
and song and decoration and fest;vity.
point to the great straw cradle. Am
not right in saying that the first of the
three chapters of the holidays shoa.u lie
devoted to the illustrious birthday? Iy
song and prayer and solemn reflec'ion
and charities today, and by gifts AID
trees that bear fruit in an hour after tnoy
are planted, and family gathering ard
hilarities sounding from cellar to garnet
tomorrow, keep Christmas.
As far as possible gather the children
and the grandchildren, but put no G.
TOPPED ON racket, whether of laughter OF
swift feet or toys in shape Of raj
trains or trulnpets or infant cfis,y-.
Let the old folks for one day at least
say nothing about rheumatism, or pros
pect of early demise, or the deseneracy
of modern times. or the poison in con
fectionery. If you cannot stand lie
noise, retire from it for little wili,e
into some other room and stop your
ears. Christmas for children wi,hci;t
plenty of noise is no Christmas 1t al
If children ind grandchildren c,n:4'
have full swing during the holidays
when will they have it? They Will lie
still soon enough, and their feet VIII
slacken their pace, and the burdens Of
life will bear them down Houses get
awfully still when the children are gone.
While they stay let them fill the cJa.:
with such resounding mirth that y,!
can hear the echoes twenty years afvci
they are dead By religious celebrate i
today ard by domestic celebratieo to
morrow keep Christmas. As for or
beloved church, we tomorrow night
mean to set the children of our Sabbath
school wild with delight, and in Tie
Christian Herald, with which am con-
nected, we are celebrating the holidays
by sending out from two to four thou
sand Bibles a day, and they will Goa
tinue to go out by express, by messengc~s
and by mails until we have distributed
t least one hundred thousand copies If
the good old Book on which Christmas
is built, and which gives the only health
full Interpretation of these swift flying
years.
ALL THAT LIVE MUST DIE.
The second chapter of the holidays
must speak Of annual decadence. This
is the last Sabbath of the year TIE
steps of the year are getting short, f1l
it is old now. When it waved lie
spring blossoms the year was young.
and when it swung the scythe and cra-
die through the summer harvest fields
the year was strong, but it is getting
out of breath now, and after six more
throbs of the pulse will be dead We CAN
not stop this annual decadence. Set all
the clocks back, set all the watches back,
set all the chronometers back, but you
cannot set time back. For the old fam
lily clock you might suppose that time
would have especial respect, and t-,
you took hold of those old hands on the
face of that cantenarian Of i. tinepiece
and pushed them back you might ex-
pect that time would stop or retreat for
at leas, few minutes mo, nor says
the old family clock. 81 must go on. l
saw your father and mother on their
wedding day. | struck the hour of your
nativity. counted the festal hours of
the day in which you brought home a
bride. sounded the knell at yolr
fathers death. tolled at your mothers
departure. Yea, must sound your own
going out of life. must go ON. l must
90 on. Tick, took! Tick, tockI'
THE UNcEAsIi;G FLIGHT OF TIME.
But there is great city clock high up
in the tower. There are so many
wrongs in all our cities to be righted, so
many evils to be extirpated, so many
prisons to be sanitaried-stop the city
clock until all these things are done.
Let common council and the people Of
the great town decree that the city hall
clock shall stop. We do not want the
| sins of 1892 to be handed over to 1893.
We do not want the young year to in
herit the misfortunes of the old year.
| By ladders lifted to the tower and by
strong hands take hold and halt the city
clock. mo, nor says the city clock.
"a cannot wait until you correct all
L i