Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1892-12-22
NUMBER "A.

|V.sj~HE lights OF
M Christmas burn
I'm M nowhere on
@4S 81. !: !: NJ. !: !:
ones own fireside; but there is fine
compensation for absence from home
on this brightest and best of anniversa-
rics in finding oneself in the streets of
London on the eve Of Christmas, a spec.
tator and part of the great Christmas
tide of expectant, happy, smiling hui.
mainly flowing in counter currents
through Bond street, Holborn, the
Strand. and eddying and whirling
around Charing Cross; and when. with
heart warmed with the glow reflected
from thousands of sparkling faces, to
see this city of a million homes and a
thousand churches blaze forth with.
Christmas lights from basement to roof,
from chancel to belfry, the mystic spell
of the anniversary becomes wondrous,
overwhelming, complete.
But when Christmas dawns, one
should leave the bewildering maze OF
this vast city for some old English viii
lage where the beauty and traditions of
the day possess cameo-like unity and
relief; and the farther this shrine is re-
moved from the rush and roar of the
nineteenth century the sweeter will be
the flavor of the anniversary and the
more redolent of its Old-time incense.
The village green, buttressed by the
ivied church and manse at one end, and
the old hostelry and smithy forge at
the other, the noble hall half visible in
its park, and ancient farmhouses
neighboring near. make up a mis- On
scene for a charming Christmas that
cannot be surpassed. Watching the as
sembling worshipers aecbing park and
green, you follow on, pause in Gods
Acre for look at the old view trees
and the billowy sod where the rude
forefathers Of the hamlet sleep, and
enter the rough stone temple TO whose
plain interior tender and sympathetic
hands have lent grace and freshness
with clusters and festoons Of holly and
mistletoe, and where Christmas has
been sacredly celebrated for centuries
save when Cromwell's soldiers put
down the ''papistical" worship or dur
ing the pitiablc War Of the Roses Your
mind dwells mainly in the misty past
during the service, for Celts, Britons,
Saxons, Danes and NormanS have llnelt
before you on this spot, many of them
under this same roof. and do not the
D.
old nruidical groves blend the credo of
the Christian with the worship Of Bell?
As the day declines and YOU have
your choice between the hospitality Of
Norman hall and the festivities mt some
old farmhouse whore, the Saxon dWells.
hie then to the latter, for Christmas is
but play under the patroni1ing smiles
of rank ard fashion while ina the soil
Embedded home of the descendant Of
Celt or Saxon You shall see the greatest
Of Christian anniversaries celebrating
at the same hearth with the first Of
pagan festivals tas you saw them com
memoratcd at the same morning altar
and each claiming the day in honor of
its nativity In the midst of the fete
where hospitality reigns with gladness
the carols are heard without and the
door swings wide open for the singers.
In they troop. and as they chant Of a
Saviour born this day in the cave of
Bethlehem, and of peace on earth, good
will 10 man, the blazing yule log of
the sun worshipers illumines the room
with tidings of scarce less import, tell
ing that on this day the source Of all
light and life has emerged from the
grave of the winter solstice 70 break
the icy bands Of death and restore to
man the fructifying spring, the ripen-
ing summer and golden autumn.
| have chosen England for the loci Of my
Christmas scenes, for there one is
brought into closer sympathy with the
spirit and traditions of thi, great dual
anniversary than in our modern
America.
Centuries before The shepherds
watched their docls On the syrian hills
in the dawn 81 the Ghristian era the
Egyptian priests had traced The zodiac
i'm the heavens and hIalauca the 25th
Of December as the day of the deliver
anec If the snn from the darkness and
bands Of the winter -a'stce and for
centuries before tae of Christianity
burst forth from fine at9tt3 of Bethle-
hefa THE fra affairs 81 the Orient, the
sun wheels If Germany and the vule
logs OF Braa celebrated this day as
the resurrection - nature from death
un.o ife Does ii detract from the
beaufy and pleadar If the Christian
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