The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1892-12-22

SNS~~sS mination Of
ones own fireside; but there is a fine
compensation for absence from home
on this brightest and best of anniversa-
ries 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
manity flowing In counter currents
through Bond street. Holborn, the
Strand, and eddying and whirllng
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
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 a 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
ivicd 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- en-
scene for a charming Christmas that
cannot be surpassed. Watching the as
sembling worshipers AeclSing park and
green, you follow on, pause In Gods
Acre for look at the old yew trees
and the billowy sod where the rude
forefathers of the hamlet sleep, and
enter the rough stone temLfe to whose
plain interior tender and sympathetic
hands have lent a grace and freshness
with clusters and festoons of holly and
lmistletoe, and where Christmas has
been sacredly celebrated for centuries
save when Cromwell's soldiers put
down the ''pspistical" worship or dur
ing the pitiable War of the Roses. Your
mind dwells mainly in the misty past
during the service, for Celts, Britons,
Saxons, Danes and Normans have knelt
before you on this spot, many of them
under this same roof. and do not the
symbols gathered from the remnants o,
old Druidical groves blend the credo Of
the Christian with the worship Of Beili
AS the day declines and you have
your choice between the hospitality o.
Norman hall and the festivities at some
old farmhouse where, the Saxon dwells
HE then TO the latter, for Christmas IL
but play under the patronizing smiles
of rank and fashion, while in the soil
imbedded home of the descendant oi
Celt or Saxon you shall see the greatest
of Christian anniversaries celebrating
at the same hearth with the first ot
pagan festivals las you saw them com
memorated at the same morning altar
and each claiming the day in honor %
its nativity. In the midst of the fet,
where hospitality reigns with gladnes:
the carols are heard without and tn,
door swings wide open for the singers
In they troop, and as they chant of {
Saviour born this day in the cave o
Bethlehem, and of peace on earth, gooC
will to man, the blazing yule log o
the sun WOTSHlptIo tht run
with tidings of scarce less import, tell
ing that on this day the source OF al
light and life has emerged from thu
grave of the winter solstice to breal
the lev bands of death and restore I,
man the fructifying spring, the ripen
ing summer and golden autumn
have chosen England for tho loci of m,
! Christmas scenes, for there one
brought into closer sympathy with tn
spirit and traditions of this great dua
anniversary than in our moderl
America.
Centuries before the shepherd
! watched their hocks on the Syrian hill
In the dawn of the Christian era tn
Egyptian priests had traced the zodia
| in the heavens and blazoned the est
of December as the day of the deliver
ance Of the sun from the darkness an
bands of the winter solsticc, and TO
centuries before the light of Christianit
burst forth from the grotto OF Bethle
| hem the fire altsrs of the Orient. tn
sun wheels of Germany and the yul
| logs Of Britain celebrated this day a
the resurrection of nature from deaf
unto life. Docs il detract from tn
beauty and splendor of the Christia
holiday that all nature joins In 1,
hosannahs to that infinite and benig
Providence which heedeth the spal
rows fall and the sun in its cours
with the same care and solicitude tina
proclaimed from the angelic skies {
Bethlehem: Peace on earth, good wi
TO man?" GEO. w. VAN HORNE.
All Provided FOR.