The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1893-12-22
A LITTLE PURITANS FIRST
CHRISTMAS

A Christmas Editorial for Children.
Christmas is often called the "Chil-
dren's Festival and every year much
is done TO make the hearts of the little
ones happy. The EgiS greets all it's
young readers with the hearty wish
that they may have a very Merry
Christmas and Happy New Year
What would they think of boy who
was old enough to read books from
the Bel Air Library and had never
heard of Christmas as they have
known it all their lives -? He knew,
no doubt, for he was the child of
Father, and that he had sent His Son
into the world to be the Saviour of
sinners !; but of Christmas as festival
of the church, to be kept in loving re-
membrance of Gods great Gift, he
knew not.
reproduce the story as we remem-
Der it.
A little boy living in New England
by chance found an old book in the
circulating library of his native
town, containing an account of Christ
mas as it was kept in the merry days
of Old England. This was his first
knowledge of the festival. 1t was
glowing description of the ancient
customs-the lighting of the Yule log :;
the stirring of the mighty wassail
bowl the bringing in of the boar's
head the mummers and, above all, the
kissing under the mistletoe His
fancy became wildly excited He
counted the days and hours and when
Christmas Eve came he walked in a
glory of dreams up and down the
streets
Alas !. No sign could he see in the
quiet town, no pealing of chimes, no
looking for Kris-Kringle. None the
less, the little fellow believed that
everybody shared his feeling and that
before he slept that night he should
hear the carols softly sung in the
moonlight on the snow. The little
head lay intent upon the pillow, lis
tening for the music, but he fell asleep
without hearing it.
The next morning, alas! was just
like all other mornings. There was no
stocking at the fireplace; there was
no green in the window; there was
no sign of Christmas. He began the
morning ruefully, no longer feeling
that everybody was secretly conscious
of the day. If he thought of the
bright visions conjured up in his
youthful brain by the old book, it was
as of the loved and forever lost. 1t
was not sense of personal grief only
that oppressed him, but a feeling of
something exceptionally wrong in the
world that SO utterly disregarded the
day.
At length his mother asked him why
he was so sober, and he answered
because Christmas has been forgot
ten" The good mother, to whom
Thanksgiving was the high feast of
ohO oiO dCoCSIluSu
those who came over in that floating
lunatic asylum, the "Mayfiower,"
yet, with the mother-love feeling for
her child, slipped quietly out of the
house and presently returning gave
the young Protestant purse with a
bright silver piece in it, as his Christ
mas box
Here, at length, was something
tangible, and the child ran to the con-
fectioner's, an old Frenchman, who
had been settled in the town many
years, and who rose to wait upon the
young customer.
The Christmas confectioner shops
of to-day are perfect bowers of bliss
and tempt the young to spend all
their fortune, if only amidst the
embarrassment of riches they could
decide what to buy. But in the old
Frenchman's shop there was, also, no
recognition of the festival, no spray of
hemlock, no kalmia over the the door
or in the windows, no pyramidaI piles
of unimaginable boxes of every kind
of fresh and delicious candy. None
of these only the old, familiar sugar
plums, ranged on the old familiar
shelves, and the same time worn cakes
pinned and withered under the same
dingy glass. The boy was vaguely
conscious of this barrenness, but he
had distinct realization of the fact
that almond candy was his choice,
and the old Frenchman gravely weigh
ed out the small measure.
AS the buyer took out his new purse
to pay, with a sudden impulse of
hope to find some spark of sympathy,
he held it up and said, in bashful
way, "That's my Christmas present."
What is dat you say. little boy ~
replied the Frenchman.
That's my Christmas present, +" re-
piled the child.
christmas Christmas =" exclaimed
the old man pathetically, mo, no;
nobody knows Christmas here
There was such a depth of repudia-
ton of community that knew not
Christmas, and, by implication, such
a warm, deep regard for it in the heart
of the old Frenchman, expressed in
his tone and manner, that the child
was satisfied and felt, oh blessed pow
er of sympathy THAT his silent