The Newtown bee. (Newtown, Conn.) 1877-current, 1897-12-17
Local Affairs.
How to Keep Christmas,
A PAPER BY MRS E. L. JOHNSON READ
BEFORE POoTATUCK GRANGE.


worthy lecturer, and in answering the
question 1 want to ask, why should those
who profess not to believe in the exis-
tence of Supreme Being, keep it at all ?
What does your greeting, II wish you 3
Merry Christmas" signify to them
Nothing more than your everyday good
morning or "good evening""
Or, why should that other large num-
ber who believe in the existence OF God,
but deny the divinity of Jesus Christ,
keep Christmas What does your Christ
mas greeting mean to them, any more
than that on Fourth of July, or Wash
toms birthday.
There are very few 10 Christian lands,
whatever their religious beliefs, who do
not keep Christmas socially. But to
those the wide world over, who believe
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, di-
vine as we'll as human there must be two
aspects of the question, religious and So
cial. How shall we keep it?
The wise men, when they found him
"worshipped him and when they had
opened their treasures, they presented
unto him gifts" Can we find a better
example of how religiously to keep the
day? 1t is to be feared that great pro-
POI tion of really good people read only
one part of that passage, and forget that
worship is the fret duty, and also that
the giving Is exclusively to each other,
fn Shnnla MI m
profess to have found him, also worship
him, and present unto him fist of all,
the gift of loving, loyal hearts, that can
hear him say to-day as he said centuries
ago, "Inasmuch as ye did iC unto one OF
che least of these, my brethren, ye did
it unto me-" When l was a child our
Christmas always commenced by going
to church on Christmas eve, as well as
on Christmas day. Every available
space in the church had wreath, fes-
toon, or bough, and the church was IL
Illuminated by tallow dips furnished by
the parishioners. The candles were put
in holes in Stats that fitted tightly into
the window frames; three Stats, with
dow. A huge chandelier of wood, pyra-
midal In shape, thickly wound with
green's and lighted by nearly a hundred
candles, depended from the ceiling. No
scene impresses itself more indelibly up.
on my memory as little child, than the
appearance Of old Trinity as we drove to
it through the village. We must go long
before the hour for service, if we would
get our own seat, or even be sure of any.
No doubt more than 1000 people used to
attend the Christmas eve services SO
years age. The service was listened to
by hundreds who never went into an
Episcopal church at any other time, and
who knew nothing of Christmas except
what they saw and heard there. After
the service the candle ends were collect
ed ard the next day distributed among
the poor of the parish. The element of
joy and gladness, and of peace and good
will, that does and should pervade our
hearts, makes US wish to gather our dear
ones around US, and make it a day Of fes-
tivity; and if the day has commenced
with worship, what more beautiful or
fitting way in which to spend it, than by
gathering around the family board, and
in loving companionship, and as the
shades of evening draw around us, by
lighting the Christmas tree, not simply
for the qualification of the little ones, but
for the older ones as well.
The interchange of gifts if not indulg-
ed in to such degree that it precludes
the giving where Christ would have us
give is beautiful and right. 1t is pre-
eminently the season for the giving of
gifts. In many a home since the last
Christmas gathering, some dear one has
gone out to come back no more, and the
impulse to yield to sadness may be al
most overpoweriDg; but on this glad
day of all others, for the sake of dear
ones still left, there should be no indul-
gence liz selfish grief. Surely there need
not be to those who believe, that "when
he shall come again, them also that sleep
in him will he bring with him."