Daily new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1897-1906, 1897-12-24
CHRISTMASTIDE.


terest, material and spiritual.
Some love it because it comes "but
once year, and when it comes it
brings good cheers" others, because
it is pre-eminently the season of I'M
iyersal reconciliation, of 'peace on
earth and good, will towards men,
Families may be scattered during
the rest of the year, but at this time
their members strive to re-unite, and
where this is impossible, the exiled
ones turn their faces longingly
towards hearth and home. From
India, Burmah, Australia, America,
and the uttermost parts of the earth,
Americas brave and ubiquitous
sons and daughters send loving
greetings, while they practice the
old customs. To the Hindoo cook
nothing is more mysterious than the
English plumpudding, which all
English insist on whether in torrid
or Arctic zones After the ingredi-
ents have been given out, too often
has it come to table in the form of a
thick soup! The late Viscount Mil
ton Lord Fitzwilliam's eldest SOM
and DIR. Cheadle, in their interesting
account of their arduous undertak-
ing, 1.-THE North West Passage by
Land which they commenced in
1862, and discovered the route which
has since been utilized by the Cana
dian Pacific Railway, gives conf
cal account of the difficulties and
the qualified success of Lord Mil
toms attempt at making a plum
pudding. Dr. Cheadle kept the prec-
ious fruit, flour, and sugar sin his
strong box" This likewise contained
stores of powder, shot, caps, tobacco,
soap and various etceteras. After
eliminating all foreign bodies as
carefully as possible, the pudding
was duly mixed, tied up in the cloth
after the established manner and
placed in the pot Many time was
it taken out and its state examined
/ by point of fork before 1t was at
last-after boiling nearly all day
pronounced thoroughly cooked No
one who has been restricted entirely
to one species of food for long
time can form any idea of the greedy
eyes with which we view that
plum pudding. 1t proved delicious
beyond all anticipation, in spite of
certain drawbacks in the shape Of
caps, buckshot, and fragments of to-
! baeco, which we discovered in it..
Never did schoolboy view with such
sincere regret the disappearance of
his last morsel Of cake, as we did
when signing over the last mouthful
of that unequalled pudding"
The value Of Christmas lies in its
warm and humanizing associations,
and not because it was the birthday
of Jesus 1897 years ago This latter
is pious fiction Of the church, and,
fortunately one of its few harmless
ones. He was not born on the 25th
of December, nor 1897 years ago.
The day and the month are I'M
known, and the time was four years
before the Christian era. Formerly
the 9th of January was kept as
Jesus birthday, and one of the
Popes put it back to its present
date. Thus Christmastide really
includes the New Year up to Twelfth
Day. But although all is mysterious
concerning the Author of Christian
ity, His birth, His life, and His age
at death-the impulse that he gave
/ the world remains and gathers
strength with time He is the Prince
of Peace, and the Great Teacher OF
the Brotherhood of Man and the
Fatherhood Of God.
And so at this festive season, all
who can-and Heaven pity those
who cannot-gather round the blaz-
ing fire and enjoy cheerful commun-
ion and interchange Of loving kind
ness. Presents and fond messages
for those who are remote, help to re
mind friends and relations of mu-
tual affection, and to knit all hearts
more closely together. What mat
tiers it how the festival arose, or
when, whether one century after
Christ or five, so long as it forms a
means for all those pleasant and hui
manizing courtesies?
Yet the sour Puritans of the COM
monwealth, under the guise of zeal
for religion, endeavered to check the
natural impulses Of the nation. First
they caused it to be kept as fast on