St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1899-01-28
tha. the chimney had not been the chan.

boyhood and girlhoCo days! we Stlll
feel in cur pulses some Of the exc-
bcrance which we then unwittingly
stored up for future times, wien the
eye might lose some Of its luster and
the foot some Of its spring and the heart
some Of its rebound. How holy and
rosemary and ivy and mistletos looked
interwoven: The Puritans may not
have liked the Cay. and John Calvin may
have pronounced it superstitious and
feared it would bring into religious cb-
servance the saturnaii1 of the hcathen,
the decorations CT ivy :nappropr inte be
cause ivy had been dedicated to Eacchus
ard mist.etoe had been associated with
Christmas never did US any harm. and
the only objection We ever expressed
was that it was so long a time from
Christmas TO Christmas. Ecclesiastical
controversy rs 20 whether it ought to
be celebrated on the 9th of January, CT
18th ct March, or 10Th Of September, or
2.th of December, did not bother US
then any more than it bothers us now.
I: always came a. the right time. a.
though little late. and now we real;ze
that Christmas comes oppcrtune.y. just
after the shortest day CT The year. De
Ct mber q. and at the time when days
are frightening and the sun is recon-
mencing its upward course. telling Us
that spring and summer are coming.
On. what forest Of Christmas trees
trees bearing 1: manner OF fruts-now
standing throughout the households or
CEristendcm. Oh. what hosauras are
ascending on this day. the Christmas o;
a Sav:our's birth, this year blending
with the Sabbath OF Sav:our's resur-
rect:on.
Still further remarking upon the mar
row escape which you and / had and eli
the world had in that babes escape. let
me say that had that HeroLic plot been
successful The one instance of absolute
l. perfsct character would never Lave
been unfosded. The world had en- joyed
the lives OF many splendid men before
Christ came. ii had admired its Plato
among philosophers. its Mithridates
cmong heroes. its HercGotus among
historians. its Phidias among scu!ptors.
its Homer among poets. its -Aesop
among fabulis;s. its Aesckylrs among
Gra matists. its Demosthenes among or
a,ors. its Aesculapius among physicians.
yet among the contemporaries Of those
men there were two opinions. as now
there are Two opinions concerning
every remarkable man. There were
plenty IN those days who said Of them:
He cannot speak," or He cannot
sing" or He cannot philosophers. or
His military achievement was mere
accident or Ills chiscl. his pen, his
medical prescription. never deserved
the applause given" But concerning
this full-grown Christ. whose life was
launched three decades before that first
Christmas, the moan Of camels and the
bleat of sheep ard the low Of cattle
mingled with the Babe first cry. while
clouds that night were resonan. with
music. ard star. pointing down. wills
pered to star: Look. there He isl.
THAI Christ. after the detectives Of
Herosi and PLATE ard sanhedrin had
watched Him by day and watched him
.
innocent. 1t was found out that when
He talked to the yagrant woman in the
temple j; was to tell her to go end sin
no mere" ard that if He spoke with
the penitent thief it was 10 promise
him Paradise within ~ hours. and, that
as He moved about He dropped case OF
pain upon the iEyalidis pillow. or light
upon The evevthat lacked optic nerve.
or ru; bread into the HANDS OF the hun
cry. or took from the oriental hearse
The dead Young man and yimlized him
ard said to the widowed mother:
Here he is. alive and WELL" ard she
cried: MY boy. my boy.'' and he re-
sponded: Mother. mother." And the
sea. tossing too roughly. some OF His
friends, by word easier than O
nurses word TO a petulant child. He
made it keep still. The very judge who
for other reasons allowed Him to be
put 10 death. declared: Il find no
fault in Him." Was there ever life
SO thoroughly ransacked ard hyper
criticised that turned out TO be SO per-
feet life? Now. can YOU imagine
what would have been the calamity to
earth and Heaven. what q bereavement
to all history. what swindling not only
OF the human race. but Of the che rubin
and seraphim and archangsl. il because
Of Internal incursion upon the bed OF
that. Bethlehem Babe this life OF Divine
and glorious manhood had never been
lived? The Christie parallels would
never have been uttered, the sermon on
the mount, all adrip with bene1ictions,
never preached, the golden rule. in pic
t,re frame of everlasting love. would
never have been hung up for the uni
verse to gaze upon and admire.
Can You imagine what sterilization
OF the worlds literature woulc be the
removal of al Christ ever did and said?
Ii would tear down the most important
shelves Of yonder congressional library.
AID Of the vatican library, and of Brit
isl museum. EnG Berlin and Bonn and
Vienna and Madrid and st. Petersburg
libraries, and st. Paul's life would have
been an imposs;bility, and his episties
would never have been written. and s..
john, from the bassitic caverns Of
Pstmos. would never have heard the
seven .rumpets or seen the heavenly
well with IL layers OF illumired crysta.-
lization. Oh, wise men Of the east. !
am so glad You did not report to the i'm
perial scoundrei ut Jerusalem where
the babe was. for the hounds would have
soon torn 10 pieces the Lamb. and | am
Sc glad that not only did You bring the
frankincense and the myrrh 20 the
room n that caravansary, but that you
brought the gold which paid his travel
ing expenses and those Of Joseph and
Mary IN that long and dangerous flight
to Cairo. in Egypt, and paid Their iodg-
irg and board there and paid their way
back again! We'll enough to bring to the
barn OF the Saviour's nativity the
flowers. for they aromakized the dread
full atmosphere OF the stables, but the
r,yI 0~cS ;,,S< Yheu the most imnsrfans