The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1903-12-31
Rirthdars We CeIehrate.

Following is the address of Rev. Troy
Shelley, delivered at the Christmas tree
exercises at Union church:
Amid the festivities of Christmastide
with the joyous companionship of loved
ones around us. with the shinimering
lightsof the Christmastree before ms load
e1with beautiful presentsof Of which we are
already in anticipation, with subduine
or soul stirring mnsic soothing oar spir-
its to rest or lifting them upward toward
heaven-with all this some OF MS are
liable to forget what this celebration is
for-the birthday Of our Savior.
1t is notable that three OF our holidays
-Washington's bithday, the Fourth OF
July and Christmas are birthday cele-
brations. Now, il we celebrate any
birthday outside Of our own family,
there must be some special reason for il.
We celebrate Washington's birthday be.
cause he was the father of our country;
because, through His self-sacrifcing and
unselfsh spirit, we enjoy the glorious
liberty and freedom Of the land in which
we live. We celebrate the Fourth of
July because it is the birthday of our
country because, when the old liberty
bell in Philadelphia rang out, it marked
the day and the hour when the rule Of
any European tyrant king over us was
forever at an end.
Why do we celebrate the Savior's
birthday? Because he, too, gave us a
beautiful free country to live in. And
the freedom OF heaven is far more glo-
VIC IN tha f~oaIapo nf fI,A ITnifaJ
States, for there we shall be free from
sin, free from sorrow, free from death.
And we celebrate the Savior's birthday
because he, too delivered us from a tyrant
whose iron heel is far more crushing
than the tyranny OF George III ever
was-the tyrant of sin. And one OF
these sins is the sin of selfshness There
fore, on this day, of all days in the year,
We give beautiful gifts to others, for
Jesus is the first one in the world who
taught us at is more blessed to give
than to receive" Before Jesus came to
the world, and before he comes to each
of us, the strife was, and always is, to
gain happiness by getting. But after
Jesus comes we know it is only gained
by giving-that the fullest, deepest joy
OF the soul is reached by making others
happy, as we strive to do on His birth
day.
To some of us the celebration of our
birthday, especially when we were
small, has been the most pleasing event
of our lives. We can remember when
our mother hunted the last egg, maybe
the last nest egg on the place, and took
the last spoonful of butter in the larder,
to make us little cake that we might
always remember we were welcome to
her arms when we first opened our eyes
in this world. Our only regret then
was that our birthdays were SO far apart
and that we could have only one in a
year.
Dear friend away from the Lord, you
can have another birthday, and another
birthday celebration. Jesus says "Ye
must be born again" Into that higher,
diviner life which our souls may enter,
there must be new birth. 1t may not
be celebrated in your own family, or
even here on earth, but it will be cele-
brated above, for he says again "There
is joy in the presence OF the angels of
God over one sinner that repenteth."
Sitting here quietly tonight, thinking of
all these things, would that some of you
who never have before, would give your
selves unreservedly to God and have a
new birthday, celebrated with the
angels