Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-12-25
Christmas Day.


out the length and breadth of the earth,
wherever the Star of Bethlehem has
spread the rays of it's wondrous light,
and wherever the. story has been told
of the Baby born in a lowly stable,
whom the Wise Men came to worship.
this day is hailed by chimes of merry
bells, by singing of anthems and cor
ols;, by reunions around the hearth
stone; by beautiful and reverent rites
Of Worship, by the exchange of greet
ings and gifts. 1t is the Oldest Of all
the holidays and Eye celebrate it as the
most holy Of them all, and as the day
most dear to the greatest number Of
as day to send to one another gifts
Of every kind, as tokens of love and
friendship and in symbolism, of the
peace and good will whose message the
angels sarg to the shepherds that
watched their flocks by night.
Innumerable traditions cluster around
red berries; the mistletoe with the
maid beneath 1t; the great Yule log
and the revels in it's glare; the Christ
mas tree with Santa Claus and his
reindeer team; the ancient and pagan
rites celebrating the winter solstice,
from which presumably sprung the
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this particular period of the year. All
these things and many more have been
the theme of song and story through
generations and generations. There
was a time when Puritan New Eng
land. in its uncompromising severity,
and it's adherence of anything smack
ing of the observance of festivities of
the old established church, looked ask
ance at Christmas, and left it's cele-
bration in this country mainly to the
South where the Cavaliers brought
from their English homes the great
honor in which the day was then held,
and is still held, by the English people.
The times have changed in New Eng
land, and the narrow vision of those
early days has become the broader
vision and the broadcast vision of mod
ern times.
In the happiness which this holiday
season brings, and in the pleasure we
find in spreading the Christmas cheer
to others, remembering ever the noble
precept that giving is more blessed
than receiving. it is a time for an
hours reflection, as to the origin of
this holiday and why civilization per-
petuates it's observance. The day is
anniversary Of the birth of Jesus
Christ, the founder and leader of our
faith. 1t matters not that the scicn-
fists demonstrate that this is not the
exact day of the year upon which
the Son of Mary was born, the
fact remains that this has been
for century after century accept
ed as the day. and around it have
clustered the traditions and associa-
tons which make it the sacred day
that it has become. And as we rccog-
nize this fact we are impressed with
the truth, which many of us too seldom
stop to realize, that Jesus Christ is the
central and significant figure of all
human history.
In whatever words we seek to define
to which we subscribe our names, and
whatever the UNCONVENTIONAL designa-
ton we select, all of us who dwell in
Christian lands, agree that Christ was
the one perfect man who ever lived,
and the example whom we all should
seek to follow. Whatever we say of
his divinity; however we interpret the
lessons which he taught, we all agree
that in going about among men doing
good. he showed us where our duty lies
among our fellows. and that his death
on the cross, at the hands of his enc
mics. was the most inspiring example
of unsclfishness and self-sacrifce which
history affords. Men attack the Bible;
they scott at religion; they profess to
disbelieve immortality; but neither the
skeptic, the atheist, the socialist or the
anarchist sneers at the name of the
Nazarene, who, clad in the garb of a
carpenter. preached the Sermon on the
Mount.
Christ stands, as we have said, the
central figure of all history; just as he
is the central figure of the Holy
Scriptures. part of which tell the prom
Uses and expectation of his coming. and
part the story of his advent and his
works on earth. No greater evidence
of his position among men is needed
than the fact that we measure time it
self in the terms of 3. c.. and A. D.
before Christ, and in the year of our
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