Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1905-12-28
me CHRIsTMAs rREE

school, Mr.. Eugene W. Iglehart, made
the following address:
THE CHRISTMAS TREE
'Christ is born in Bethlehem -
"We have seen His sta- in the East
and are come to worship Him - We
worship Him with an appropriate ser
vice and Joyous carols, and dare say
the little ones among you are think
ing that the Christmas tree forms no
small part of the celebration. 1t is of
this am going to speak.
The Christmas tree is older than
Christmas itself, and tC investigate
its origin we must go back to the
very earliest periods of the worlds
history, when the majority of it's in
habitants were idolaters. Some of
them bowed down to wood aud stone,
while others held sacred certain beasts
and cattle and feathered fowls. But,
amid all the pagan nations of antiq-
uity. there seems to have been q uni
versal tendency to worship the sun
as the giver Of life and light. They
watched it feed and nourish the young
plants in the springtime; they saw its
burning rays consume them in mid
summer; and, as the fall of the year
drew on apaoe, they noticed that the
days grew shorter and colder, until
eyerythiug was frozen up by the icy
blasts. And, with the shortening of
the DAYS, the sun seemed to be getting
farther and farther away, until they
began to tremble lest it withdrew its
light and heat altogether. But, as
time went on, they observed that
when it had reached the utmost south
ern point of its declination, the sun
began TO return horthward. This it
does on the twenty first of December,
but it is all of -four days later, or the
twenty fifth, before the increased
difference may be detected.
This is the real origin of our Christ
mas tree, though there was no suoa
thing rs Christmas in those days. For
"Christmas' is composed of two
words, "Christ' and MASS. " means,
primarily, q church service. and in
connection W ith the word "Christ, -
signifies the day when the service is
in honor of the great event of His
birth. But at this time Christ had
not come on earth, and so there could
have been no Christmas Thus, CEN
turies passed, and in after days, in the
time foretold by the prophets, Jesus
came as a little babe, born of a lowly
virgin, and from that hour there has
come ringing down through the ages
the gladstone tidings: "Unto us q
child is born unto us son is given 80
The apostles went forth the wonder
full news of salvation was proclaimed !;
the Gospel began to be spread; the
people that walked in darkness" saw
"a great light, /" and those survivor
shippers, W ith their conflicting creeds,
became gradually converted to the one
true Faith-one Lord, one Faith, one
Baptism.
You have sung in your carols today
Everywhere, Everywhere, Christ
mas Tonight, and everywhere, in
all quarters of the globe, the Christ
mas tree. with Is message of peace and
good will sheds its welcome light.
Just as Jesus Christ, tie Tree of Life,
(which lighteth every man that COM
eth into the world, brings JOY and
salvation to all mankind so the
Christmas tree brings pleasure and
happiness wherever it is set up. Its
message of charity, mercy, forbearance
and benevolence, is universal, and
typical of the Christmas spirit
Today, go where you will, among
the icebergs CT Greenland or amid the
blistering heat of the tropics, the
lonely abode Of the old and feeble, to
whom it brings back for a moment
happy childhood and hopeful youth :;
in the squalid cellar of the poorest
workman; in the palace of the king,
in the cottage of the peasant; in the
heart of the man, in the soul of the
ckild-in all of these the Christmas
spirit holds sway. Out upon the bleak
and desert moor, where nothing grows,
and all is rocks and sand and wilder
ness, and the spirit of Christmas is
there. Deep down in the bowels of
the earth, where miners, for the most
part, live and move and-haye their
being, and the spirit of Christmas il
there. Out upon the black aud heavy
sea, roaring and wild and tempest tos.
sed, where stout hearted mariners sail
before the mast, and the spirit of
Christmas is there. All heaven and
earth are now stirred TO their depths
by that glorious, angelic proclamation
"Unto you is born this day in the city
of David a Saviour, which is Christ
the Lord -
AS you go down the aisle, at the
| close of this service, and see the tree
which st. ABne's has provided, would
have you think, not so much of your
own pleasure and happiness, but rath.
er of those who are poor and unfortu.
nate. For at this season, more thar
at any other, want is keenly felt and
abundance rejoices. Many thousandi
are in want of common necessaries
hundreds of thousands are ia want Of
common comforts. Walk not through
life with your eyes turned down, bu
raise them to that blessed star which
| led the Wise Men to that poor abode
There are many poor homes around u
/ TO which its light would conduct you