Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1905-12-17

ories cluster about the word! What depths it holds for old as well as ' young!
 For twenty centuries it has been q the pivot upon which annually turns < the lives of the young and about |, which knead the threads of memory y, for the old. Tongue and pen have !! devoted themselves repeatedly to a | repetition of the virtues of the oay' i but no one yet has ever been aole to give to the world a simpler, sweet
 CT story than that of the Nat Vlty. There is an indescribable pa'hos s about St. Lu5e's narrative that ap- meals at once to the heart, and one ls
 ,r,nrossad with the simple truth sto-
 rv of the birth of the Christ as ne ,s ;mnressed with no other portion ol +bo New Testament, unless it IS the
 story of Gethsemane and the cross. : cbristmas dates from that woheef- fu, night with it's appearance OH 'ne ] Judean plain of the heavenly nose' [ s,ng,ne "Glory to God in the highest, g and m earth peace, good will toWaro ,,ar,,-the night of the birth or 'he Savior of the world. Whether IL ieii or the day upon which we ceiepraee' is a question which has engageu ene ; rhr,stian world throughout the ceh- +,r,es It may have been January cr Januarv G-the date most prop oh,v the correct one, according to so
 many scholars-or. since the 'iii11'e ,,,o+e conception was in the spring anu
 commonly accepted to have oeeil
 .hont March 20, the nativity Wooio
 have been about the date gwen Il
 hv Julius I-December 23-fnd sl'hee
 +ha fifth century observed by Chfls-
 tians throughout the world.
 At this season of the year, Wheii .ae sun reaches the lowest po1ne ol AhA sky, on the 21st of December
 and start northward again, to cele'
 hrate the approaching spring, and ne" light and life to the earth, the an c;onts from the earliest times deVot- G eds themselves to religious fesuVais The Egyptians, Hindoos, Perslans' ehe
 Clreeks. Romans, Scandinavians, all
 hald celebrations in honor of the
 assn god or some other of their gods. sSKrnt until nearly a hundred years att KEasa'the birth of Christ was the day ob-
 sfyfyed and then for 300 years at diff f9rent times by Christians in differ
 nrt parts of the world And as the lillian date corresponded With the
 time of year so long observed With the pagan celebrations, it was but #S asatural that the Christian festival @8 8ould come to partake in many res MN kcts of a like character with them Rrtly because the Christian teachers
 Fund it impossible to wean their con sssSverts from the cherished supersti-
 43Cns and obseryances and partly be NSsS Ause they themselves, as matter o1 kpendiency, engrafted the rites oi he Christian religion on the old hea NSs len ceremonies, believing that there SF the cause of the cross would be endered more acceptable to the gen fality of the populace and thus be lore effectually promoted.
 N6&M The incongruity of the predomin pee of merrymaking in so holy a elebration as that of the birth oi ar Lord, is to be attributed to the Ioman Saturnalia-the festival in Dnor of Saturn, father of the gods
 mich began about December 19 anG
 nHnulng for more than week wa;
 le occasion for the greatest revelry
 nong all classes. Work of every kind
 as suspended and slaves sat dowr s* table and Were waited upon by ef masters that they might taste
 this festive season tie rights an6 ss|Es iNi!eses of freemen. Gift making as as the custom and candles were Sed as symbols Of light and cheer custom to which Is traced our
 or candles at the present day. s he Christian festival ingrafted ss @ was on the Roman Saturnalia, re eceNea in British changes. havilts uuea to It first the rites and super ''iohs or the Druids and after the ar NIL Wal or the saxons the different cere !|s5 sss|8sE foA9es s, or the ancient Germans and
 candinavians
 u Is to the ancient Druids we are
 Fl"ep'eo for the mistletoe. .. beau 'f'-'s associated with the Christina.
 Heason The mistletos was r..ar.l.1
 Py ''ese strange people with raligi