Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1905-12-15
The Christmas Festival
By William Rosser Cobbe.

BY William Rosser Cobbe.
Christmas should be the greatest
- festival day of the church and OF
the people. At first thought one might
say that, logically, Easter or Ascen-
sion day should have priority. Mans
whole being Graves immortality, and
the only satisfactory answer to Jobs
earnest query: IF man die, shall he
live again." is found in the words Of
the angel at the tomb Of Jesus at the
early Dawn of that first Easter morn:
HE is not here! He Ia risenl" Con-
1rmatory of this was His vislble ascen-
sion into heaven, as witnessed by Peter
and Others Of the apostles and by q
number of His disciples. go.
Christmas, Of itself has to do with
the birth of man-child, only. Yet
the herald song Of the angels at that
birth has come down through the ages,
repeated by the glad voices Of children
and Of age. It was the beginning Of q
1ife which during It's short course ex-
0mplifled the most virtu0us living and
that gave forth the most sublime teach
Ing ever seen or heard Of by mortal.
Perhaps the romance OF His birth has
something to do with the Interest
which attaches to the day. The youth
4ul ViHgtn-w1fe journeyings with her
carpenter hut6and through the hill
country from the village Of Nazareth
20 the proud and great city Of Jerusa-
1em;2 the crowded inns, which forced
them to drag their weary feet four
miles away to the little village of Beth
lehem, where they could find shelter
In the stable Of an inn, among surly
camels and lowing cattle; the birth
OF the child Jesus in a Manager; the
announcement to the shepherds; the
song of the heavenly choir; the won
derful star in the east and the visit
of the magi bearing gifts for the
young child. and the efforts of King
Herod to find and kill the child Jesus
all these strange incidents appeal
strongly to the young, who hear the
story told over and over again, until
It is engrafted into their very being
and never loses it's freshness and
brightness throughout life
Then, too, with the lapse of time
there came to be engrafted in the OBJ
servance of The day the bestowing OF
gifts upon the children of the house
hold, in imitation of the gifts brought
Oy the magi to the child Jesus. Sub
sequently the giving of gifts was ex-
tended to the adults of the household,
and Christmas grew into a day of
home bringing and home festivities as
well as Of devotional church service.
There is that peculiarly attractive to
motherhood in the child Jesus. Each
mother as she thinks of the Christ
child grows more tender in her SYM
patty for Mary and her love for the
Child. The mother of the middle ages,
as well as the mother of this genera
ton, never wearies of telling her off,
spring the pathetic story of the birth
In the manager at Bethlehem, and the
bearing Of that story upon human life
and human character. That story
never has lost it's charm and never
will lose it, so long as there are moth
ers in the world.
1t would seem to be the practice of ma.
lions to commemorate the anniversary
of the birth of hero rather than that
of some great deed or deeds of his.
Thus 1t Is in this country. as in the