The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-25
rms CHnrsrMAs MORNING.

So ran the refrain of an old carol. which the Christmas Waits sang un- der English windows as the Christmas sun rose for the days benediction and blessing to mankind. A quaint wish 1t was for peace. for true faith and for that sensitive charity, which teaches us to feel another's woes. So, Christ mas should come to us all, in serene faith, in gentle but firm joy with ten- derness. for those that love us rand whom we should love. and with gen. erous charity for those who are not passing through life so fortunately or so well as we. Rest and serene Joy for us. rest and serene joy for them, and may each of us pass along life's way. the one without pride. the other without envy. but knowing and un- derstanding each other in that great human and Divine love. which that Prince of Peace brought into the world. on this, His own day.
 The Puritans denounced Christmas as pagan festival, which degraded the true believer who observed it; the wilder Cavalier set 1t apart as day of carousing. of fighting and of wild sxcesses. It ts neither ths one nor the other. It is the greatest and finest holiday that mankind knows or has known. And humanity in it's enjoy nnent of the day. regards it now, neither as the pagan festival that was abhorrent to the Puritan, or as the occasion for the wild revels of the Cavalier. Between the two mankind In a happy medium observes it as the anniversary interwoven with the ten- derness. the charity and the happiness that came into the world with Gods love.
 Not all of us so regard or have re- sarded the day. Some still look upon it as q day of license---a day of ex- cesses. What a pitifui conception of this day that should mean so much to humanity. Is that of the poor crea- ture who believes that 1t is the time and occasion for him to get drunk, We may return thanks that much cs the revolting sentiment which set Christmas apart for debauches and exessses has passed away and that our ideals have become noblsr and finer For the man who believes that he should bestialize himself with drink and ignore the higher and nobler con captions of the great occasion we may feel pity closely akin to con tempt. May his number decrease as 1t has decreased with each Christmas.
 Nor is Christmas a time in which to grope in the ashes of the dead past for joys that are gone and hopes that are dead. "christnaas is not what 1t used to be-" many will say. Of a truth. Christmas is not what 1t used to be, nor is today what yesterday was, nor will tomorrow be what to- day is. It Is not the day that changes, it Is we. It is not Christmas that changes, 1t is we.
 It is not that Christmas may not be as happy as 1t was in other years, but ws have stunted our capacity for happiness. We have lost the thrilling tenderness of other years; we have selhahIy wrapped ourselves in our own affairs, we have lived each to himself and we have driven from our hearts the charity that throbs and in. spires. We have encountered happi- ness in indifference and unapprecia- tion. We have dwsrfed our aspira. tions, lost our illusions and cynicaily shut our hearts up in selhshness.
 There is as much happiness ir Christmas as there ever was if our hearts are open to receive 1t. It is there for us. as 1t has always been. fl we but open the gates to let 1t in Tell the child that Christmas is not ae nne and as happy as it was, and he will look at you increduIously and
 
 without understanding. He knows better. The day is as crowded with joy. with love, with tenderness, with charity as 1t ever was. and he knows 1t.
 It is a way station a place of men, tai and physical refreshment. a spot from which we can look back over a year that may or may not have been happy one and look forward to a future that should be fuller and hap. pier than the past. It is the one day in which serene joy should rule, in sympathetic love and understanding of our fellowman and from which the selfishness that hardens should be banished.
 Neither love nor joy nor charity is dead, nor Is their power impaired and so long as they endure. that long, will Christmas be filled with happiness and that long will 1t be the day that comes to bless mankind.
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