Watertown leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1909-1911, 1909-12-24

hh'' ihiiil0 phere Of our earth
| is rosy, stained with the rich colors of
ors of the heart. Allwindowsa are bright
with holly and evergreen. Parents
have discovered that it is more blessed
to give than to receive. Joys run riot
IN the heart Of little children. Youth
overf1ows with animal spirits Sud-
! denly the aged have shed their years
| and become young again. Before the
| light had fully dawned, the carols had
begun to be heard in the churches.
And every passing hour will behold
larger multitudes thronging to these
! temples of the soul All feel that no
| flowers are sweet enough, no songs
bright enough, no gifts rich enough
for the Christmas Day. For once all
strife and enmity have disappeared
from the market place. To-day all
swords are sheathed. This morning
misers have become generous, pessim-
lists have become optimists, while gen.
erous natures glow and effulge like the
sun. Verify, Christmas lies like a bar
of sunshine across the face of our
! dark earth.
To-day, If some visitant from celes-
tfal realm were to draw near to our
earth for the first time, to go away
again when darkness falls, the angel
would carry with him the conviction
that there is one sunny planet among
the host of worlds where all child
! hood is rich and happy, knowing nc
care OF sorrow. And it is literally
true that this era of happiness for
children is distinctly traceable to the
| Christmas event and the Christmas
spirit. All children do we'll to cele-
brate the Manger Child, because it
| was Jesus who discovered childhood.
When rulers and titled men question
ed Him, Jesus placed child in the
midst of them and said: "Of such Is
the kingdom os heaven" Every lover
of childhood must rise up to speak for
that Christ who took a child in His
arms, whose love brooded over the
child as the stars looked down upon
the little town Of Bethlehem, and who
sent down through the ages this word.
Suffer little children to come unto
me-" Jesus said, Take heed that We
offend not one of my little children"
and Their angels do always behold
the face Of my Father" and hope
dawned for childhood. From that hour
Jesus disciples began to make life
happy for children.
Christ's estimate Of the value Of
childhood has conquered the world.
His thought of childhood is the very
heart and genius of Christian civiliza-
ton.
Because Christmas stands for the
child, as the father of the man and
for the cradle, as the one point where
futurity is vulnerable, it will yet usher
in the Golden Age. To produce an
ideal world we need only one thing
Christmas that last all the year.
When the sun rises it throws it's
beams OF sunshine forward half
hour in advance of the orb of fire.
When the sun sets the light fingers
long in the clouds. And the Golden
Age means that the approaching
Christmas will cast its generous beams
forward toward July, and that when
the Christmas Day has passed its
peace and goodwill will linger to lend
light to those months that end with
June To-day parents give gifts to
their children, the prosperous help the
poor, the happy stretch out friendly
hands toward the widow and the faith
erless-the Christmas spirit has trans
formed self1shness into service This
morning, without changing a single
law, economic or political, 10! the
Golden Age Is come. 1t seems that to
produce an ideal world, without sor-
row or strife or sin, it is only neces-
sary that the beams that stream from
this bright day should encircle our old
earth, not in robes of frosty selfish
ness, but with the sweet blossom of
the heart.
Little wonder that in the far-off for
est and valley and plain, in the frozen
North and in the sunny South, in the
innumerable homes of Christendom.
all people, young and old alike,
through gifts and song and good will,
celebrate this greatest day and the
greatest event that has ever befallen
our earth The civilization that adj
vances and rolls forward like a golden
flood represents a spirit that set forth
from Bethlehem. Universal happiness
and wisdom and peace will come to
our earth when the Christmas comes
to stay all the year.