The Eureka sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1902-current, 1910-12-24
SATURDAY. DECEMBER "a. 1910.
The Sentiners Christmas Greeting

Joy and hat prosperity and happiness
will reign in every home; hat the
heart ties that bind in friendship and
love be strengthened and the noble
sentiment of peace on earth and good
will to man" will abide in every heart.
In the following article by O. @.
Goodwin in the Christmas number of
Goodwin's Weekly one will read of the
early annual festivals following the
harvest season, aud of the birth Of
Christ and the beginning of Christmas
Day; Of the changes that have come
about as time goes on in celebrating the
anniversary of His birth; of what it
means to all mankind; of how it
should be a season Of rejoicing and
happiness and not n of merely the
exchanging of gifts and feasting.
CHRISTMAS
OF old the heathens celebrated on a
certain day each year the harvest that
had come to them. Before the earth
had sunk into its annual sleep it had
brought forth enough of food to tide
man and beast over until once more, its
rest being over. it would put out its
Spring blooms. bring back the migratory
birds that they might again raise their
broods and fill the air with joyous
songs, which we're songs of praise for
the return of the warm sunshine. at the
same time songs of hope for the harvest
that was to be. The people on this day
poured out oblations and offered sacri-
fees to Zeus, to Hera, to Ceres. to
Hermes-she light of the sun-to the
Horae, to Pomone-to all the gods and
goddesses who annually, in one or
another capacity, had brought their
harvests. The festival was carried on
in games and races and feasting-it was
a time of unalloyed gladness for the
blessings that had come, for the bles-
sings hoped for.
But still the gladness was earthborn,
the hope was limited to this life. But
at last there came a day, the events OF
which were to dissolve the myths of
the ages; to broaden the visions of men
to beyond the stars; to give to man a
dignity only a little below that Of the
angels, and to expand the narrow hopes
that before had been so limited, to one
that held eternal life in its scope. The
story az told in the New Testament is a
simple one, but nc other statement in
scribed in the writings of men is so
fraught with grandeur, with majesty ;
or with a promise SO binding in its
splendor. The simple words, "Peace
on earth and to man good WILL" in
their fullness, meant that a time was
to come when wars were to cease; the
Fear notl' was. too. a promise that
there was to come a time when pain
was to be banished and the grave itself
was to loose its darkness, and its chill.
The soft light that shone around the
shepherds was a symbol of that time to
come when the universe should
all be lighted and in the souls of
men there should no longer be
any dark thought; and when man,
all his baser nature eliminated,
should stand forth celestial in stature
and in life immortal. No wonder That
the morning stars on that morning
sang together. all their golden axles
attuned to a sublime anthem; no
wonder the sons of God shouted for
joy.
So the harvest festivals with oblations
and sacrifices to unsubstantial gods
ceased, and in their place came our
Christmas festival. 1t is next to the
most sacred day of all the year; the
anniversary of the birth Of the Prince
of Peace; the coming of the Emmanuel;
the anniversary of the day when the
longing to the ages gave away to q
fixed belief; a belief the sweetest and
highest and most %ennobling that ever
came to bless poor mortality; for it
brought the wireless messages of mans
immortality and the certain promise
tnob ICY Oha thAo tAOAO . aAOeAOk AK
where. while the ages ebb and flow,
the soul may go on exploring, with
ever increasing knowledge, ever
increasing joy in contemplating
the Unreasonable power and wisdom
and mercy OF Him who framed the
universe and "from whose hand the
centuries fall like grains of sand" out
Of whose mind men sprang. and that
the intention all the time was that be
was to be blessed.
We have a right to hail the day. to
put lights in our windows to welcome
its coming; to fire the yule log even
as our ancestors did and with music.
with organ and harp and choir and joy
bells, to hail its coming; with feasts
to welcome it; with humble exultation
TO rejoice in it, for the blessings that
are ours, for the hopes that were