Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-12-17

HRISTMAS in our land this year
is striking contrast to that
Christmas time made famous
A by the starting Of little Pilgrim
colony at Plymouth. If these
people had been holiday loving, they
would surely have had merry |hl's'-
mas on that 18th Of December, l62o. ihen
they went ashore to build their hrst
house, a cabin which was to be the COIL
mon shelter of them all. For nearly
four months they had been on the ocean
in their good ship the MayhoWer. Dur
ing this time they had encountered heavy
storms which blew their craft UP the
coast far from where they had expected
to make settlement. Their provisions
were becoming exhausted. Many of their
number were weakened by enduring the
hardships of life at sea. landing TO
them meant a new home where they
might enjoy the privileges for which they
had been striving for many years
Reaching the goal, cold and comfortless
as it was in December, the landing male
them slad, for they were anxious TO leave
their ship. If the settlers mad been lol-
lowers of John Smith they would nave
undoubtedly made merry christmas.
They would have Toasted on the Dest IN
their larder They would have sung their
merriest songs, worn the oest tnat tne!r
wardrobes afforded and above all they
would have made the time a merry hoi-
iday.
The Pilgrims had long since regarded
such celebrations as wicked. Tney had
disdained using the holly and m1stletoe at
this season, for to them such actions
seemed pagan. The elaborate church
service of their own English people on
Christmas day had become such gor-
geous display that the supplemented re-
lisious Zealots would have thousnt II d
sin to take part in such celebratlons.
The little band of about one hundred
stanch and tried wanderers felt 1t viz
ture to deny themselves the most harm
less of worldly pleasures. They mad
searched in their Bibles TO find some au-
thority for jOlliticatlOn on Christmas day,
but they found nothing written there.
Thinking then that it was their duty to
help stamp out such customs they marked
the day as a black feast. No doubt the
little children who went ashore that Mon
day to watch their mothers do the wash
ing wished that they were back in the
land where they might at least sing their
Christmas carols.
The men were all very busy, for Elder
Brewster would not have allowed the day
to be an excuse for any frivolity. In
stead of playing the games which their
forefathers had taught them to play on
Christmas day. some of the men felled
timber, some sawed, some built, SO that
they were proud to write back to those
left behind in England that no man rest
ed all that day Although these people
were harsh taskmasters to themselves
they were u brave company.
II they did not indulge in any gayety
to celebrate their gladness upon start
ing their settlement neither did they COM
plain of their discomfort. Landing was
a hapI iness to them in establishing new
home free from persecution, but 1t was
also a sorrow, for it meant the severing
forever from their own loved land and
friends in far-away England.
The bare fields of Plymouth could not
have held out n very cordial invitation to
the exilas The cold winds could not have