The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1912-12-13

ants, the complete abandonment TO
mirth and good fellowship with
which this festival was celebrated
1t seemed to throw open every door
and unlock every heart. 1t brought
the peasant and the peer together.
and blended all ranks in one warm
generous flow of Joy and kindness.
| The old hall of castles and manor
houses resounded with the harp and
the Christmas carol, and their ample
boards groaned under the weight of
hospitality. Even the poorest cot
tage welcomed the festive season
with green decorations by bay and
holly, the cheerful fire glanced it's
rays through the lattice inviting the
passengers to raise the latch, and
| join the gossip knot huddled round
the hearth, beguiling the long even
| ing with legendary jokes, and Oft
| told Christmas tales.
One of the least pleasing effects
of modern refinement is the havoc it
has made among the hearty old
holiday customs. 1t has completely
taken off the sharp touchings and
spirited relefs of these embellish-
ments of life, and has worn down
society into a more smooth and pol
| ished, but certainly a less character
| istic surface. Many of the games
and ceremonials of Christmas have
entirely disappeared, and, like the
sherris sack of old Falstaff, are be-
come matters of speculation and
| dispute among commentators. They
| fiourished in times full of spirit and
| lustihood, when men enjoyed life
roughly, but heartily and vigorous
! ly; times wild and picturesque,
| vrb n oh 81 v,-f+h
| it's richest materials, and the
drama with its most attractive vari-
ETY. of characters and manners. The
world has become more worldly.
! There is more dissipation and
less of enjoyment. Pleasure has
expanded into a broader, but
! shallower stream, and has forsaken
| many of those deep and quiet chan
nels, where it flowed sweetly through
the calm bosom of domestic life.
Society has acquired a more en-
| lightened and elegant tone; but it
has lost many of its strong, local
peculiarities, it's homebred feelings,
it's honest fireside delights. The
tradtionary customs of golden
hearted antiquity, its feudal hospi-
talities, and lordly wassailings, have
passed away with the baronial cas-
ties and stately manor-houses in
which they were celebrated. They
comported with the shadowy hall,
the great oaken gallery, and the
tapestried parlor, but are untitled to
the light SNOWY saloons and gay
rawing-rooms of the modern villa.
Shorn, however, as, it is. of its
ancient and festTve .nIonorss errfst-'s
mas is still period of delightful
excitement in England. 1t is graft
flying to see that home feeling COM
pletely aroused which holds so pow
erful a place in every English bo-
som. The preparations making on
every side for the social board that
is again to unite friends and kind
red, the presents of good cheer pass
ing and repassing, those tokens of
regard and quickeners of kind feel
ings, the evergreens distributed
about houses and churches, emblems
of peace and gladness, all these have
the most pleasing effect in produc-
ing fond associations, and kindling
benevolent sympathies. Even the
sound of the waits, rude as may be
their minstrelsy, breaks upon the
midwatches of a winter night with
the effect of perfect harmony AS 1
have been awakened by them in that
still and solemn hour when deep
sleep falleth upon man." | have lis
tened with a hushed delight, and
connecting them with the sacred and
joyous occasion, have almost fancied
them into another celestial choir,
announcing peace and goodwill to
mankind. How delightfully."- the
Imagination, when wrought upon by
these moral influences, turns every
thing to melody and beauty! The
very growing of the cock, heard
sometimes in the profound repose of
the country, "twilling the night
watches of his feathery danes" was
thought by the common people to
announce the approach of this sacred
festival.
Amidst the general call to happi-
ness, the hustle of the spirits, and
stir of the affections, which prevail
at this period, what bosom can re-
main insensible? 1t is, indeed, the
season of regenerated feeling-the
season for kindling not merely the
fire of hospitality in the hall, but
the genial flame OF charity in the
heart. The scene of early love again
rises green to memory beyond the
SleTlle waste Ol years. anu NhS 4uCo
of home, lfraught with the fragrance
of home-dwelling joys, teammates
the dropping spirit, as the Arabian
breeze will sometimes watt the
freshness of the distant fields to the
weary pilgrim of the desert.
Stranger and sojourner as l am
in the land-though for me no So
cial hearth may blaze, no hospitable
roof throw open its doors, nor the
warm grasp of friendship welcome
me at the threshold-yet l feel the
influence of the season beaming into
my soul from the happy looks of
those around me. Surely happiness
is reflective, like the light of heav-