The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1913-12-25
CHRISTMAS.

To-day is Christmas. Years and years
ago. before empires began to tumble,
babe was born in manger of Bethlehem
and tidings of great joy were carried
abroad in the land.
To-day the Christian world celebrates
that glad event. 1t is the most sacred OF
all the year.
Christmas is the starting point of the
worlds upward climb. From it all things
date. Hitherto men CROPPED in the dim
and uncertain light of mere reason. The
Star of Bethlehem irradiated the world
with the glory of faith and Illuminated
the path into eternity. 1t gave men direc-
ton, and marked the SOULS goal. Christ
mas is the greatest reality in myriad worlds
of facts. Prior to the coming of the Mes
siah, evil abounded everywhere in the
record of mans existence. The nations
which had risen to the highest mark of
civilization were groveling in the depths OF
depravity, and the teachings of their
statesmen and sages tended only to further
degrade them. Rome had lost almost
every trace of the sanctities of family life,
and Greece, with her Plato and Aristotle,
could not even measure or understand the
dignity of simple motherhood. The aged,
the suffering, the helpless OF every class
and condition cried in vain for aid in their
distress. There was no power on earth to
curb the selfish cruelty and brutal inhu-
manty Of men.
But Christ came and taught and suffered
and died, and to-day in every part of the
earth where honor is held in esteem and
virtue may win its just reward, where the
heart of man goes out in pity to the aged,
.the suffering, the helpless, it is to Christ
mas Day that such conditions owe their
birth.
Let US at this glad season do all in our
power to cheer the hearts of all with whom
we come in contact-not alone the young
land bouyant, nor those who are nearest to
rus by the ties of nature, but the sick, the
sorrowful, the helpless, the aged and those
: who need our sympathy.
Never before was there so much real
love FOR Humanity as there is to-day
Wealth gives Of its plenty and devotion Of
it's service to relieve the suffering and the
destitute. In the United States especially
is this habit of philanthropy almost uni
versal. These works of charity and pub
y lie benefit carry out both practically ane
ideally the Christmas principal of good vii
to men. They are in some degree measure
of the worlds advance in all that makes
for the betterment.of mankind. 1t is oul
privilege to-day to throw wide open the
doors of our hearts and bid 1.-THE angels O.
. our better nature come in. This is the
time of all times to give free play to all thu
gracious and genial impulses that help no
only to make sunshine in our own homes
but to spread it by a happy contagion O
cheerfulness to the homes of our neighbors
and friends, terminating the dropping
spirit As the Arabian breeze will some
times watt the freshness of the distan
fields to the weary pilgrim Of the desert.
s. Christmas is huge success. So here's
to happy Christmas present and to come
. Let US follow our impulses to-day, for they
ARE subject, in the glow of the feast, to ;
better guidance than our usual calculating
. prudence. This is the festival of love ant
good will. "God bless US, every one!"