The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1913-12-27
Continued from page ~
CHRISTMAS IN ENGLAND.

OF the ditties are grey with antioui+v
as tor example, "Flowery Meads of
May" or Beneath a Shady Bower "
Dut the young children hang on his
thln hands, delighted, and beg him to
sing Just another carol, please
But am forgetting the roast turkey
or goose and the plum pudding With
Ihomas Peacock, II like the Yule-log.
that enormous block of wood. or the
large Jumps of black coal, burnine
brilliantly on the old-fashioned hearth.
like the festoons of holly on the
walls and windows; the pledge he-
meath the mistletoe; but | like most
OF all the gigantic turkey or spit of
roast beef, the vast globe of plum
pudd1ng-the true image of the earth
nattened at the poles; the tanning of
old October; the inexhaustible howl
OF punch and the life and iov of
romplng children through the house
And so I say with Dickens again
Troll off the ditty you used to sing
and thank God it's no worse with Won
Look on the merry faces of vour chill
dren, as they sit round the fire or
the table. Reflect upon your present
blessings-of which every man has
many-not on your past misfortunes
OF which all men have some. Fill
your glass again with merry face
ana contented heart, or if YOU are
total abstainer quaff a glass of
Adams ale, the pure cold sparkling
water in honor of the day which is
the happiest of the whole year."
Spiritual Side of Christmas.
But there is another side to Christ
mas, the spiritual side, which the Eng
l1sh poets have treated more salts
factorily than prose writer's. Who
can forget the lines of Shakespeare:
Some say, that ever gainst that sea-
son comes
Wherein our Saviour's birth is cele-
brated,
the bird of dawning singeth all night
long;
And then they say no spirit can walk
abroad;
The nights are wholesome, then no
planets strike,
No fairy takes, nor witch hath power
to charm,
So hallowed and so gracious is the
tune''
The ode written by John Milton on
the nativity has few, if any, equals:
Peaceful was the night
Wherein the Prince of Light
His reign of peace upon the earth be-
gan.
The winds with wonder whist
Smoothly the waters kissed.
Whispering new joys to the wild ocean
ocean
That now hath quite forgot to rave
While birds of prey sit brooding on
the charmed waves
Poor Charles Kingsley, whose ghost
must haunt Newman's grave, and
whose daughter, Lucas Malet," a. con-
vert and distinguished novelist, now
keeps alive the best literary tradi-
tons of her family-poor Charles
Kingsley wrote in a charming man
ner of Xmas:
90 blessed day which givest the eter-
nal lie
To self and sense and all the brute
within;
o come to us amid this war of life:
To hall and howell come; to all who
toll
Come with thy blessings from the God
of Light,
Sweet Christmas day."
Walter Scott has a delightful way
of glancing at the spiritual favors,
with one eye on the plum pudding;
like some hapless country pastor who
while reading the Xmas gospel might
pardonably allow some thought of the
forthcoming collection to fit through
his mind:
England was merry England when
Her children at one altar prayed
And Christmas brought his sports
AGAIN.
There the sirloin reeked! hard by
Plum pudding stood and Xmas pies;
Then came the merry masquers in
And carols roared with blithsome din.
If unmelodious was the song
1t was hearty note and strong"
We may close the case for the
poets by quoting a few lines from the
very oldest Christmas carols in Eng
lish folklore.
"The Child was born upon Yole day,
AS propheths to us do say,
And Hys Moder sang-Lullay! Lullay!
Nowelli Nowell! NOVEL;!
Now is born the Kyng of Israel.
In this time it is befalle
He that deyid for us allie
Born He was in Assis stable
Of Mary, that sweet flour.
About the fyld they pyped full right,
Even about the middest night.
Adown from heaven there came a
Light
Tyrle! Tyrle!
Behooves us all in one accorde
To prayse full well our Heavenly
horde
NOVEL;! NOVEL;!
Now is born the Kyng of Israeli"
A good action never perishes, Meth