Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1916-12-23
CHRISTMAS.

The T!mes-Repub!;can extends the
greetings Of the season to all homes
where it is & friend OF the family and
a welcome visitor. II bespeaks FOR
that Christmas might be merry every
where on the globe and all people
happy; tina; the only red on the holly
OF old England might be the crimson
OF its shining berries and its leaves
green without stain; that. kriSs
krins.e's bells might ring in the sii-
ences OF d!smantled cannon and the
yule logs burn where the flames of
ruined cities rise IN despite Of Him
with whom Christmas was born: that
INT iivtie children who cover n tea-
and hunger at Christmas time nigh. be
warm and fed and happy and merry
with the spirit of the Christmas tide,
that all children everywhere may have
a merry Christmas and all the elders
everywhere may be happy in the Joy of
the children.
Christmas can not be perfect with
out the children and their merrilnent.
Il is 2 child's day, born in a manger
with a little child Of whose birth
angels sang and above whose birth.
place in a stable a great star lit the
world. And so the angels sing when
n child is born and the star shines
now as then above the birthplace of a
baby p!edging renewed hope and hap
p!ness now as then because a child is
born. II We fail to hear the song ii is
oecause our ears are dullsd: if we can
not see the star it is that our eyes are
dimmed or closed TO the glory that
shines on every birth bed whether in
the straw of a stable or the silken
%hangings Of palaces. Tor life itself
lives on the newborn and love and hope
and strength to peal and endure live in
the world because a child is born.
There is nothing so fragile and SO
mighty as a little child and no day
holier than Christmas, the day a child
was born in Judea.
It is a beautiful holiday. 1t looks on
with the child and looks backward
with age. The memories that crowd
with Christmas are the tenderest and
sweetest that come to US. There are
long gone Christmases when we too,
We're little children in a home vanished
as completely as cur childhood. faces
long since shrnmdaa under TIE SHOWS
Of many Christmases, voices that have
been still SO long. so very long.
Chistmas ewes when We filed the row
Of little stockings by our own hearths
at midnight with such a tender joy | n
our hearts and Christmas mornings
when the babel OF childish happiness
was sweeter to our ears thar the music
Of the spheres; Christmases when our
big boys and girls came home from
afar blooming and happy to kiss the
tears of greeting from our withered
cheeks. Christmases thai were lonely
without the little child who died. Such
tender and fearful memories come with
Christmas, such mingled memories, sad
and merry but each as dear to us as
another, the memories Of age, the
cinema Of a lifetime that begins when
a little child is born and ends-no
never ends, for life is immortal.
Let rs ne merry il we may, let lis be
happy in the merriment Of the children
whatever sorrows we must lay aside
for the day and the time. II we have
sorrows and troubles and vain regrets
let US put them all aside that their
shadow may not fall across the joy OF
the c~hildren-for Christmas is the hoIi-
day Of children, the birthday of Him
who suffered little children to come
unto him and forbade them not be-
cause they are OF the kingdom OF
heaven.
A superior finish is now given to