The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-12-25
M EN, w N EN A ND T HIN C s


 It seems strange to read that in our country the observance of Christmas Day
 was discouraged in colonial times, and that in England in le43 Parliament abol- ished the day, or rather thought it had
 But here in the first quarter of the
 twentieth century it's celebration is world
 wide and by all classes and creeds It
 Las outlasted the Puritans, as it set at defiance the silly laws enacted against it lin England nearly 400 years ago. The Christmas festival, dear to the
 heart of more than 50 generations. has survived the religious prejudices of the straight-laced, dehed the edicts of the lawmakers and laughed to naught even
 the commercial uses which it has been compelled to serve. Not even the weari- ness of buying and selling in the vast
 bazars of the nation can kill it.
 It has also survived the cynical spirit that distrusts. sentiment and sneers at emotion as weaknesses which a no place in scientific age and among men
 and women who know life. It seems to be the one thing able to arise above the lennui and satiety of emotion which eats the heart out of modern society where the nouveaux riehe, drowned in prosper ity, have not acquired that grace of cul- ture which subdues wealth to the finer
 uses of life.
 It is the one thing which for a time can
 make men preoccupied by business, swamped with professional enterprises or
 submerged in creation, or held to high endeavor in civic, social or religious af
 fairs pause for moment and hark back nearly 2,0o0 years, when a babe was born who was in time to redeem the world from it's selfshness and sin as Christmas is festival held every year in memory of the birth of the infant Jesus.
 Carols are still sung in almost number less churches or out in the parks or up
 and down the streets beneath the win- dows; lights still glow on altars in cathe- drals or pulpits in conventicles bound
 and wreathed with holly:
 "Ye who have scorned each other, Or injured friend or brother, In this fast fading year.
 Ye who, by word or deed,
 Have made a kind heart bleed, Come gather here"
 This is the message of the holly bough Last night holly spruce, cedar or pine trees were set up in many homes here in Birmingham, and fathers and mothers hearts beat close to the hearts of their little ones as they did the work of Santa Claus This morning ere the break of day. many a wide-awake child was alive with excitement to venture forth in nighties and sippered feet to dance
 around the Christmas tree in awed won
 der
 1 Oh, for the radiant joy which comes to the child who in innocence gets it's first
 glimpse of the gifts swinging aloft, or
 which is very ecstasy of trembling joy with eager hands pokes in and around among the bulging stocking, crying aloud 1 in flushed excitement at each toy or goody brought forth and with fear and trem- bling holds it aloft and shakes it heartily for fear that something desirable had in some manner stuck to the inside.
 When any man or woman pretends to as Christmas carols break the stiffness
 of the night air, do not believe them,
 for they are merely posing. Deep down in their hearts there is glow stirred by chldren's voices singing of angels
 and shepherds The plain truth is that would not miss it for anything, and
 men and women in spite of their outward
 cloak of indifference are not half so heartless as they pretend to be. There is nothing which dim the love which comes waiting out into the streets from a forest of Christmas trees from within, around which delighted boys and girls are crying aloud their joys. One Christmas tree in every home should be the slogan. There is little chance of bringing about peace through pariiaments
 and leagues but if the nations would only take time to gather around some huge Christmas tree once a year much could be done to soften animosties and bringing about a better feeling. There is little hope of bringing in the reign of good feeling by lighting single Christmas fire, but when the Christ child finds place in the homes of all the peo- pie all the hate and misunderstanding which now make countless millions
 mourn, will be burned up and purified.
 Let us then strive and pray for long | line of Christmas fires to be started here
 and there until the glow from them will envelop all mankind.
 It has been beautifully said that when we light our Christmas fire we are one
 with our ancestors of a thousand years ago; we evade the isolation of our time and escape it's provincial narrowness; we rejoin the race from whose growth we have unconscioUsly separated ourselves, we open long unused rooms and are amazed to find how large the house of | life is and how hospitable. It has heart room for all experience and for every kind of emotion for the thoughts that move i in the order of logic: for the emotions that rise and fall like great tides tnas flow from ,the infinite; for the vigor that is born of will, and for the power eN oked by discipline.