curs-EU

- r

{iii

“f B.’ r r E _ flint?‘

. I 11' 5% ll l. 1.. n n J a

f m“...

Jill,

r-ii ..

2.55s“ ~’_.

iiiiiii

The Xmas Miracle

(By Angola Morgan)

D0 you know the marvel 0f Christ

- nrais time,

Tile miracle meaning of song and chime,

Of hearty love and huge goodwill.

0i‘ feasts that glnddcn and gifts

that spill? ' Do you liiiow,wha't happens to homes and men ' When (ilrnisitnris lfove is abroad again?

Could you look beneath you would see the rush

Of a flood. as real as a river's

gush, A torrent uvondcrful, deep and rutidc, ' 'l‘lmt suwups the world in its magic tide.

l on, :1 ir-iift tiic gift, and i-t isn't

the feast;

. the miracles. these are least.

it's the good» that flows from the hearts of men

\\'lien Uliris-tunas love is aibroad again.

For \\‘]5>ll‘(3S are real. and lover is a force.

And thol tﬂtlie, iwhiclt ages agio had source -

in the hozrrt of a babe, has xrown and gained- Till nlil humanity, single-valued,

AnJiversi iiio cull of tlio mighty SUPQL‘.

Swings to tlio_ great rcsistless urge.

Oh, vain is the boast of the hard-

. eued- one

XVlio scouts whit tits UCILIJUPlGS iiuvo (P0118.

Be‘ ho OYCl‘ so mean, be hc ever so cold,

Though iris heart be flint and his claim be bold,

iLis vun-s ‘wail tingle, his pulses thrill

To tho sound of “Pence on earth. good Willi!"

Why, Uvclil the man who grips his IIUYSL‘,

With a stingy mouth and a cruel curse,

Must yield to tho flood and lie ibornc away

To idin "in the glory of Christmas Day‘.

lIave you guessed the secret of Christmas night

When tho whole ‘world loves with all its might. ‘

When tho whole world gives with ‘n lavish hand

Am] joy is iliwilkl! throughout the iznd‘!

13o yod kniow clie marvel thitt lltlppells ilicn

in the glow that. goes from the hearts (if men?

ltavc you looked beneath, you seen the firo

‘Phat deaps from tho soul of n L'i‘l‘:\l, llifhllfk“

,A uvarnrih as real 11-8 tilt’

‘that springs

From the hearth where the Smili- log laughs and‘ M1138

Oh, it isirt the holly, it isn't the snow,

it isn-‘r the tree or tho ‘flreliglit glow;

it's the fhnnie that "8095 1P0!" m“ hearts of men

-w1|<>n Clhristintis ilovie is ﬂlbrond

again.

‘Tia tiie luugiitcr of children. iluive-riiig li-lgh

1n a shower of Tildhllllﬂe‘ to the SKY

For Wis-hos uro real. "m1 1°" l5 ‘l force»

And the torch which c868’ had source

iln the star that lighted the wise men's way‘

Burns Wilill a magical tlro today.

have

heat

88°

So great the shiinln-E- so pure llw blaze,

It reaches beyond. steiiiltir ways.

Tlil—liwteu! A wind voice told it

through I the

mo- Our globe that swims in ethereal Glows a lump whose flame

love! To she other worlds that swim;

above.

And this the signal tltat makes them know

Wa have hsarthii and home and cheer bellow-

WhY. Bods and angels ivrilk by tho

Th“ stream; from the earth on Christmas night!

’ “to men of

It was to men of good will that peace was promised in the song of angels in He- brew times of old.

There is n0_ peace except to men of good will. ‘ ~

Eyes grown old, through looking for the fulness of that time, and ears attuned to catch the echoes of this long expected song upon the slopes 0f Eden closed and relaxed in this long filment of anticipation; “Now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation.”

When the Child came into the world, peace was sung; when He went out, peace was bequeathed.

The promise of peace still belongs more to prophecy than to history.

On a house near Durham there is a Latin inscription to the effect that it was built‘ in the year 1697 of the peace of the gospel, and in the first year of the peace of Ryswick, ‘ -

Only the lad in school with his history before him can" tell ivhat war was ended by the peace of Ryswick. The older people have completely forgotten it. Yet it secmd vital and permanent at the time. The army was to be disbanded; trade was t0 revive, and a happier age to issue. But all was in vain.

The treaty proved an idle basis for peace-as idle as the peace 0f Versailles.

In the march of the years, the eyes of anxious generations have grown old, dim, weak and full 0f tears with looking for a star that would dispel the mists and shine upon the heart with the steady light 0i’ peace. A They have seen great empires rise and flourish; towns grown to tremendous cities; ships scattered over every ocean; ports filled with the products of every land; fields richly cultivated; roads, ad- mirably executed.

But in turn they have beheld opulent cities stibjugated, the laaiaces of the kings laid waste; the temples of the gods, des- troyed and fertile fields producing only briers and Wormwood.

They ‘have looked upon men sowing in anguish and cares; numerous flocks and abundant harvests, giving place to solitude and sterility.

They can see today the pessimist con- fidently expecting that h-e or the sorry generations following him, may sit down by the banks of the Seine, the Thames or iih-e Zuyder sea-where now the eye can- not take in the multitude of sensations- amid silent ruins and weep a people de- parted, their greatness eclipsed.

but l undimmed

THE CHARLOTTETOWN GUARDIAN

ﬁr?“ will

_What a poor creature is man stripped of his pleasant illusions! ,

But why should he abandon his dream?

I-Ie has been trying t0 realize the ideal of peace without the condition attached to it. _But the condition is as definite as the promise. Indeed it is the delightful and at- tractive part of the promise-to men of goodwill. Without that all expectation is hopeless. . . . . . . . . ..

The futility of our hopes of fulfilment, without this condition should now be obvi- ous enough. Why _sil10uld we talk as if everything were going to the dogs, with- out trying t0 see what would follow if we became men of goodwill? l

If we became amiable, this in itself would furnish us with a lot of new sensa- tions. ' p "

“Better a dinner of herbs,” says an old writer, “ivhere love is, than a, stalled 0x and hatred thcrexvith.”

War, amine and pestilence have as-

saulted us in turn.

We have had a surfeii; of hatred and stalled oxen and empty larders.

Hatred has destroyed our cities thrown down our waills, sapped the temp- les, mutilated the pillars, swept away the inhabitants, uprooted the trees, ravished the pastures.

The song oftlieangels implies that the root of the evil is in man. It resides in himself. He bears it in his bosom. It is not in the distant heavens. It is near him upon the earth.

We have sung the chorus in cupidity, and the hattnting music returns to mock us.

_ But in spite of the pessimist, the dream is hastening to fulfilment.

To change a sword into a pruning hook is a matter for a skilled smith; but- to change hatred into amiability is smiply a matter for the individual.

If that is done there will be no lack of blacksmitlis, of ploughs and of pruning hooks. _

We are like Red Riding-Hood when she drew back the bed-curtains and saw the wolfish countenance :—-

“What i5 .V011r great mouth invade fol- grandmother?” “To eat you with my dear.”

But the wolf is not under thefbed cur- tains.

He is in the heart.

When we remove him, we will hear anew the music 0f that ancient song “Peace on earth to men of goodwill.”

“TWASI THE NIGHT BEFORE ITIHRISTMAS”: A Hundred Years (Tld

Lives there a child who doos not knnw the poem en- titled "A visit from St. Nlciiolus,“ which begins:—

"Twas the nigh-t before Christmas when all through the house Not n tire-attire was‘ stirring, not even a mouse; Tho stockings were hung by the chimney with care, 1n hopes that Saint Nicholas soon would be tiiore."

The ftunous lines wore written just a hundred years ago todny, Ilecembcr 23, 1822. Thcy werc intended simply for the diversion of an evening; the author, a college pro- fessor, had no thought of having it put into type. But vis- iting at his house there was u Miss Butler, on whom the

woﬂup‘ ww~r~ w’ ~ ~v~bwv--vvr<r"W-" ‘

i i

lines made a great impression. Sim either memorized the poem or wrote it down, and a your later, sent it 1o the 'l‘roy. N. Y.. Sentinel, in which it was printed on December 23. 1323. Inst B YPM‘ t0 a day after it was written. Copied all over the country it was yours before the author could be induced lo father it.

But although he was a deeply learned man, and com- piled a wonderful library, it is t-ltls simple merry poem which has preserved his memory through tho years and will keep it green for probably as many more years its children still cnntlvwe ‘o look for Santa Claus at Christmas. time. In fact the tradit anal figure or Sunni. and his out;

(Continued on Page Eleven)

‘ tuxiciniis is

-l.ord.

Reminiscences Ren arks

Christmas Festivities of Ye Olden Time-Interesting Events of Fifty Years Ago

And

BY w. L. COVTTON

A thousand happy Pﬂllllnlggplncgq throng the memories of the elder people of this provinJce on the up- proacti of Uhiwisinias Day. 'l‘liere ‘We Vi"? WW oi us who do no; cherish kindly and Ffgipsﬂnl l-eco}. lections oi this the "lﬁllullltast, and lllBl'l’iP.s‘t lPslli/Zll or the year '11“,- Orgles 01' W81 .‘,‘Zli‘.5‘—~CilllSlll;( headaches and rogrejs m, the be. ginning oi the New i_'ear—are now uncommon. A few foolish persons 5"“ indulge in itlieizif liut the itlitlll bony of the people liere, its else- uhere rile-world over, restrain their appetite lor the strong drink that- causes inioxiuitionf Every one |kl|\l\\n, not», that lin can have a "J0lly good time" without getting drunk. lciiiperztiice. geiomi in 111,, past seventy years has effected a wondcritii change in the habits oi men. llie stigma that now itttztches to the excess that. still (iccasiunaily occurs causes trliose who desire to be tliout-illl "Pllﬁﬂélilitblt!" to shun tire intoxicating glags. It i5 new widely unilersiood that “temper- aiice-iu everything is requisite tor llilliniiiess. Besides the sale of in- ‘iliegitl-excelat ior medical and religious or mechanic- purposcs-and tllPIBfOrB lawnly iding people will not buy them ex-

cept for-those purposes. The result_

of all is that the lliLpDlHUSS and iiierriincnt oi Christians tide is not 110W 140 gcntvraiiyv accompanied by scenes of drunkenness as in the (ilden time. But the charities of the season are mui-h more in evidence. l‘l\’0I‘_\' knoyvn case of want here, and elsewhere within British terri- tory will be relieved at the Uliristtnas season in this year of our Wiiile it is true that. tho reign of peace is not yet fully as- sured, while it is true that. ilio "Fnspcakztble Turk" still threatens the Christian civilization of the Near llast, it is also true that dis- cussion in the Press, in Parliament and in Convention is constraining the Nations to be more careful than ever before as to measures that may lead to war. It is now, more than tvcr evident that

“God is not (lend; nor doth Ile sleep

“The Wrong shall fail

“The ltight prevail

“Willi peace. on liarlii, good-will to men."

An interesting event of “Yo Old» on tinny," (‘lll‘0lll('l('(l on the 23rd iteeiaiiiber, i867, was the ltresenlit- lion of an addrmss to the late Lieu- tenant Colonel Rankin by tho Prince of Wales Volunteers. The iuldrcss was signed by l-. . Long- wortli, Captain; Joliu Newson, Lieutenant; 'l‘ltomaa Irzturiiw, lin- eiign; Arthur llobbsi, Color Ser- geant; and Wiliiaiu Robertson, Wil- linin (l. \Vhito and John Passmoro. Sergeants. it expresses the "deep sorrow and riagrc-t" of the battalion on being obliged to bid adieu to their "honoured and wort-hy coin- mander" and their nidmirzition for liini "its a volunteer of the very first ciziss, a pattern to ull true. lov- ers of the movement, and a soldier in every respect, worthy of the name." The Colonel, in tjhe course of his reply, was equally compli- mcntary. lie said: "my intercourse with the Prince of Wuloe lﬁompany was 1o me one of uualloycd grati- ﬁcation and satisfaction. Alt all limes and on nil occasions, i‘ iound you a united band oi citizen sol- diers whom it. was a pleasure ito command. The efficiency, which you are good enough to attribute to my zeal and exertions, is in real- ity to be traced to the self-respect. orderly conduct and military KLNIOI‘ or Hm mevvthers of the Company it- self." The Colonel added some ml- wlcc as applicable in these days M when given titty-ﬁve yearn MW- H8 counselled the men to cultivate the spirit nf stall-reliance and soldieriy friendship‘, be always regular in your attendance at drill; prompt in

(Continued on fagdTcn)

1i PAGE ‘

."'I_‘"'1.',.'i'1‘>,

I .

7- -_=_ .-

nun

‘v

ucLE 1.11m”; I.

unlvqbﬁllfﬁ

~.:|_.-. in, =1 l‘-

."""‘_"3~ Jfﬁ .