It is the waning of the year. As the twilight, often hastened by the
soft blur of falling snow, encroaches more and more upon the brief
day, we gather closely about our firesides, and there, heart to heart,
are wont to listen as at no other period of this prosaic nineteenth
century life, to tales of olden time. More than ever are we drawn
together at the season of our Saviour’s birth, when the yule log glows
amain and the sweet spirit of Christmas kindles within us a warmth and
gladness that responds to the cheerful blaze upon the hearth.
Christmas day! Does it not grow dearer to us every year? The summers
come and go; we rush to and fro on our little errands of business and
pleasure; great joys dawn in our lives, dark shadows of bitter
disappointment creep over them; we are glad, sorrowful, eager, weary,
well, ill; Life’s heart beats strongly, and Death is busy in its
midst; we strive for the Beautiful, the True, and the Good; we hide
our faces in helpless agony of shame and remorse; yet again comes the
dear Day of days, with its blessed associations, memories, hopes.
CHRISTMAS! Do you remember what that word meant to you when you were a
child? What a mysterious halo of light surrounded the day! How the
very sound of its name suggested the fragrance of the fir-tree and
wax-candles and marvelous toys, and the far-off tinkle of sleigh
bells, or beat of tiny reindeer hoofs upon the snowy roof! Has the
approach of Christmas but an indifferent charm in this grown-up
work-a-day world of ours? If so, let us strive and pray for those
delicate sensibilities of childhood that caught and reveled in the
fragrant atmosphere of the day; that could hear, knowing naught beyond
the bliss it brought, the voice of the Founder of Christmas blessing
little children as it blessed them in distant Palestine eighteen
centuries ago. Let us forgive our debtors this day as we would be
forgiven; let no child’s cry fall unheeded on our ears; let our hearts
be open to the tenderest, purest, most sacred thoughts, and to every
ennobling influence; let us be alert and watchful, on this bright
morning-day of the year; let the sun shine into and through us,
shedding its warmth and brightness upon all about us; let us be once
more as little children, and put out our hands trustingly, to be led.
_Hope--Joy--Bethlehem--Christmas--Christ!_ How softly the words chime
together, like Christmas bells! With their sweet music comforting and
gladdening our hearts, may we gather by the fireside to-night, to
listen to these simple tales
AROUND THE YULE LOG.