The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, December 23, 1928, Page 8

\.'v._,p.rlal Rome; crucified at the } . the period of the " Bethelehem and Calvary will renew and strength- | | D(lil ¥ Alaska Empire JOHN W. TROY - - - EDITOR AND MANAGER Published every eve xcept EMPIRE PRINTING COMPANY Qunday by _tt nd and Mair Entered in the Post Off Second Class matte SUBSCRIPTION RATES. Delivered by carrier in Juneau, Douglas, Treadwell and ¥ “Thane for $1.25 per month By mail tage | the follow One ye $6.00: one month Subscribers wil notify t 3 in i 3 " Telephone s Office pers ind Bu MEMBER OF ASSOCIATED PRESS. ot Jusively ent GUARANTEED TO BE LARGER OTHER PUBLICATION ULATION THAN THAT OF ANY LET CHRISTMAS BE MERRY AND HAPPY. regarding the Son of Man day, if it this Whatever be t facts actual date of 1t birtt of the not material. December 25 stands for the what all commemorating is not actually the day, and it i celebration is about. We are the birthday of the It i appropriate that the occasion should be devoted largely to the children. They Christ's first concern Of such, He said, are the Kingdom of We would be neglectful Savior of mankind were Heaven duty if we did not birthday Christian strive to children happy on His appropriate that we to making others, though they know of our love acts one and of our make the And it is thought be older, should devote and care happy—to let them wisghes. By within that i Him who and esteem and good such Christmas spirit oneself, develops the thereby bedy's all mankind So, and that is what most thoughts on Christ into, The Empire possesses the happiness due on the birthday of loved mas finally resolve themselves wishes its readers, one and all, a very merry and genuinely happy Christmas CHRISTMAS CLEAR THROUGH THE YEAR. I am thinking of you today because it i Christmas, and 1 wish you happi ness, and tomorrow, because it will be the day after Christmas, I shall still wish you happiness; and so on through the year I may not be to tell you about it every day, because I may be far away; or because both of us may be very busy; or perhaps because 1 cannot afford to pay the postage on so many letters, or find time to write them. But that makes no difference The thought and the wish will be here just the same. In my work and in the business of life I mean to try not to be unfair to you or injure you in any way. In my pleasure, if we can bhe together, I would like to share the fun with you. Whatever joy or success comes to you will make me glad Without pretense and -in plain words, goodwill to you is what I mean, in the spirit of Christmas— (Henry Van Dyke.) The work that undertaken by Nazarene nearly two thousand mot have been completed until the thoughts and acts that characterize a celebration are also the thoughts acts “clear through the year And it require an unreasonable fiight of the imagina- tion to visualize such a condition. The very fact that a whole world is now observing the Christ- mas occasion, that it i weltering in the spirit of Him who came to bring good-will Him willing thusiastic token of an time coming Also the fact of the the | ago will good-will Christmas and was years customary does not fairly peace and and en- better and is doing honor, is a even universality of the ob servance of Christmas is evidence cf the rapid growth of the Christ spirit. The circumstance of the acceleration of the growth of Christmas good-will during the last 200 3 i development of our materialist civilization, is the answer to those who would have it believed that materialism and machinery and things. Already the spirit world’s thoughts and acts, foresight to see a continua it shall entire science are smothering spiritual coloring the whole and it little ion of the thing until become a dominating civilizaticn When that time comes | Christmas will not be confined to the brief period that marks the shortest days of the year needs factor of -our A MESSAGE OF CHRIS [The following editorial was published by the Cincinnati Enquirer fifteen years ago—Christ- mas Day, 1913. It has been pub! ed many tim gince then by many papers.] In the little village of Bethlehem, 3,000 feet] above the sea, nestled among ine nills of Jude far from the seats of the mighty ‘of the world, distant from the marts of commerce, among the most humble, yea, pitiable, surroundings, a child was born nearly 2,000 years ago through mankind should be Cradled in a mange David and Solomon; flight from Herod. the whom redeemed though of the line of | carried into Egypt in| murderous vassal of Im- demand of the mob of Jerusalem—this day, Rome, Jerusalem and every other capital of the world rings with His praises and rejoices at His birth and His triumph over Death. In great citles organs will forth this morning their resounding peals, pulsat-| ing through the broad aisles of magnificent cathe- drals, sounding their vibrating the loftiest turrets, thrilling the hearts of hosts| of devout worshipers. The Christmas sun_will rise upon congrega- tions in' every land, hailing with hymns of| praise this natal day of their Lord and Savior. | Upon every ocean and every sea the story of wondrous send pall harmonies in en religious faith and hope in the hearts of | mankind. He sought not the palaces in which| ‘carry cn His work for the saving of men. t was on the mountain sides, upon the | hes of the sea, in the humble homes of the| , in the abode of the afflicted, on the high- nd in the byways of Judea, that He told | was THE DAILY ALASKA EMPIRE, SUNDAY, DEC. 23, 1928 and“his Paek IAN o ~ ANME SHRIBER Phota ANTA CLAUS—of course there is a Santa H Claus; a big, fat, good-natured Santa Claus, who - brings the Christmas time and fills the world jay; a Santa Claus who makes the earth ring with with - Christmas chimes and carols, who fills homes with the laughter of children and the heatts of men with the kindliest thoughts of all the year. G There is a Christ- mas spirit that comes to earth and makes men big and generous. It drives out the spirit of selfishness and greed and prompts men to nobler deeds. It prompts friendly acts and inspires helpfulness. It causes men and women: to forget their sorrow; to cease their worrying and li in part, the burdens of their fellows. It is a spirit of good. ill. It wipes away tears and lightens igrief; it helps the - nt fallen to rise again; it puts courage struggling humanity; it brings the imy helps to bear heavy loads; it makes o the heart of / ulse to forgive; it k places lighter/ helps to fill the world with' happiness.;yThat is the spirit that makes us send spirit is Santa Claus, (@ 1928, Western Ne! of the love of the and unfolded the to his fellow His holy Creator for H duty of creatures man to God and men war was aim eliminate erring has no limit; ilis fering no end; His tion His earthly the angelic upen sin; His entire was to evil; His pity for the wpathy for the suf- love nankind no ce existence was ushered in with “Glory God in the peace, good will toward proclamation, highest, and cn_ earth men.” It closed that with that divine call for me loving denied mercy to upon the cro pathetic, yea appeal for. forgive ness to in His those who Him while agonies “Father not what It is this spirvit of in God, forgive them, fc they do.” constant lcve merciful know humanity, this forgivenc this faith in everlasting life the very essence of Chris Twenty centuries have to the living God, the and of and this cradled in the mar nfidence this which is ht mankind closer Abraham, of Isaac Jacob the Christ who Bethlehem in Judea A PAGAN HOLIDAY? Loung ago when people were more contentious about things now regarded as unimportant, except in their relation to history, there much contrcversy over the date of the birth of Christ. Those who contended that December 2 25 was not the birthday of the Bethlehem infant declared that the ( iang who observed it such were was gifts.to one another;, that " Wiuiam LYGASTON jpaper Unlon.) 4 celebrating an ancient pagan holiday and in sup- port of their contention they pointed to the fact that the Christmas obs: 1ce was with feasting and merry making such as marked the jubilation of the ancients over the fact that the sun was in northbound - on its annual life-giving journey. Well, ancie: suppose . that were all “(rue. ¢ To the the coming of the sun meant that the which had killed the flowers, bared the chifed the earth and stopped all growing would in due course be put to flight. E and summer ~weuld come again. Again there would be beautiful flowers, green fields, full There was coming another season Of things granaries. Is not the Christian idea of the coming of Christ symbolic of that very thing? Did He not come to bring life? Dces He not represent in piritual things what the sun meant materially? is not the spiritualization of a material world work for the Christian religion? What could be more appropriate’ than the convers tianity of this ancient festival occ: OUR GREATEST CHRISTMAS. Historically considered probably the most im- portant Christmas ever celebrated in the United States was 152 years ago. That was the second year of the Reoylutionary War, the first following the adoption of the Declaration of Indepéndence. Fellowing a more or less imposing start, 1776 had gone hard with Washington. He had been driven from Long Island and New York, forced to quit White Plains to which he had withdrawn iflnd lost 3,000 men captured by Lord Howe when' ington, that Washington had thought impregnable, had fallen. Ifi ‘November and De- cember he was in ‘virtual retreat before the Brit- jsh army' that was moving toward Philadelphia I=feats and desertions had reduced the fine army | of early summer to less than 3,000 men, Christ-| mas found Washington in Pennsylvania with the | Delaware between him and Howe, The latter | thought the American would keep it there. The | fecling among the British that the war was about | over was shared by many Americans, | Washington, understanding thoroughly over-confidence of Howe and his army and know- | ing that they were celebrating the Christmas oc-| casion, crossed the Delaware with 1,600 men late |} Christmas night, 1776. The next morning he| fell upon Gen. Rall and his Hessians—who had | taken large part in the Battle of Long and the fighting on Manhattan, and had in forcing Washington out of White Plains—ad-| ministering a decisive defeat. Besides inflicting| severe losses in killed and wounded, among dead being Gen. Rall, 950 prisoners were taken. | This blow, followed within a few days, the defeat, with marked losses, of a part Lord Howe's army at Princeton, served notice on the British that the Revolutionary V was still | a very live proposition. It so heartened the Am-| ericans that recruiting and financing were easier | the next year which was « by Bur- goyne's surrender and the winning of recogni- tion followed by aid from France is e to believe that Washington's Christ- lebration 162 years ago saved the new nm-ng n Republic from an early demise | the | acterized mas ¢ Amer A Christmas Sonnet for One in Doubt. By ELWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON. While you that in your sorrow disavow Service and hope, see love and brotherhood Far off as ever, it will do no good For you to wear His thorns upon your brow For doubt of Him. And should you question how To service Him best, He might say, if He could, ‘Whether or not the Cross was made of wood Whereon you nailed Me, is no matter now.” Though other saviors have in older lore A legend, and for older gods have died— Though death may wear the crown it wore, And ignorance be still the sword of pride— Something is here that was not here before, And strangely has not yet been crucified. always By HENRY W. LONGFELLOW. 1 heard the bells on Christmas Day Their old, familiar carols pla., And wild and sweet The words repeat Of peace on earth, goodwill to men! And thought how, as the day had come, The belfries of all Christendom Had rolled along The unbroken song Of peace on earth, goodwill to men! Till, ringing, singing on its way, The world revolved from night to day, A voice, a chime, A chant sublime Ot peace on earth, goodwill to men! Then from each black, accursed mouth The cannon thundered in the south, And with the sound The carols downed Of peace on earth, goodwill to men! It was as if an earthquake rent The hearthstones of a continent, And made forlorn The households born Of peace on earth, goodwill to men! And in despair I bowed my head; “There is no peace on earth,” I said, For hate is strong, And mocks the song Of peace on earth, goodwill to men! Then pealed the bells more loud and deep: “God is not dead, nor doth He sleep! The worng shall fail, The right prevail, With peace on earth, goodwill to men!” A Christmas Carol. By JOSIAH G. HOLLAND. There's a song in the air! y There's a star in the sky! There's a mother's deep prayer And a baby's low cry! And \lu; star rains its fire while the Beauitful sing, For the manger of Bethlehem cradles a king. There's a tumult of joy O’er the wonderful birth, For the virgin's sweet boy Is the Lord of the earth, Ah! the star rains its fire and the Beautiful sing, For the manger of Bethlehem cradles a king. In the light of that star Lie the ages impearled; And that song from afar Has swept over the world. Every home is aflame, and the Beautiful sing In the hémes of the nations that Jesus is King. We rejoice in the light And we echo the song That comes down through the night From the heavenly throng. Ah! we shout to the lovely evangel they bring, And we greet in his cradle our Saviour and King! O Little Town of Bethlehem By PHILLIPS BROOKS. O little town of Bethlehem, How still we see thee lie! Above thy deep and dreamless sleep The silent stars go by; Yet in thy dark streets shineth The everlasting light; * The hopes and fears of all the years Are met in thee tonight. . . . O holy child of Bethlehem! Descend to us we pray; Cast out our sin, and enter in, Be born in us today. We hear the Christmas angels The great glad tidings tell; Oh come with us, abide with us, Our Lord Emmanuel! The Season’s Greetings Sent in sincere and friendly appreciation of the only asset that money cannot YOUR GOOD WILL Larsen and Berg CONTRACTORS Hans Berg James Larsen Just to say how heartily we wish you all a HAPPY CHRISTMAS and a PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR Juneau Iron Works i A The Season’s Greetings To You and Best Wishes for a Merry Merry Christmas The Thomas Hardware RO