Christmas.

Otago Witness, Issue 1674, 22 December 1883, Page 11

Christmas.

Hail merry Christmas, though ancient in years, Tne freshness of >outh in thy greeting appears ; Thou coraess with pleasure, and miruh in thy

train To brighten and pladen the children again. We'll garland each altar and fireside now With holly, and ivy, and mistletoe-bough ; From the cellars of tirno. old n emories to stir ; And bind with the wreath of the evergreen fir, That springH with a joy, fair and fresh as the

fountain Of youth from the slopes and crests of tho moun-

tain That rejoices in summer its verdure to fling, And spreads o'er the winter the mantle of t-pring. Now, wa - sail bowl, welcome, thrice welcome, ap-

pear With spicy eggr-og, all hail to you here ! Your leeends we'll sins', and your memories boast, And quaff from your liquids, with toabt after toast, Let us drink to the pas , in its shadow we grope ; Let us dtink to the future all gilded with hope ; Le# u-i drink to the present with many a cheer, For its joya are upon üb, the living fire htre; And the warm streaming b'.ood gushes up from the poul. Ah, this is the real, a health from the bowl ! The past and the present to-day are entwined, For the image of each is produced in the mind ; The departed and absent, each has a chair To welcome old Cbrietmas, and partake of our fare, At this sacred union, who would betray The heart's dearest withes to welcome the day, To dispel every jealousy, hatred and pride, And o'or the dark pas-ions in triumph to ride '! Then merrily, merrily, join in the glee, Be swift in pursuit of pleasured that flee ; Let our hearts and our sould in unison flow, And rißing in reverence, saiute as they go All the phantoms of loved ones, and dreams of the past, And seize with wild raptures the joys while they last. But soft 1 to the voice fr«m the far and the near, Like music in drean.s, in rhythms appear, More soft than the down, more lucid than light. To mellow the day, and illumine the niuht. It comes on the wave? of the ether most rare — 'Tib not, in the winds, 'tia not in <he ai*~ Through matter, through Bpace, through the infinite whole The deaf hear that voice, for it speaks to the soul ; " Come little children, of such are the blest ; Come, ye weary, and laden, and ye shall find rest. Let the living be cared for ; the blind must be led, 1 he naked be clad, and the hungry be fed." The body and spirit this day both demand, For the Angel of Love is abroad in the land : As we hold in our memory tho day of His birth, He moves in our midst to gladden the earth. . — E. H. H, in the San Francisco Bulletin.

— A certain minister of the Kirk of Scotland now deceased, had prepared with great care a series of discourses on the parable of the ten virgins, and had made use of them rather oftener than some of his brethren thought he should. On the evening of a Communion Sabbath, when assisting a brother clergyman in the same Presbytery, he delivered one of his series, which his friend had heard more than once. When the services were over, and the two ministers were on their way to the manse, the one said to the other, " Man, John, I really think you should gie up thae virgins ; ye're fairly inakin' auld maids o' them !"