Show ON p n ISLAND land of fond memories and home of saint good will HEN as wo we jour noyed eastward to tho th land of hearts desire wo we camo came to an island which la to 0 called a I 1 I 1 e d christmas where all good pilgrims go ashore but those who havo have ventured far from choir course 0 or have no liking to company with their follows fellous sail on to the north NA aich ie its a chilly sea or to the south where the blast Is not tempered for christmas christman island lies straight in the way of tho the honest mariner ond and tho stream which runs as a river through the soa boa hath warmth and fra fragrance granco whereof tho the shores of the island give pleasant evidence now tho galon galea that the island sweep seep westward upon the approaching pilgrims and eastward upon tho departing depart lne sails so that the stay within tha gracious port Is s but a part of the joy of that son and as the shores came out of the horizon a little child called christmas intel christmas isbel clear ts to the air of these parts to infant emesi and the older folk aboard wore nere joyful too for off the tile west aest coast of the island which those who ulio have charted these scab call the shore of memory a fragrant breeze began that minute to blo blow hough bough of these dames names I 1 cannot bo be suro sure for tho the child bad had a book of bis his own ovin wherein this shore was named anticipation and now glow the journey meant a it few more dawns and sunsets cro a landing could be mado made but with each league onward the mellow fragrance fra granco was more marka ad bo so there woe was great dispute among the older folk to say bay just what chat made up the pleasant assault upon our senses somo some saying it was aa composed mostly of this and others of that it Is lavender said an old lady lavender and spruce and burning I 1 candles candies I 1 remember the night the now dress was as taken from the chest and we danced beneath tho the candles and there was an mistletoe my dear that was an how bou I 1 met your grandfather yes tho the breeze from oft off the shore of the isle Is lavender and spruce and burning candles candies hoi 1101 to me ine cried a bluff and hearty man it la Is the good small ot of well warmed med horses on the snow with the moon making a double team of them and it Is the good dry smell 19 of popping corn and cooking apples oh h es and I 1 will bo be saying therea the brown turkey in it too and the smell of a lantern in the barn when wo we go out to get the horses after the dance ah ali said another and as I 1 looked 1 I saw ho he was as habited as a priest it Is s the incense the christmas christman incense which goes in ghostly columns to the darkened dark eCed root toot ot of the great church as the three wise men alen go in procession up tho the aisle attended by acolytes and hooded nuns to do homage to the babe at the altar easter I 1 know by tho the lilies which smother the incense but christmas Is incense and music it la is that which makes the breeze so delightful to ou my good people no said another no no ah now I 1 know what it Is it is back in the hill kirk that we ne are whore the fe acot it w armors keep us alive through the christmas ana its the balut scorching of honest leather and tho the faint singeing of homespun that the breeze Is bringing you its candy I 1 its varnish on sleds i ite its perfume on dolls its oranges oran gei and evergreens ever greens and the smell of th the wood fire in the fireplace and the smell of tho cold on mothers cried the child and I 1 know not to ahat hat lengths the talk might have gone but tho the sailors were calling chorel Sh orel and there wo wab treat great motion among the pilgrims now the island Is ruled by a saint rhose names are many but in all tongues and race races thoy they have one leaning meaning which la GOOD WILL and bis his name is in the law of the isle for he holfoth that it a 3 man hath bath good will he fulfill eth all law and it he have not good will no law can put it within him but if it ho he have it be he cannot but give proof of it so that there Is in great giving ef gifts in the land island called christmas for good will I 1 is itself a gift which korovel branches and blossoms blo and sots sets to fruit of 0 ite its kind and it ie Is tho the cue torn tom of tho the saint to moot meet tho the pilgrim ships and rive give those who mho call upon him the chol choicest gifts and when a man hath linth received any u one of them ho he IB in forever a citizen of the leland island called christmas with all tho the rights thereof now tho the gifts art are hung upon a tret which la its called the tree of life and they shine with nith a wonderful ond erful llant and give oft off a swee tricas which in good timo time will tho the inde indeed ed as adall all pilgrims know tho tile reason that shores far tar distant from the christmas lalo oro are habitable at all la Is that pilgrims havo have como come hack back hearing their gifts of ot sweetness and light and tho the first gift la in alip tb gift of the good thought whereby ono one may break the hold rf el r f a narrow voracity veracity which A chains him truthfully enough but al at too unwisely to the faults ol 01 lila his thero there aro are neither riches nor power comparable to the good thou thought il t which comes of tho the good sight whereby men have discovered hidden worth orth as tho miner minor haa has found the blackened bleak and tind forbidding hillside to bo be threshold of worlds of gleaming gold ho ile that receives thia this gift comes to himself to find himself in a friendly world it IB Is a gift greatly to bo be desired as a firo fire in winter a friend in misfortune and by its magic are miracles wrought on those who ho dwell for far from tho the king dom of tho the saint good will and the second gift Is liko like unto it a mild spirit of amnesty toward all pilgrims faulty compala takes them astray and those who ho receive it aro are straightway inducted into the order of tho forgivers it strikes from the pilgrim as in the twinkling of an eye the cold bonds of hatred vengeance and all the brood of malico malice which make their homo with ith a man but to destroy him hiru and the third gift Is the just judgment by which the world Is vastly lightened by reason of the number of condemnations being lessened for as Is tho the number of those wo we condemn in this orld so Is tho number of cal disappointments tapp ointments wo carry about with ith us and tile the number of the sunny windows in dos wo ue havo have darkened for ourselves there are lights of life which a just judgment forbears to extinguish and he who bears this gift walks in a mellow circle of serene tolerance and the fourth gift Is that of tho the cheerful spirit having haing which one has light at eventide yea brij at for thero there Is no darkness like unto the darkness of tho the spirit borot bereft of cheerful lamps and fires and there 1 Is no darkness of the spirit that the st good will cannot dispel and when the pilgrim lan received these gifts he lie finds among thorn n another which Is the gift of vision whereby hereby ho he sees the unseen indeed all the gifts 0 of st SL bood will pertain to sight and vision for as tho the physical cal eye Is the chlof of tho the blessings BO so is the gift of vision th the sa saver or of life which possessing no man perishes for as blind men walk malk the wa and see neither rivers nor trees nor men so ho he vho aho has not received these best beat of gifts lats walks in great blindness coarl a world which encompasses him with ith beneficence guld ance protection and inspiration and when hen the pilgrims sailed on lol they were ere new mortals and ao matter how great the distance they journeyed the pleasant plea sint gales of christmas isle were ere always in their nostrils and they went nent to many lands but wherever roer they set foot or built a booth or raised a tent the tile people knew they had been to the blessed isle and christmas trees sprang an seedlings from the tree of life and many kindnesses to friends and the poor u were ere borne abroad on the wings of ol sweetness and light which forever cams forth from the gifts of ot st good will detroit news |