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Show By JOHN DICKINSON SHERMAN JTfHE spirit of Christmas A. Ipl j D- 1923 in the United I Siates of America is the ""1;' same as it was in 1922 and as it has been for many foWs) a year. Celebration of the 1 WfJvW anniversary of the birth of i,-oy Christ is universal and does not differ except in unimportant unim-portant details from Bangor to San Diego and from Seattle to Miami over more than three million square miles of territory and among more than one hundred and five million people. Yes ; even in Plymouth, Mass., and In Jamestown, Va., Is Christmas Day W1 i FOOD SnlP I h: ; Ar-'O'j! - '1 LI I t j j ?- , i i - Ani parliament December 24, 1652, for seven sev-en years but they practically ignored Christmas and made Thanksgiving their day of rejoicing. So Father Christmas, Santa Claus, Saint Nicholas and Kris Kringle came to the American people by way of Virginia and the jolly Dutch burghers burgh-ers of New York. And how great the .change three hundred years hath wrought ! America may still have the well-known and justly famous "Purl-tan "Purl-tan conscience," but state has nothing noth-ing to do with church and Christmas day is a holiday of national observance, observ-ance, with the same meaning to all the people. Who has not loved a little child, he knows not Christmas Day Most important, perhaps, of all phases of Christmas celebration is the fact that millions of people are thinking think-ing of the same thing at the same time. Religion, which, as the word shov should be a ligament binding men together, seems actually to have been one of the greatest dividing forces in the world. But the Christmas cradle cra-dle lias a humanizing appeal that pulls all men closer together. Each vear back I travel At least for one night And enjoy with the children, In fancy, this sight. If peace abides with us. Good will toward men, 'Tls because we are children With child's faith again. We catch a glimpse of the universal brotherhood of man at Christmas, when the fingers of children pull families, fam-ilies, citizens, communities, nations closer together with the same impulse to make the world happier with a "Merry Christmas !" Little hands, how they ' tug at the heartstrings I The miracle of Christmas the God in the Child, the Child in the God for the moment at least makes the whole world kin. A photograph reproduced herewith shows Bishop Shipman blessing a 1922 Christinas ship on Its departure for the stricken areas of the Near East. To many a child over there Santa Claus is spelled "Ar.ierica." And though the handful oT Russians who have grasped the powers of government govern-ment may wish America ill it is difli- cult to believe that tho Russian people peo-ple have for America other feeling than admiral Inn, respect and love. For we fed them when they were starving and their gratitude has put a new household word In the Russian language lan-guage Ahra, the native pronunciation of A. R. A., the Initials which symbolized symbol-ized the American Relief Administration. Administra-tion. Trolzlty may say that "punishment "punish-ment and revenge await the American bourgeoisie from (he European proletariat," prole-tariat," but the Russian proletariat go on crying "Ahra" just the same. This feeding of Russia was the biggest big-gest piecfi of pure philanthropy In all history. It Is Impossible to believe that it will not have its effect on the future. And now It Is said that this winter win-ter will again see 3,"K)O,000 starving children In Russia, Rus-sia, In spite of the official Soviet pronouncement pro-nouncement that the famine was at an end and of the export by the Soviet govern-ment govern-ment of millions of bushels of Rus-t qS 1 J have Its effect on . . ,,. . the future. U po6 rest ton rncrnj Gentlemen, Aml now )t i3 YfiS rt-rA- ' ' '11 .. i , . said that this wln- -..- xS5s ff jjgffe-rj--f ter will again see ' A --,. 3 " '. - i f. 1 r. T 3,000,000 starving '"I ,.M,,,..n,,ry(,1,.i,1t,,Md,, children In Rus- sla, in suite of the JL'V,- J; , ' ' ' iAr" ' official Soviet pro- 4 V & " w . V r , . . . . . nouncement that y ,r ' V feTrgggS, the famine was at , J J V I i C PTf ft i an end and of the A Vl V"1 Soviet govern- - .y ETT' ' 1 1 1 1 1 ' nrT"i jy i Trr ' ment of millions t i , . f i I . of bushels of Rus- i Dy To (iveui 1) from Sinpow'r When wf were ffor4, vj-X ' K v . trjy; O.. ti-dinso om.-fort inrJ joy, "comfvnand t pyyj BEW Mnr- -? Wf ; ; ? FOOD SHP K;.. ui ivo ceieorateu in tne same way- which fact in itself shows how in three hundred years a fringe of scattered colonies along the Atlantic has grown into a close-knit and homogeneous nation. na-tion. For time was when the Christmas Christ-mas that was celebrated in Virginia was anathema in Massachusetts and the Cavalier pitied and derided the sober-minded Pilgrim and the bigoted Puritan. The Virginia settlers bothered themselves them-selves not at all over religion. They brought the established church of England Eng-land and all its observances with them as a matter of course. Their great purpose was to extend the life and power of England in the New World and to cut into the power and possessions posses-sions of the Spaniard. So the F. F. V.'s celebrated Christmas at Jamestown James-town according to home traditions as faithfully as the conditions allowed. And as the great religious festival of that church was Christmas, the Virginians Vir-ginians made much of the day. Moreover, More-over, they were just the sort of folk to enjoy it many of them were gentlemen's gentle-men's and soldiers' sons, accustomed to pleasure and jollity rather than to religious meditation and the saving of souls. The rilgrims, on the other hand, had separated from the Church of England, had discarded all that savored sa-vored of ceremonial and had rejected the social and joyous side of Christmas for the serious and religious side. They came to the New World to worship in peace after their own fashion ; they cared little for place or wealth and .nothing for how the rest of the world worshiped. What social Joyousness of the holiday season that survived in them was gradually built up around Thanksgiving day. The Puritans differed from both the Cavaliers and the Pilgrims. They had not separated from the Church of England, Eng-land, as had the Pilgrims, but had brought the church with them to reform re-form it. Bike the Pilgrims, they had discarded all ceremonial observances and those of Christmas were especially especial-ly distasteful to them. The Puritans, unlike the Pilgrims, were determined to make Rll the New World . worship according to the Puritan idea. They developed a government that was in cfrect an autocratic theocracy in which church and state were one. They never went so far as to abolish Christmas Christ-mas day -as did Oliver Cromwell and his Roundheads in England by act of sian grain. And Maj. '"Sal. Henry T. Allen, who command American forces on the Rhine, decf'jes that a minimum of 2,000,000 children In Germany Ger-many must be fed for 141 dfvTS at a cost of nearly six million dollars. Truly the Santa Claus whose name is spelled "America" will be a busy Saint. An old-time feature of the Christmas celebration in England bids fair to make a belated appearance in this country the singing of Christmas carols, some of which go back to times before the memory of man. Of course the singing of carols has always had a place in church services in this country coun-try almost everyone knows several by heart'. But the new idea is that these Christmas carols shall be sung at community com-munity gatherings and even upon the streets set programs by trained singers. sing-ers. Denver seems to have taken the lead last year and to have made a great success of the singing of carols. Over 3,000 singers carried the message of good cheer in song to every part of the city. "God Rest You, Merry Gentlemen," the carol reproduced herewith, dates back at least to the Seventeenth cen tury. In quaint verses it recites the New Testament story of the birth of Jesus and has been sung the world over by English-speaking peoples. The seventh and last stanza is tills : Now to the Lord sing praises, All you within this place. And with true love and brotherhood Each other now embrace; This holy tide of Christmas All other -doth efface. O tidings, etc. Thomas Hardy, the famous English novelist, in his "Under the Greenwood Tree," has a chapter devoted to Christmas Christ-mas caroling as practiced by the humbler hum-bler peasants. He gives the following words as part of an ancient and time-worn time-worn carol transmitted orally from fa. ther to son through the generations : Remember Adam'3 fall O thou Man: Remember Adam's fall From heaven to hell. Remember Adam's fall How he hath condemn'd all In hell perpetual Thrre for to dwell. In Bethlehem He was born, O thou Man: In Bethlehem He was born For mankind's sake. In Bethlehem He was born Christmas day 1' the morn; Our Savior thought no scorn Our faults to take. |