The Clinton chronicle. (Clinton, S.C.) 1901-current, December 22, 1949, Image 9
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Clinton, S. C, Thursday, December 22, 1949
Number 51
THE CHRISTMAS AFTERGLOW
' By WILLIAM L. STIDGER
In Christian Herald
the next room he could hear her
rich contralto voice softly singing.
“Silent night, holy night . . . "Holy
infant, so tender and mild, Sleep
in heavenly peace . .
As the husband heard
wife’s rich voice singing
his young
above the
into his eyes, a lump into his throat,
and he knew for the first time what
the real spirit of Christmas meant.
clatter of the dishes, a mist came It meant carrying that spirit into
the everyday tasks of life through
all the year
"And the shepherds returned t
their sheep.”
JHE annual celebration of Christ
mas makes us all a little kinder,
taller and gentler. There is an “Ari
zona afterglow” to the Christmas
celebration which leaves a crimson,
golden glory in our skies and in the
skies of the whole world.
Whenever I come to the Christmas
season and begin to catch the beauty
of this immortal story, I am taken
back several years to a Greek class
taught by the New Testament schol
ar, Dr. Marcus D. Buell, at Boston
University School of Theology. He
had given us his interpretation of
the Scriptures account of those char
acters who had been mysteriously
summoned to the stable, and then
began to speculate on what happen
ed to them afterward. He said: “I
always like to translate that icxi
"And the shepherds returned” in
this way: “And the shepherds re
turned to their flocks.” Or, if you
wish: “The shepherds returned to
their sheep.’”
“That translation is true to the
Greek and it is even more true to,
the universal experience of life; air grandeur of a Niagara; and we
man, after any great spiritual ex- k now that, once having had such
perience, must go back into the ev-
But where the loves and labors
^are.
Now that the King has gone this
.way,
Great are the things of every day. j
And, if Edwin Markham had not:
confirmed the interpretation that Dr. 1
Buell gave us of the Christmas story, 1
then John Masefield in “The Ever
lasting Mercy” did so most effective
ly in these lines:
He who gives a child a treat
Makes joybells ring on heaven’s
street;
He who give a child a home
Builds palaces in Kingdom Come;
And she who gives a child its birth
Brings Savior Christ again to
earth.
If the poets had not taught me
this truth of the Christmas story,
life itself has taught it. Most of us
know what it means to have sum
mer vacation experiences which lift
our souls into new spiritual beauties.
We have visited the Yosemite, the
Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, the
Catskills, the thundering, awe-inspir-
eryday things of life. We have to
go back to the dishwashing, to the
sweeping of floors, the darning and
mending of little stockings, tne pat
ching of pants; back to the grocery
store, the bookkeeping; back to the
tall buildings in the cities; back to
what might be called the mundane
things of life; back to living aijd
making a living.
“■I want you young gentlemen to
note what the text says about what
happened to the participants of that
early Christmas dranja. Note that the
Wise Men, after having seen the im
mortal Christ Child with their own
eyes, each returned another way to
his country. And, if you use your
God-given imaginations, you will
know that each of those Wise Men—
for they were wise men—went back
to his country a bigger, taller, kind
er and better and wiser man than had not fused in my soul the inter
experiences, our souls have never
been the same.
We cannot always be on vacation.
We cannot always dwall on some
mountain peak. We cannot alwavs
live close enough to touch the stars. 1
We ultimately have to come back
from vacations and the Christmas
experiences. We must, like the shep
herds, get back to our flocks. But,
glory be to God, we can bring back
with us the memories and the spir
itual ecstasies of great experiences
into the mundane walks of life!
“And the shepherds returned to
their sheep.” But when they re
turned they had a great and rich
and lifelifting memory of kneeling
at the manger of a little child, of
angels singing, of a star shining in
the sky.
And, even if the poejs had not
taught me, and life’s experiences
when he came to that great rendez
vous.”
There was a hush on tha* crowd
of students as their favorite teach
er continued: “And note, young gen
tlemen, what it says about the mo
ther of Jesus, one of the most beau
tiful sayings in the New Testament, .
a poem in itself. It says: “And all-ical Seminary. I
they that heard it wondered at those > In that book there was a story
pretation my old theological teach- 1
er gave me of the Christmas story, (
then a book I read a few years ago j
gave me a simple story to press it;
deep into my heart. The book was
entitled ‘The Little Old Lady,” and
it was Written by Dr. Lynn Harold
Hough, then dean of Drew Theolog-!
things which were told 'hem by the
shephe. is. But Mary keot all these
things, and pondered them in her
heart.”
On and on the great teacher went
with his original interpretation of
the Christmas story, impressing
about a little boy in a humble home!
who, on Christmas night, had been I
permitted to stay up far beyond his •
usual bedtime to sit on his daddy's |
lap and. look up at the lighted j
Christmas tree, while the mother;
(as usuual) was in the kitchen wash
upon us the truth that the vital ing the dinner dishes. Finally worn |
thing about the spirit of Chrstmas
is how it eventuates in human life.
If the glow and glory of the Christ
mas experience makes a human be
ing taller, kinder, more loving, more
conscious of the needs of other hu
man beings, then it becomes real. It
is what carries over into life that
out by the day’s festivities and ex
citements, that little tyke fell
asleep on his father’s lap and
dreamed a dream.
He dreamed that a white angel
came drifting into the room, fl^w
up to the top of the Christmas tree,
gently lifted the topmost candle
from its socket, flew down to the j
causes it to have meaning and pow
er. ! little boy, put it in his hand and j
The poets have taught me that Dr. j sa icl to him: “Never let the candle 1
Buell’s interpretation of the Christ- j 0 f Christmas love go out. Keep it
mas story is the universal and the
practical interpretation. Edwin
Markham caught its full meaning
In his poem “The Shoes of Happi-
burning all the year!” Then the lit
tle fellow stirred sleepily on his
father’s lap.
The father called out to the young
ness,” the last stanza of which reads: mother in the kitchen: “I guess he’s
Now have the homely things becn, as j ee p. h as t> een too much'
made ;for him. I’ll take him upstairs.” 1
Sacred, and a glory on them laid. | Gently he carried his son up to
For he whose shelter was a stall, undressed him, slipped bis
The King, was born among them w hit e pajamas on, and laid him in
all- , - ibis little bed without waking him.
He came to handle saw and plane. Then he tucked him in, bent over
To use and hallow the profane. ianc | hissed his hot cheeks good-i
Now is the holy not afar
In temples lighted by a star.
Holland Opens
Holiday forty
night.
But, just as he lifted himself from
that good-night kiss, the little boy
stirred, reached his arms around I
his father’s neck, pulled him down
until the father’s cheeks were i
against his baby face and said sleep- 1
In Holland, th* Christmas season lily, “Daddy, please don’t let thej
begins early, on the fifth day of candle go out or the Christmas an ]
December. That is the eve of the
name-day of St. Nicholas, the good
Bishop of ancient Myra. It is told
of him that he wandered the streets
in*the dead of night, leaving food,
clothing and money at the homes of
his most needy parishioners.
gel go sway
Mystified, that young father
went downstairs and told the mo
ther what the boby had said, won- !
dering what it was all about. Butt
the mother, wiser in the ways of
Idren than most men are, said:
On the night of December 5, St. “Jimmy’s been dreaming, that’s all.
Nicholas, or “SinteHclaas,” as the
Dutch call him, returns, according
to legend. Dressed in full regalia,
with his jeweled miter on his head
and bearing a golden staff, he rides
on a white charger. With him is
alas and. alack, has a rod for-chil
dstn who qo not deserve a gm.
And to me, what he seems to have
dreamed makes good sense—we
must keep the. beautiful spirit of
Christmas alive in our hearts all
the years through, rather than just
on Christmas week or Christmas
Piet, his Moorish servant. Piet car-.day.’’ Then she went to her
ries a bag fUtejl with gifts but also, dish-washing with little
Songs sing
ing In her heart, and whan the fa
ther went back to his reading in
Chrlstmos makes glad the hearts of all
< .
|
end we are truly grateful for an occasion
♦hat makes each of us more considerate of
out fellawman. Too often we neglect to
tell our friends and loved ones the kind
thoughts-' we he
we fail to express our thanks for the many
blessings and favors that come our way.
Christmas, then, is doubly welcome. We
ore each mindful of the deeds and thoughts
t
of others and we find it appropriate to ex
press the finest wishes to those about us.
Would that each of us would sustain this
Ottitude through the days to cc.ne. As for
us, we pledge to strive for thet goal, today,
tomorrow, and
A DELIGHTFUL CHRISTMAS TO ALL CITIZENS
OF CLINTON AND THIS ENTIRE COMMUNITY
L. E. BISHOP. Mayor
W. B. OWENS, City Clerk and Treasurer
BOARD OF ALDERMEN:
MRS ARTHI R HOWARD. AansUnt
Hugh C. Ray, L. L. Copeland. Sr.. W. M. MaMHIaa. L. W. Cooper, Woodrow L. WUson. Jamet Crain*
AND ALL CITY EMPLOYEES