(Ii-istmas hells! What a iubil-l ant note rings out as they clash- and clang in the clear. frosty airll Nothing so truly symbolises thcl hilarious Joy of the Saviour's hirtlip as peal after peal of tumultuous; bells- When Old Scrooge stuck his head out of his upstairs window. immediately following his amazing series of dreams that God used to. change hint from a misqrly. cranky old man into a human being. it was the bells that enhanced his new-found joy. They were fairly rollicking out from Old London's steeples-St. Clements. St. Brides. St. Dunstans. St. Giles. All-iial- lows and the rest-and the sound fairly thrilled the rejuvenated Scmoge. whilst the picture pre sented M the sparkling snow and the hapm&ple hurrying to di- vine aervices made him bubble over with good will and genuine happiness.
Bells are a wonderful inveniionp whichever way you look at it.' Their origin is shrouded in mys- tery. but that they go a long way back is evidenced by mention of them in ancient literature. Bells (little tinltling Oflest were said to have been attached to the gar- ments of the lltgli Pricst in Bible
SWEET CHIMING BELLS
frointhedoorwaysofour
flag of aleigh-bells- still heard in many Plrta of Canada (sot quite oblitenated by the hideous chug-chug of motor vehicles- com- ing to us faintly across the glitter- ing snow. The rhythmic beat of the sounds speak to us of joyfully speed ing horses for. the faster the anim- als trot. the quicker the stroke of the bells. only slowing to g go, and a final tangle when the crest- ures stop in front of the farm house clouds of steam issuing from their wide I105tl'llS- Then their jolly pas. sengers tumble off into the snow. rosy faces and sparkling eye; gen. ing of glowing health and radiant happiness-not only at the thrill of the gliding ride but at the pros- pects of roast turkey and good fellowship within. Reminder of the First Christmas Ring out. wild bells". may your voices never be silent: remind us again and again of that first Christmas. xhen the joybells were set a-ringing at the tremendously exciting news that the world's long
tonnections. As '....k-chimes they serve well to mark the passing hours. quarters and halves; as a similar service. they are found useful on board drip, while the thundering fire-engine clears a way for itself by the clatterlng bell. But few folks liked them on the locomotive. Overseas immi- grants were pulled - and a little amazed as their ve-sel approached Canada's shores or wended its way up the St. Lawrence to hear what they thought were church bells. ohiy to find the sound emanating from a railway engine. This prac- tice has ceased.
Bells started out modestly small but grew larger and larger. it seemed to be the ambition of the
'bomes. Think of the ecstatic thk--
Who Were The Wise Men?
Certain wise men of the East. Balthazar. and that they brought following a star and bearing gifts gold. frankincense and niyrrli" . , . Prof. Plumptrc. and all the schol-
St. Matthew records their ap- ars who have followed. were scep- pearance at Bethlehem simply. tlcal. factually. without embroidery. But An exhaustive search through he tells us nothing else about the annals of Western Christian- them - except that they were ity didn't help very much The jhgi. ' number three may have cunie by
And there one of the great my- extension from the doctrine iii the lteries of history begins. Trinity. The names first appear
There are no other contempor-iin the works of the Vcncrable ary records of their appearance. . Bede - many ccnturiss lalcr. in St Luke. despite the mass of d(-- llicdcls day. however. at lcast four tail in his report of Christ's birth, 'pllicr sets of iiames wt-rc currcnt. does not mention them. As for the gold. trankiiicensc and
St. Matthew does not even tell myrrh of the Christmas i-ariil. Prol-
us how many of them there were Pliimptre thought they wore sym- or what it was they brought with . balic: they symbolized Clll'lSt'5
tern tradition is incomplete be- cause ncithcr .illllllS nor l-2ustor- gins seems to have made any carcful note of the evidence. Eas- tcrn Urthodox tradition is mainly verbal.
Thc scholars. therefore. refuse to commit themselves. Prof. Plum- plrc. for instance. was clearly skcp ticzil.
(in the other hand Eustorgiu-;. who undcrtonk many complicated iiiissroiis. was noted for his sagac- iiy. lie is unlikely to have been lakcn in. and he arrived in Cun- slantinoplc not so very long after ihc bodies had been found.
Rclic-sellcitx would have receiv- ed short shrift from him.
St. Matthvw must be assumed
i
am” " '3 '3' batik 35 MW” ilayi founders to make larger and stilll -and the Propilvl Zechariah larger beusg lmmuh me), newt dpul” 0' 50'595 ”9'"3 adwned i that it would take a massive tower "M3 ""3m- to support the dead weight of-a EARLY USES huge chiiner, and a derrick to get
But the large-sized church belliig into placg. The ingest ban to
night was o'er-that God had-"in the fulness of time”-at last sent "peace and goodwill” and 3 1-mp. piness men had never dreamed possible. '
I heard the bells on Christmas Day Their old familiar carols play, And mild and sweet the words re-
does not appear on the scene-at be cast was termed, "The great least not that it? Can GISCUVEF-ibell of Moscow”-weight.200 tons: until the sixth century. Their uselheight. twenty-six feet. it crackedi was not merely to summon w0r- at the first gugmpg (1735; and. shlppe 3 to rliurch: carly Chris- was merely geg up on 3 pedesmll tians believed that their pealskto be viewed with awe. However drove the den! avia.v from they another try was made and succeed- souls of dying hclieicrs. Perhaps ed. ringing out its deep-toned dia- there was a nmclu-um of science in'; pason from the great cathedral for; the belief that thcir brazen caco-lmgny years. ' phony would tilxptll a llll'eaicnlng.wElGH'1'Y 31-;u,s 1 storm. for rain-inakcrs have prov-I The second largest bgu is at ed that a Vlolcltl noisc. the blast Rangoon. Burma. and is reckoned 0' B Cannon "F Mtmclilinli Similar the world's most perfect large hell. can and does not ziiicct the weather Big den, London's bgst-known bell. As recently as lilsll the Bishop of is tliirtcen and a half tons in Malta ordered the bells to ring out V weight and his voice is known the at the approach of a fierce gale. world over, thanks to radio's ma- which they did it" 8" h0l"'- W118-i gic scope. for it tells the world ther it accomplished anything is? what time it i; in London, not recorded. A bcll that is decidedly unpop-
lt must have been ii tliurious day ular to young folk is the school for England aflcr the war iihcn- bell, Don't we remember hurry- the long-abscnt clamor of bcllsiing in school. praying that we began again. They uere ordered tol might get there in time to avoid be silent during the recent war. as tli; mustcr's sharp eye and tongue. their distinctive sounds would dis- r suddenly hearing the blatant clg. close towns and villages in air-. mor of the bell. and realizing, with craft; also. it had been agreedisinkiiig heart. that we couldn't that. in the event of a sudden in- "make it:"
gazggizir
hanging. stockings. might think that a combination to knock inerriment into a cocked hat. but they should have seen our excitement at hanging a stocking from the back of each chair. and the delighted squeals whenlwe discovered in the morn- lng that Santa ha filled the hosiery with appropriate gifts. if they and the tinsel and holly conspic- uously lacking, only the grown-ups knew it.
There was always a box of dom- lnoes in somebody”: stocking. since my father liked to play. We usu- ally spent Christmas mornlng in a family game. and l have Just this moment suspected it wasn't the 'chiidren who started it! I've an- other friend whose father insists on making popcorn balls Christmas morning. and her mother must al-
tit Eirisriigri
eeivedacashchristinaspreagm, baoausaaliswillliavaalotolfig '-N-llllIIll'!I.Ileootintars.
ways fry sausage. So, Merry Chi-l
peat, 0' Peace on earth. good will to men.
mas. each in your own way!
To alliour customers a very Merry Christmas
Ilildllll PLUMBING & HEATING LTD.
vasion by sea. the church bells would ring out in unison as a sign for England to awake and resist the foe. Luckily, that cvciituality
tion of strife. the ban was lifted and the bells chimed out again. Bells seem to hclong to a church,
did not arise and. on lh-3 ccssa-j
I
but they have been used in other But. coming back to Christmas,
them. Clearly. they had come to do homage to Christ. But where had they come from? East must mean. at least. east of Jordan: though. at that time. "east" was taken to include even Arabia. The fact that they were Magi is not much help. however. be- cause the term by then was am- biguous. Throughout the Roman empire it had come to designate 1 band of fraudulent fortunc-tel- ling astrologers. Farther east, how- ever. it meant certain wise dis- ciples of Zorosster in Persian pro- phet and founder of one of the East's major religlonst who. though they were indeed astrolo-
igers. were highly thought of as
scholars and as disciples of a nob- la religim.
Scholars take it that St. Mat- thew referred to the latter mean- ing beease he obviously spoke of thorn with respect and did not in-
.tand his readers to take them to -he frauds or even simple fortune-
tellers. He implies. though he does not say. that they were men of substance and integrity.
They also take it. therefore. that "east" ineant somewhere in the direction of Persia.
These. however. they feel oblig- ed to drop their speculations on It. Matthew's text.
And there the sceptics step in. Surely. they say. it is strange that St. Matthew was alone in record- ing the appearance of the wise men. Surely it is natural that, long after the event. stories of strange and almost miraculous occurencea should have grown up around the birth of Christ and it would not have been unusual for someone in St. Matthew's position to have mistaken a harmless myth for fact.
The scholars; however, do not agree with the sceptics. The Rev. Edward Hayes Plumptre. Pro- feasor of Divinity at King's College Iandon. in the last half of the ineteenth century. went into the subject thoroughly and became the acknowledged expert on the mysterious wise men.
He concluded that St. Matthew couldn't have been taken in by a myth because the myths of the period were all clearly dlstlnquisli- able as such They were highly em-
Dividend. fanciful tales roll of silt- tioss sail logical shstdities.
iroyalty. the bitterness he was to experience. and. finally. his death.
to have written what he look to ho lhc trulli Religious men from
Christmas Eve Memory Check
A similar search through the H E .1 I h d. . b d I traditions of the Eastern Orthodox Mini at... rr?'n m;oS:"Suc'e..e'ain?; Church 3” 50"": ,”"19"'39 f"l"' priests of 'l.ui'oaster and. if so. they the Rmna" (5”'”'”' ( hurch d'd' would haic taken thcir mission ser- however. throw more light on the Q iuusm
DID YOU REMEMBER...
i ...lo take home a few e xi rzi toys? If you are expecting two or three neighborhood small fry in
,some of the Christmas glow that
were three of twelve who had been warned in a writing that bore the name of Seth to expect the birth of a great spiritual king. The twelve had been set to stand watch near a great stone in the desert and to watch day and night until a star appeared which would guide them. (The tradition docs not say. but since the priests would have been astrologers it is reasonable to suppose that the star would have "appeared" in an astrological sense.)
Ultimately the star did appear. The chosen three were given an army of 7000 men. With them they set out on a two year march in the wake of the star. On the banks of the Euphrates. they left bchind 6,000 men and proceeded with the other 1.000 to Jerusalem
There the three ucnt on alone. seeking advice from Herod and
ultimately arriving at Bethlehem
Having paid their homage. they 1.-nt back to await for word. And it is believed they sci- tled where they had lcft the bulk of their army on the banks of the Euphrates.
When the disciples of Christ were seni out into the world to preach the new gospel. St. Thomas head- ed East
in Chaldea. is part of modern lrsq and traditionally the birth- place of Abrahamt. he encountered the Magi whom be baptized Al- legedly. they were the first gcntiles to become Christians and. after the baptism. they went forth to preach the gospel.
This story was passed on by word of mouth and no factual evi- dence substantiating it appears un- til the fourth century when church leaders in Constantinople became interested in the matter.
They caused a Iearch in be made and bodies of the three were found and brought to Constantinople The churchmen of the time seem to have been satisfied that the idea- tification was sound because the bodies were reburled In a Can- stantinople church.
is the same century. Euatorgltts.
bk repute. visited Constantinople and. wlea he was appointed Bishop of Illaa. received per fusion to have the bodies taken there The matter seems to have come to the attention of Pope Julius. wh made his own enquiries. and apparently satisfied. In any
further l
. he inaugurated the feast of,
- lucky little girl later said "yes" to? s TlmotlIy.nntastoflfatittbut
Question i They might well have waited 30 - . Eastern tradition is much Ylltllfl - years m t-Mid”, for runhm. word. 2,222, y(A"ndCa!';w:g 2"?” VSII): ex'i?llili:,muise men were three aiiilii f)';”dPC:';mdR not when” Upeam they were oriental. They were i ' , g y high priests of Zorcaster and they Dl1I?h0Y0UlnlEMLM3lLR--:h .
se as minu e L ristmaii
cards? If nnt. you can send icic- grams to reach them by l)CC9l'lib1'f 25. You can even have a messen- ' gcr call at your house while the lTll8l'(' is no indication in the story guests you invited in for snacksi lof how long the twelve priests hnd are there. and probably everybody iwatchctl by the rock in the dc!-lwill remember someone far away .scrt. but the implication is that ii i who should have a Christmas grcttl twas a very long time. -thirty years would not have secmw
i &
Another mg,
DID YOU REMEMBER . To hang some kind of Christ-
. mas dccoratlpn outside the house
so passing strangers may enjoy
'ed too much.
As for St Thomas. he certainly did meet with success. There is no evidence to suggest that he had
icomc around. as a good tie: a
JINGLING SLEIGH BELLS Perhaps the most charming bell is the sleigh-bcll variety- strings of them being draped over the burst-5' backs and suspended from tho sl'ia'is of the cutter or bob. Srnic horses even bnastcd a fine- hrass boll. dangling from an arch-
is in your home and reflect it around your town? Remember everyone has a part in this Christ- mas chccr. not just your small circlc. and the more cheer you scatter. the more you will gather.
GOD BLESS CHRISTMA3
"There are many things from which I might have derived good. by Whl('i) l have not profited I dare say." returned the nephew. "Christmas among the rest. But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has
kind. forgiving charitable. pleas- ant iimc; and. therefore. uncle. though it had never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket. I say, God bless it!-Charles Dickens. "A Christmas Carol."
help from men of considerable authority. What more likely than that that help did come from the Magl of St. Matlhcw. Perhaps, of course. it was . it the original Magi he met. but their later dis-j ciples. No one can say. I Sonichnw, though. the story hasl the ring of truth.
Christmas Buckles '
By Luella B. Lyons Timnlhy Brown knew not a soul in llarishurg well enough to merit an invitation to a Christmas din- ner. fnr he had opened the little. shoe repairing cubby hole in the: postoffice building only ten days previous to the holiday. And the little rcstaiiranl served no turkey
eithcr. for they had probably a r a figured everyone would be eating 9 elsewhere.
Rather blue and unhappy, Timo- thy slipped hack to his workbench. lhrre to get caught up on the ava- lanche of work that had poured in
roasts
& ARNETT LTD.
Summerside
"133
.. cheer to one and all.
may this Eolldl! Sm-on be the driest ever!
IMXGFOII II
upon him The first pair of slip-'
pers-yrs. he remembered the pale, thin little girl that had bought them for 25 cents at ant 'auction of second-hand things in J the city and sent them to me; but; ithey do need repairing before ii can wear them. But l've only 2.5 cents to my name-could-would lyou repair them for that amount, . iMr- Brown" Of course. he as- sured her that It wouldn't cost that-not to her. of the sad and wistful eyes!
"Why. I may be a shoe rebuild-. ;er. but if thou buckles aren't worth a fortune then I'd better. get out of this huslriess," he sliaut- ! ed to the empty little room as hsl
pers. and at the jewelers home the pair were in luck-the expert in germ told them that the buck- les would positively remove the jgirl out of the pauper class. for .they were really srurtlt a fortune.
t
will never be lonely again. for is.
IacaheeflsnstflrIdQt.
CHRISTMAS
suddenly discovered the winking! . l'l::re.b::l:ywere not of the dimat ” g .. . isstiineof pests Luck was "with him when he" . sent a messenger for the poor "idW7Tm”7m'nP"" girl owner of the second-hand slip- to be the inert eves!
Prlsss Eilwarl lslssl
Mimi lilAHlwixw . .
Iagcmltd.
Vs .
What magic Christmas holds for .
and sugar plums and wonderful, glittering dreams! May you recapture the enchanunent of tlse.Yuletide Season, and may allyoor foatlastlaopsastddreassiscosneci-uaatChi-isball
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Suinniei-sih.l”P. E, l..
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e)&-. if I
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