A Chritmas And New Year's Greeting.

A Chritmas and New Year's Greeting .

|| | | j § ITH this issue oE the Christmas FJWsjmpl mason , publisher and editor beg to ¦ sgsiaga oilier to tlicir numerous kind patrons $£ jK $ , and readers their hearty acknow-T ledgments of the warm sympathy and friendly support whicli tho Freemason lias

received from them during 1880 . Were it possible to-day , in this additional number of thc Freemason , to enlarge upon such a topic , it would neither be seasonable , nor even acceptable , to the numerous friendly

and active supporters of tlie Freemason , and it has , therefore , occurred , both to publisher and editor , that it will be better simply to confine themselves in these few words to a heartfelt recognition of " favours already

received , " to invite the continuance of the same kindly support and tlie same Masonic forbearance , and , at the same time , to tender

to all of their readers and friends , for themselves and their families and friends , thc most " hearty good wishes " and the sineercst as piration for them , one and all , of

A MERRY CHRISTMAS AN'D A HAPPY NEW YEAR ,

Our Christmas Areemason.

Our Christmas Areemason .

* |||[ j | UST now , readers of all classes and all SMS ? periodicals seem to expect something * y F special and something " outof the way " 7 at this approaching Christmas season , * and therefore the publisher of the

Freemason has determined to seek and anticipate the wants and wishes of a very numerous circle of readers and friends , by thus earl y issuing a Chriotmas Freemason . It has occurred to him that , by a slight

departure from the normal sty le and system of the hebdomadal Freemason , he might please his younger friends and not offend his older patrons . Last year the experiment was so successful

in itself in the support tendered by the Craft , that he hopes this year to be equally favoured with the warm assent and hearty adhesion of approving readers and contented critics . If the contents of tho Christmas Freeinasoii

may hel p to pass pleasantly a leisure hour ; if they can improve , or gratify , or edify old or young ; if , above all , they subserve in any sense the kindl y teaching and general and tolerant principles of the Freemason , his aim is

accomplished , and thc labours and anxieties ofthe editor and the " staff" will not have been carried on in vain . Once again he begs to offer to those who , approving of his design , have aided him with tale and essay , with

contribution or poetry , his grateful acknowledgments and personal thanks . He trusts that this year , as last , the Christmas Freemason , whether from its literary merits , its Masonic teaching , or the wholesome and improving tone

and temper of its " tales , " may claim to be considered not altogether unworthy of that great Order with which it is identified , and in whose name and under whose flag it goes forth to the world .

Christmas.

Christmas .

fiSSjfsING Christmas , " as lie is sometimes I A IP termed , is drawing near , though %$ ^ . whether he will eventually appear in jjljjt tho healthy white of Christmas snows , 1 I or in the dull , raw , damp dismalness of an English " green winter , " remains yet the question of the future , as regards ourselves

one aud all , whether Alasons or non-Masons . Thc old country saying is , " a green Christmas makes a full churchyard ; " and Christmas always seems to be most Christmas when the fields lie white with snow , and when thc trees ,

bending with icicles and shining like diamonds , seem to proclaim that the reign of King Christmas has indeed and not unseasonabl y begun . But as there are two sides to every question under tlie sun , a hard Christmas means much

personal suffering for the poor , for whom food , and warm clothing , and comfortable homes , and warm fires are abnormal luxuries , and for whom , especially at our Christmas season , the kindly , and tho thoughtful , and the

conscientious open their purses and offer their gifts . As Freemasons we shall greet Christmas in either guise heartily and warmly , knowing that whether it comes in green or whito livery , it is still Christmas to all who havo hearts to

feel , memories to recall , sentiment which has uot evaporated , and sympathy which has not grown cold . Yes , Christmas is Christmas still to us all , and comes to us year by year , laden with

pleasant gifts and prevailing associations to all of us , whether young , middle aged , or old . To the young it appears in tones of hilarity and joyousness , in pleasant utterances , and in goodly personality . It seems to appear laden

with the thoughts of interest , the anticipations of love , happy friendship , true hearted affection . It is surrounded with all those attractions and graces which lend such enchantment to tho amusements and aspirations of youth , which

colour every scene of genuine famil y life amongst us , namely , our appreciation of and companionship with the tastes , the amusements , the feelings , the pleasures , the gratitude of the young . For them the Christmas tree

is lighted ; for them the merry dance is formed ; for them the happy gathering , animated by smiling faces and ruled by silvery voices , is in full swing , while those mysterious parcels , and those tender surprises of long days of

thoughtfulness and unbought attachment , produce shouts of happy laughter or the tender utterances of grateful hearts . For the young Christmas is , indeed , a pleasant time and a happy season . Make the most of it , young

people ! You will find as you grow older that Christmas , when it comes back to you year by year , is hardl y the same that it once was in the full tide of happy childish harmony , innocent festivity , and commendable mirth .

lo the more matured , Christmas draws near sometimes with a sense of sameness , but too often with a , feeling of customary usage . An ingenious writer in the Times last year , delighting in paradoxes , tried to make out that

few people , after some years , care little for Christmas , that it is rather a bore than a pleasure ; lhat it is an unavoidable evil , a necessary infliction , and has to be borne and

gone through with becoming equanimity and stoical firmness . As we entirely disagree with him , as we feel sure our readers will do so too , we will

Christmas.

merely add that , though years blunt the novelty and tame down the exuberance perhaps of the Christmas party , yet to us all it must come , and does come , with thoughts of happiness , pleasure , kindliness , and goodwill . It is , no doubt , true that to some of us not

even far advanced in life , Christmas is not always associated with sentiments or memories of undimmed happiness or unalloyed content . The separations , and mischances , and cross purposes of life aro many , and few of us middle-aged mon and women meet in our

Christmas circles without feeling and noting that " change " has , in some respects , " come over the spirit of our dream . " Family feuds and domestic differencesoftenthin and break up family parties . Sickness , adversity , and death , like the " harpies " of old , como in and touch

thc viands of tlio feast to spoil them for aye . Very few families but have some " skeleton in tlie closet , " whicli at Christmas airs its shadowy grievance , or rattles its dusty bones . Hence often a feeling only of needful observance marks

somo family meetings , and dictates its unwelcome " outcome" to many poor mortals here . But though this bc so in particular perhaps , in general how good is Christmas for us till . Ifc calls us from the sordid cares and

cold calculations of life ; from , business or speculation , from weary arts , from dangerous traffics , from tlie crowded court , and from the noisy forum , to rest and bo still , to allow our human feelings to have full scope , to associate with our fellow men , to be real members of

a happy family gathering onco again , and to throw off for a moment tho stolid pomp of rank , the naiTowing influences of bnsiness , the artificial life of society , and be once again ourselves , members one of another , actually caring for other people , interested in other

people , thinking of other people . And thus Christmas is really to many an oasis in this busy wilderness of life , when thoy see their families , when they meet old friends , ancient mates , fair sisters , bright cousins , warm friends , and have a long chat and a pleasant gossip ,

thc merry assembly , the cheery dance , a rubber of whist , and the uproarious round game All this is good for our humanity , always gregarious and ever sympathetic , and therefore becomes its high and sacred religious side on which we cannot touch hero . Christmas

is a great social institution , of intense value , important utility , and blessedness for our ailing and troubled , and often weary and discontented , race . And yet how few of us can meet in middle age without feeling how " many are taken , how few are left , " how life is slipping

from beneath our feet . How each Christmas , as it comes with each passing year , serves to warn us that it has a lesson of sorrow as well as of joy for us all . Therefore , while we use Christmas , let us not abuse it . Let it not be to us a mere " saturnalia , " without reflection

or restraint , but let it begin and end in those chastened memories , and in those kindl y , if sedater , associations which will lend dignity to pleasure and crown festivity with moderation , and then Christmas comes to the " fore " with intense fervor and significance . It seems to point to the past , to be a " finger-post" to the

future , to control the present with peaceful , if edifying recollections . As the old stand together to-day in a Christmas gathering and hear the shouts of laughter , the sounds of soft music , as they share in all the pleasurable excitement of a gay famil y meeting , how must the thought strike them that some as fair , as young , as graceful as