1| "oa 4 1A AAZ AiA °_ 44 °OA L/ L/ A A Â¥AALAL) AAAAYAA A AA A J 9p7 ud f § ( â€"Iâ€"Lâ€" Building 7 Fourth Avenue, Timmins S i J EC CANADIAN INDUSTRIES LIMITED A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year Ben Jonson‘s Hymn Ben Jonson, who was one Of tas greatest of the Elizabethan posts and dramatists and was a friend of Shakeâ€" speare. wrote a carol which we kneow now 2s "A hymn on the Nativity of My Saviour." This is a. carol in which the very spirit of the oldâ€"fashioned Christmas :s reflected. It was written by Sir Waltor Sceoit, and it is a very graphic descrinâ€" tion of a typical old British Christâ€" mas. The words are really well worth learning. Sir Walters talks about ‘the fire with well dried logs supplied, wen:t roaring up the chimney wide" and ne refers to the "Wassail in good brown b wl_é" and the general atmosphére of Christmas cheer. Then he says: It is part of Lord Temnyson‘s longest poem which is really a whole series of short poems in which over a number of years, Tennyson mourned for the loss of Arthur Hallam, who was a very dear personal friend. The long poem, Of course, is called "In Memoriam." Each of the separate little poems deseribes the varying seasons of the year, and the one which we use so much at Christmas time starts off :â€" "Ring out wild bells to the wild sky, The fiying cloud, the frosty light, The year is dying in the night, Ring out wild bells and let him die." Tennyson describes a glorious vision of perfection, and it would be very wonderful for the world if this vision were to come true. But it is ennovolâ€" ing to have our minds filled with such thoughts as Tennyson firds in the ringing of the bells The words ars certainly very approptriate for a Christâ€" mas carol, but there is romantic thought behind it all that "Ring Out wWild Bells" was written only because Sir Walter Scott‘s Carol Do vou know that carol which runs: "Heap on more woodâ€"the wind is chill But let it whistle as it will wWe‘ll keep our Christmas merry still." Jonson was a strong old English type of man and not at all the sort of nerâ€" son whom you would think would inâ€" duilge in carol writing, but there is a fme sense of reverenee andi mum‘lily a very dear friend of Tenmyson had passed away. (By Sir Dan Godfrey) Some people are ashamed to go caro singing at Christmas time. They havys no need to be, for carols have bee written and sung by some of the mos! famous people in history, and there ar« romantic tales behind many of thsm I know there are also pecopleâ€"some of them religious, tooâ€"who aze heartily sick of the melodies of Christâ€" mas carcls and who, when they hear a group of people singing "Good King Wenrseslas," or "Christians Awake" outside the front door, simply exclaim "Oh, good gracious! Those hackneyed tunes agsin! I wish they would get some new tunes for Christmas!" But believe me, we have no need of new tunes for Christmas, for the roâ€" mance behind some of our carois should keep them fresh in our memâ€" ories. It is the sort of song which nodody need be ashamed to sing, no matter {o what branch of Christianity they beâ€" long. And yet. . . I wonder if you know how this typically Christmas â€" carol came to be written? "Christmas Day for Dolly" A certain John Byron, who gqgied at Manchester in 1763, made quite a aqame for himself with his humorous poetry. He was a Kelsal boyâ€"born in Kelsai just at the end of the seventsenth conâ€" tury, and he had a streak of natural humour and optimism in his veins. Unfortunately he never managed to make much of a living out of his poetry but he was greatly appreciated by all his friends, and by none better than his own little daughter, Dorotiiy. On Christmas Eve, 1745, she begzea her father to write her a beautiful song for Christmas «time. She asked hiun to write it overnight and persuade Father Christmas to put it in ner stocking with her Christmas morning presents. . S s Although most of Byron‘s poetry had ben humorous, he had written a nUuniâ€" ber of verses of extreme beauty, so ns could not have found it very difficult on Christmas Eve to sit down and write the wond@erful Christmas song which Dorothy found in her stocking in the morning. He called it "Christâ€" mas Day for PDolly," but when beâ€" cause of its strong Christian sent:â€" ments, it was adopted as a Christmas carol by the Church, the title was changed to "Christian Awake!" The Medieval Style some of our Christmas carols are old folk songs which have come to USs through so many various sources that it is difficult to trace their history. Many of them are hundreds of years old. You can usually tell carols of this nature by the peculiar medieval style of their melody. "God Rest You Merry Gentlemen," is one of the old folk songs. This carol has been sung in England for centuries and there are many different versions. Perhaps the best kown is that of which the first verse runs: "God rest you merry. gentlmen, Let nothing you dismay For Jesus Christ our Saviour War born upon this day To save us all from Satan‘s power When we are gone astray." Probably you didn‘t think of "Ring QOut, Wild Bells" as a carol as it is frequently heard as sacred music at Christmas time. Could you imagine any more rousing tune, or jollier words than those of the carol, "Christmas Awake! Salute the Happy Morn, Whereon the Saviour of Mankind Was Born!" . Unfortunately he ne make much. of a lt poetry but ho was gre by all his friends, and "Then came the merry echoes in Of carols roared with blithesome din If unmelodious was the song, It was a hearty note and strong.‘ Christmas Carols Have Interesting Histories and Origins song which nobody And now toâ€"night, after many years Of jovs and sorrows, and smiles and tears, A star gleams bright in the eastern sky, Like a beacon to guide to that Home on High, j Where at last when the journey of life is o‘er, We many dwell in p!ace forever more. â€"«~€(J: W_ W chair, And told of a Babe, most wondrous fair, Who was born in a star Did gui afar, Till they came and knelt at those feet,: with gifts and offerings of incensge sweet; And the angels in Heaven in chorus sang Till the joyful notes o‘er the whole world hang: "Oh, troubled hearts, rest and be stil‘ O‘er all the earth peace and goodwill For unto you is born a Son, In the little town of Bethlehem." Then she told how the Baby lived anc a manger; and how de the shepherds from hills tin! grew To be a Man, so noble and true; And how 2t last His life He gave The wea‘t and sinful of earth to save in Ben Jonson‘s "Hymn," and I must give you the first verse of it to ormg it to vour mind, for you may hear it set to an attractive tune this Christâ€" mes. Et runs.â€" "I sing the birth: Was born toâ€"night Tho author both of life and lightâ€"â€" horn ; Oh! I‘ve got skates, and here‘s a sleigh These dishes and doll must be for May Look, here‘s some bells for Dad‘s new "I sing the bIYiIA!: Was DOrn toâ€"nigh The author both of life and lightâ€" The angels so did sound it, And lize the ravished shepherds ssai: Who. saw the light and were afraid. Yet searched and true they found it." This carol, is hundreds of years old and it is very interesting to think tha a fricnd of Shakespeare wrote it. light‘s glow, Of childhood days, long long ago, For then as the Christmas time grew neatr, Great plans were made for Yul cheer; The big fruitcake and the dough brown, Plum pudding and pies; then the During the war. the Austrians would not allow the Czechs to sing itâ€"so yOu see that carol singing has not always been a peaceful occupation| to town ; The presents hidden Whispers and secrets galore, F‘er the break of day morn, Hear the toot, toot, to cutter Guess t So the noisy, happy nhours slip by. Then at last we hear the welsome Ci Dinner‘s ready! Come, we are late, And Dad is waiting to pass your plat Then we gather round@ that festive board, That fairly 8 load : The big brow with pride (Perhaps it‘s inside), There are dat CXE NE » And candy of every sort and hue. But all too soon the day is doneg, For night falls fast at the set of sun Then Mother called us around her "Wenceslas" Only 80 Years Old But in spite of all these old I expect "Good King Wenceslas" will be the one which we shall hear most of this Christmas. { ~ There are many other legends and carols about Wienceslas other than thas which is sung so much in this country at Christmas time. ons d _A .A There is one which for five hundr2d years ahd been the Czech National Anthem. t0o, And Everybody knows the quaint old meâ€" dacval tuns of this, but it is not genâ€" erally known that the tune of "Good King Wenceslas" had been previousiv used for a Suring carol, and was not meant for Christmas at all. I dare say you have noticed thsat it is a much more cheerful tune thaa most of those which are sung even at Christmas time, though Christmas should of course be a time for rejo‘câ€" 11 Some people will tell you that "Good King Wonzseslss" is one of our oldest carols. but they are wrong. The words of it were written just over 80 years ago by a well known English hymnoâ€" logist, Rev. J. M. Neale, He People think thi carol is an old one of King Wenceslas "Jervusalem the Golden," and so h was a very sympathetic sort of person to set words to such a beautiful tuns as that of the Wenceslas carol, whaich does not lose any of its beauty by the fact that it is sung so often. A Prince of Bohemia XMAS MEMORIES dreaming toâ€"night in the this silver knife is for mothet brown turkey seems burst toot, toot, toot of ts hidden for days before, and secrets and mysteries dates and nuts andad oran »roans ‘neath the "dressing" heaped ade for Yuletide on Christmas the doughnuts its heavy a big tin eS cJPR Nillâ€"Clarkâ€"Francis Ltd. $ THE SEASON‘S GREETINGS MERRY CHRISTMAS _ and a HAPPY NEW YEAR May we at this Yuletide season express our sincere appreciation of the support and coâ€"operation shown us in the past year expressing also best wishes to all for a Builders of the North since 1907 THURSDAY. DECEMBER 20th,. 10945