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Thursday, December 23rd, 1937 Reference to the Roman or Sarum Missal will confirm this statement, proâ€" vision being made for three masses on Christmas Day, while on no other fesâ€" tival is a midnight mass permitted. The custom was instituted at Rome in the earlier half of the fifth century. The Pope sang the first mass at midnight, at Sta. Maria Maggiore; the second at St. Anastasia; and the third at St. Peter‘s. ‘*‘There can be little doubt that "Midâ€" night Mass on Christmas Eve only" Csarol singing by waifs, strolling street originated in a belief that the Birth of musicians, is an old British custom. "On Christmas Eve the bells were runs On Christmas Eve the Mass was sung That only night of all the year Saw the stoled priest his chalice rear. (by T. G. Crippen) Most readers will remember Scott‘s poetic enumeration of Christmas cusâ€" toms; amongst which he reminds us that Midnight Mass for Christmas Eve Only The the Wise Man sat down ~and Polly passed around refreshments. Afâ€" ter singing more carols the party broke up. It was time, too, for the stars were fading when the last guest kissed Mothâ€" er Goose goodâ€"night. Origin of Christmas Mass Goes Back to the Fifth Century. "I wish to make a speech," he anâ€" nounced. "Its title is: ‘How to be hapâ€" py on Christmas Day and every day.‘ Find someone who is poor, sick and sad, and give them your best of love and kindness. Then whenday is done you will find your heart contains a large parcel of happiness, for this is the gift of the Spirit of Christmas." Then the company gathered around the guest, and even Simple Simon felt the joy and wonder of being in such illustrious company. Softly the Fiddlers Three began to play "God Rest You Merry Gentleâ€" men" and the company all joined in singing, till the oaken rafters rang to the strains‘ of their song. When its echoes had died away the eldest of the Wise Men of Gotham arose to address the guests. "I give you my blessing, dear lady," he said. ‘"Your kind heart could not refuse warmth and shelter to the begâ€" gar who huddled beneath yonder tatterâ€" ed cloak. You knew not ‘twas I, the Spirit of Christmas, who wore that disâ€" guise best to test you. From now on my home is with you." "Look, Mother, the Beggar Child!" cried Polly, and they stood amazed at the changed appearance of the boy they had thought was sleeping by their fire. The tattered cloak was cast aside, and the child came to meet them, clad in garments rich and warm. Then when the tea pot was empty Polly and her mother went to make some more. Then they took their places at the table and the meal went on. After the table was cleared, there was a proâ€" gramme of music, speeches and dances. There was singing of Christmas carols by Tommy Tucker. There were wonâ€" derful stories told, of ‘"Christmas in Other Lands," by a Wise Man of Goâ€" tham. Christmas music by the Fiddlers Three, by Tom, the Piper‘s Sson, and many others. "Not at Christmas!" she returned, and her eyes filled with tears as she gazed upon her dear family. "No one could be unkind to a child at Christâ€" mas." "We aren‘t afraid of fever, mother!" they exclaimed wheh she repeated her message, ‘"We would not want to see one of our own dear little ones turned away if they were cold and hungry." "Tell the others there‘s nothing to be afraid of." she told Polly, as she held a glass of hot milk to the blue lips. Then she wrapped the boy in warm blankets and leaving him all cosy, rejoined her family." "There‘s nothing the matter but a chill and he‘s very hungty," the doctor stated. "No cause for alarm at all. But when the dear lady saw the child at her door all blue with cold. she never thought of fever, or of danger to herself but hastily drew him into the kitchen, and to a seat before the fire. Then the doctor felt the child‘s pulse, looked at his tongue and took his temâ€" perature. "Oh, deary me!" cried Mother Goose in distress, "T‘ll go and see. Come with me, Doctor Foster, you will know if his disease is catching." Polly noted how flushed his face was, and did not dare ask him in, fearing he might be ill of some awful fever. ‘"Wait till, Mother comes!" she told him and ran to tell her mother of the child at the door. It was Christmas Night and at Mothâ€" er Goose‘s tall red, crange, yellow, pink and green candles glimmered in every corner of her house, so there wasn‘t a shadowy place large enough to hide a pin. From outside, the house looked like a slice from the night sky, with hundreds of stars twinkling a Christmas greeting to all who passed by. The family, were all home, and gathered around the table in the immense hall to feast with their mother. Just as the kettle was on the boil, Polly, who was n the kitchen waiting to make the tea, heard a knock at the door and hastened to open it. There upon the thresholid she saw a. poor child, dressed in a long ragged cloak, shivering with cola. "Oh, please may I come in?" â€" he begged, "I‘m so cold and ill. "I‘ve had nothing to eat since yesterday." Wise Man Tells of the Spirit of Christmas Story of Mother Goose‘s Home One Christmastide THE PORCUPINE ADVANCE, TIMMINS, ONTARIO by L.P.N.) Night and at Mothâ€" crange, yellow, pink glimmered in every The average height of Christmas trees is from 1 to 15 feet or more, the greater number probably being 4 to 8 fe£8t tall. Yet, something in the atmosphere That tells of joy undamped by fear; A something dear that loving bides At temple shrine or dear hearthside; Something like echo of sweet strain After the song is done; in vain The street hum strives to stilil its tone The human hear claims it its own On, off, or near, this Christmas week The gay turmoil of Chestnut Street. shore? Ah, in that warm humanity She has no part; kind Death with free, Befriending fingers lifts earth‘s dark. That‘s Christmas week near Chestnut Street. . from dawn, Who hears from far the cheerful roar Of life‘s strong surge on lifes strong A creature hollowâ€"eyed and wan Who shrinks from dark, who shrinks O list! A moan, a whispered praye:t Does pity‘ng angel linger there? Or wonld his pinion get a stain Even at Christmastide beneath Not mistletoe and holly wreath, But cobwebbed roof that glowers o‘er A wretched bed, a cold, bare floor, soon R To list the fair soprano‘s strain, _ "Glory and peace . .. Goodwill." Again The vaulted roof gives back the strainâ€" That‘s Christmas week off Chestnut Street. HETIGHT OF CHRISTMAS TREE® Rustle of silk and faint perfume, And brim severe and nodding plume, And some come late and some come (By Emma Sophie Stilwell) A rush, a roar, a gleam, a glow; A great procession and a show; A blare, a shout, a rush, a rout:; A threading in, a thridding out:; A snatch of song, a merry word, To tell a common joy has stirred The common heart: That‘s Christmas week on Chestnut Street. "laid Him in a manger," the effigy is lifted from the floor and placed in a rockhewn trough which represents the manger, and which many pilgrims beâ€" lieve to be the veritable cradle of the Holy Child. In mediaeval England, after matins, a deaconâ€"or the bishop if he were presentâ€"chantéd the "Genâ€" ealogy‘" in St. Matthew (chap. 1), folâ€" lowed by the Te Deum. This custom still survives in some Benedictine churches. According to Kirchmeyer it was cusâ€" tomery in some parts of Germany, after the third mass, to place on the altar an effigy of the Holy Child, duly wrapped in swaddling clothes: around which the boys and girls would dance and sing carols. A variant of this cusâ€" tom wasâ€"perhaps still isâ€"observed in the Church of the Holy Nativity at Bethlehem. At the end of the mass the ‘"Bambino" is placed on the altar, and then carried in solemn procession to the crypt; where it is laid on the silver star in the pavement which is supposed to mark the actual place of the Divine Birth. The narrative is read from the Gospel of Luke; and when the reader comes to the words At Rome, at Sta. Maria Maggiore, certain pieces of wood were preserved, which were said to be part of the actual cradle of our Lord! These it was usuâ€" al, within the last century, to bring forth in soléemn procession early on Christmas Morning, and after high mass to deposit them on the principal altar. At Madrid people traversed the streets with torches, tambourines, and guitars, and after mass danced in the body of the church. A similar custom existed in the Spanishâ€"American cities. In Sicily the midnight service was often sadly lacking in reverence downright pagan licence intruding and it is said to have been much the same in the Rhineland until Midnight Mass was abolished. our Lord occurred about midnightâ€"a matter about which there is no rea! evidence one way or the other. The belief had, however, some support in a misapplication of a pansage in the Book of Wisdom (tch. XVIIIL 14â€"5): "When peaceful silence enwrapped all things, And night in her own swiftness was in mid=â€"course, Thine allâ€"powerful word leaped from heaven out of the royal throne. A stern warrior into the midst of the doomed land." This, as the context clearly shows, réfers to the slaying of the firstâ€"born of Egypt; but mediaeval divines apâ€" plied it to the Incarnation of the Word. Hence a beautiful Latin carol, probably of the fourteenth century, beginning "Q@uando noctis medium": "When in silence and in shade Earth at midnight had been laid. Working out the Father‘s plan, In the Virgin‘s womb made Man. God His earthly life began." Christmas Week real in a the Christmas Section