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edge; and if I have all faith, so as to re-

move mountains, but have not love, I am

nothing. And if I bestow all my goods

to feed the poor, and if I give my body

to be burned, but have not love, it profit-

eth me nothing. Love suffereth long,

and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunt-

eth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not

behave itself unseemly, seeketh not its

own, is not provoked, taketh not account

of evil; rejoices not in unrighteousness,

but rejoiceth with the truth; beareth all

things; believeth all things, hopeth all

things, endureth all things. Love never

faileth; but whether there be prophecies,

The Origin of Christmas Customs.

There are a few things in existence

today which have not been changed or

molded in the minds of progress. One by

one legends and customs have been

disproved and overthrown, yet none has

dared attack the legends and the cus-

toms sacred to Christmastide. Here and

there a savant has tried to prove that

December 25 does not mark the birthday

of Christ Men and women read, smile

and pass on.

The time of year corresponding to our

Christmas has always been a period of

SAN I.VISITO BRIDGE BEFORE THE FLOOD, MONTEREY, MEX.CourtCSY BrO. J. Wood. DlV. 614.

they shall be done away; whether there

be tongues, they shall cease; whether

there be knowledge, it shall be done away

with. For we know in part, and we

prophesy in part, but when that

which is perfect is come, that which is

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in part shall be done away. When I was

a child, I spake as a child, I felt as a

child, I thought as a child; now that I

am become a man I have put away child-

ish things. For now we see in a mirror,

darkly; but then face to face; now I

know in part; then shall I know even as

also I have been known. But now abid-

eth, faith, hope, love, these three; and

the greatest of these is love."

rejoicing. It marks the winter sol-

stice. The days begin to lengthen, and

the sun no longer journeys away from

earth, but enters upon his return. It is

a promise of renewed strength and

warmth, of the approach of the summer

days, and men hailed these signs with

every expression of gladness.

In Rome, the Saturnalia, or feast of

Saturn, fell at about the same time as

our Christmas, and it marked the great-

est festival of the Roman year. The city

abandoned itself to gayety. Universal

mirth was the order of the day; friends

feasted friends, and foes were reconciled.

There were no slaves, no masters: all