THE ANGELS' SONG

OVERY heart dances with delight at the ex

pectation of Christmas festivities. Every one looks forward to the glad season when hearts are full of joy when every one feels like doing something for another. We read with new pleasure the story of the shepherds, and of the angel song above the Judean hills. We seem to hear the sacred voice of the angel of the Lord saying,

Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

In fancy we see "a multitude of the heavenly host" and hear the angel voices praising God and saying,

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.

Santa Claus, Christmas trees, public dinners for the poor, and the giving of good gifts these are our ways of showing the spirit of peace and good will.

In this beautiful Christmas message, the poet expresses the faith that, in spite of present woe, and sin, and confusion and strife, the people of earth shall one day catch the true spirit of the

Holy Child of Christmas and chant back to heaven in the chorus of world-wide peace "the song the angels sing."

THE ANGELS' SONG

It came upon the midnight clear,
That glorious song of old,

From angels bending near the earth
To touch their harps of gold:
"Peace to the earth, good-will to men
From heaven's all-gracious King!"

The world in solemn stillness lay
To hear the angels sing.

Still through the cloven skies they come,
With peaceful wings unfurled;
And still their heavenly music floats
O'er all the weary world:
Above its sad and lowly plains

They bend on heavenly wing,
And ever o'er its Babel sounds
The blessed angels sing.

Yet with the woes of sin and strife
The world has suffered long;
Beneath the angel-strain have rolled
Two thousand years of wrong;
And man, at war with man, hears not
The love-song which they bring:
O, hush the noise, ye men of strife,
And hear the angels sing!

And ye, beneath life's crushing load
Whose forms are bending low;
Who toil along the climbing way
With painful steps and slow,—
Look now! for glad and golden hours
Come swiftly on the wing;
O, rest beside the weary road,
And hear the angels sing.

For lo! the days are hastening on,
By prophet-bards foretold,
When with the ever-circling years
Comes round the age of gold;
When Peace shall over all the earth
Its ancient splendors fling,

And the whole world send back the song
Which now the angels sing.

- Edmund Hamilton Sears.

NOTES

1. Read Luke ii, 8-20; Matthew ii, 1-12.

2. Make a collection of other Christmas poems you like. Each pupil should prepare to read to the class one good Christmas poem.

3. Read Dickens' "A Christmas Carol."

4. What are some of the best things you ever saw one person do for another on Christmas?

5. That glorious song. Find the song in the second chapter of Luke. 6. Babel. See Genesis, Chapter XI, for the story of Babel and the confusion of tongues.

7. Study the following words and expressions until you can make their meanings clear to others: harps of gold, all-gracious, solemn stillness, cloven skies, unfurled, Babel, angel-strain, life's crushing load, prophet-bards, ever-circling years, age of gold, ancient splendors.

EXERCISES

1. Upon what story is this poem based?

2. What was “that glorious song of old"?

3. Explain the last two lines of the first stanza.

4. In what way do angels still come through the cloven skies?

5. In what way does their music still float "o'er all the weary world"? 6. What were the "Babel sounds" of old?

7. What are the "Babel sounds" of to-day?

8. What has really taken place on the earth during the past two thousand years?

9. Why does the poet bid the men of strife “hush . . . and hear the angels sing"?

10. What does he mean when he bids the toiler "rest . . . and hear the

angels sing"?

11. What days were foretold by prophet-bards?

12. What does the poet think will be the final result of the angel song of old?

13. Then what must be the true Christmas spirit for each of us?

ADDITIONAL READINGS

FIELD: Why do Bells of Christmas Ring? A Christmas Wish, Christmas Eve.

ALCOTT: Becky's Christmas Dream.

HOLLAND: A Christmas Carol.

DICKENS: A Christmas Carol.

WHITTIER: A Christmas Carmen, Star of Bethlehem.

BROOKS: Christmas Everywhere, Constant Christmas.
LONGFELLOW: The Three Kings.

A. W. MORRIS: A Christmas Carol.
ALICE CARY: A Christmas Story.
WIGGIN: The Glad Evangel.
ROSETTI: A Christmas Carol.
BOLTON: The Shepherd's Song.

MILTON: Hymn to the Nativity.
RILEY: Tiny Tim's Prayer.