OEIC A SX SA i ba Chri = ilbur I- Nesbit " 'Tis the night before Christmas"-- I whisper the rhyme And wdnder in fancy To *""once on a time." I see the big fireplace, - The girls and the boys, The long, heaped-up stockings, The drums and the toys. * 'Tis the night before Christmas"-- So old, and so new! With all of its dreamings So good and so true. I see all the faces Forgotten so long, And out of the twilight There murmurs a song. "Tis the night before Christmias"-- And here, by my grate, The past rises, glowing ; The years lose their weight; / The boy-days come 'trooping At memory's call, And gleam in the embers That flicker and fall. "'Tis the night before Christmas""-- Ah, could I but clutch The gold of my fancies ! "Twould go at my touch! The shouts and the laughter Now sweet to my ear Would shrink to a silence Toe deep and too drear. " "Tis the night before Christmas"-- Remembrances stir As sweet as 'the cherished Frankincense and myrrh. And, hark. As the visions Grow dim to the sight, There comes: 'Merry Christmas! And, boy-days, good night ! " Bercsrcne -@ : : ' : The Model Song. ¢ By Rev. E. B. Ryckman, D.D,, : . Kingston. WrersaseeseTee ee ~eeu@ The angel said unto them : Fear not; for benuid, | bring you good tidings of great joy which suall be 'to all peo- ple; lor unto you is born this day in the aty of David a daviour, which is Christ the "Lord. And suadenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and say- ing, Glory to God in the hignest, on sarch peace, good will to men. --Luke i, 10-14, lhe incarnation was a necessity. "Forasmuch as the children were partakers of flesh and blood, He "also nimsell likewise took part of the same." 'It benhoved Him to be made hike unto His brethren," Men were His chiidren and He loved them; and just as the mother is sure to be found where her child cries, and the father where his son is in ditheulty and can be helped out of it, 80 we might ex- pect to find God Himself where His culdren were in trouble, where they were sinning and suliering and dying. The fulness of time -had arrived, and a choir of the angels of light was sent to announce His comihg. Listen to the song. First there 'was the solo--a 'sort of recitative--and then the full chorus. Some people dbo not like choirs. [Especially do they dislike solo singing in the praise of God. '"'Let all the people sing," they REV. E. B. RYCKMAN, D.D. say. But sometimes tnat 1s quite 1m pussible. Un wal occasion IL wus 80. Lhe shepherus could but have juiued in Lhe siuging. hey aid DOL Koow Lue tune. bur IL Was Lue au glorious Presse and NUSE Sueputrus" wuu cow UU uOlwng LUL uswod fevelved gloat beueut anu uiessing. luey weul lulue- Qlaley LO Sve Wual the duels wld tueni Luey SuOuwiu Buu, Buu relurued Blunt) lug anu praising Gou, 10 Gy luis OF Lauer OWo, J0r all Lue Lulugs Luey hau neara aud seen. A mous sony, indeed | At BOL OW EraLILeU Lue us. ical taste Ol tne Listewers, IL Loucwed ther uearts, stulea tuem tO acuon anu hiled tuem with Joy sina praise. 1 have had Do persOual acyusint- ance haraly ueed says--wiln tue or- ginal Cnorisiers; 1 ud Dob pear tuew Bung, ana il LHe music was ever writs ten 1 have not met with it, but i wish to say that 1 know some tuings avout bolu, the singers and tne sony. 1 snall nou tell anyone now or wuere 1 learned what I know, but | know, all the same. lo wegin with, 1 know that that first angel was greatly pleased that he was chosen to take the svlo part. Not because iv fHinttered hus vamty--he had no varity--nor because it gratited his ambition--ambition is not always wrong--nor because it imped that me was the best singer in the choir, but simply. because it was his supreme de- lignt to take any part the Great Choir Master chose to assign him. Nor, as he stood before tnat congre- gation of shepherds, was there the smallest degree of self-consciousness as to how he looked, his attitudes or modulations of voice; nor concern as to how lie should acquaint himself in the performance, or what éradit or discredit he "should get to himself, and when he came up, and up, apd up ' towards the end of his solo and made a magnificent finish, there was no smile on his face of self-satisfaction indicating that he knew himself that he had done a brilliant thing. On the contrary, for very gladness that he had been entrusted with such a mes- sage and what it must mean to all people that on eart h do dwell, he be- came entirely oblivious of himself. And as to the other apgels, 1 know that not one of them anvid Mim on ac- count of his prominence, or wondered why he himself, being as good a sing- .er, had not been selected for that part. If there ever were any dissen- sions among the wembers of that choir, and jealousies, and miffs on ac- count of slights,' 1 have never heard of them. A model choir. Again, 1 know that the words of that song were uttered with perfect distinctness. The shepherds did not miss a svilable. The nogels .under- stood fully that on such an occasion, and on_all occasions of divine com municstions to then, the words are the principal thing, and that music alone, though, good, is valueless in com- parison! In those early davs there were Bomie songiin abundance, and the siniérs knew how to render them, articulating the 'words with careful clearness, "whateyer hight become of the amie. And down sll the eentif- ies ty the present time, it has con- tinued so to he! Pring out the words, By all | means. e fun is in the words. The fun is lost if the words are lost. Let the music take care of itseil,. ADG hus IL 15 avoluwug WO Lhe aligoia, M0 spilficual Susngs, i) als, Aniulu.s aud Cvuly otal Ol Wuilus Lua 15 ur ne glulayiuy Buea' poassay Goa. The Seusiumcut 15 Lee Clie Lulug, not the music, et Lutte nave ue, perhaps € UUW, DBULLBU Cols Wilou, lu taal' pall 10 8 Coucels, reduetoagy a Butuulvus plete, WowUu Le vely Cale Tul WO Bae every WUIU Bellu, Wael standing up 40 Lue Cuwrcu LO wea In tue Servite Ol praase, pelsist In alucwu- lating Dymus abu Auluens SO luapet- leclly 88 LO SnOW tual It 1x weer musiC tuey are Coucel uel Booul aud not tne precious seutuusent. luat as, toey treat Paglush Myluns and suiseaus AcCuruiug 10 Lue geruus ol Lue rivaca language, comaug cut lull awa stivag On toe vowels and Smothering null tue cousonants, i tuey Lad veces ovale -Ing og tne helus of gues tbe Suey a wona not have known waere Lo look tor the inlant Messian. unee agai, 4 know wat in that angeile cuulr there was no cracaed . Volve--ceritainly not oy reason ot age. Angels ao DOL OW Old, 1 BuOW equally well that no mewoer of that heaveniy host would Crack his own voice, on purpose, Lo mase it shaey as if It were olu. XU that me, Lue vibrato movewent haa not been ine vented. if it had been, angels wow not have auopied IL. Mn Laer ign vocauon, praiing Lod, wieder belure the turone or In the skies apove ue nde town of pethienem, wnal use could they have maue of a mere lad or tashion of their earun-voin Prove gees 1 ihey '€ould not have wnougnt ot 11, for jaivers reasons, nrsiy, iv 19 unnaturaloit can only ve acyuliea uy much prgetice, and, goouhess Knows, in LHe great wigoilly Ol Usses, puag- tice aoes hot mase perfect. Lefiues, it 1S AN BHeCUUll, 8 AREY EY, Billy, 50 far 1orkh, a aeceit. | Know ic 1s ciaum- ed that! it mouises a sho, hard or harsh voice, ana introuuces an ele- ment of feeling, a meldowness. wny the viorato is.iweef a barshness. A shrill voice with the vieraiwo aitach- ment becomes a squeal dse--ifxe-- what may be heard almost any. aay at the avauomr. It 1s tae the talsewo voice, which some assume in prayer, whereby they simulate - teartul emo- tion. iat is a faunare. the aecepuion 18 easy agtected. it is the art tecling, not the heart feeling. 'the painful ure, , though Metlect as a piciure, warms no one. Mgreover, it is a pure artscial- ity. Nhatever embellishments may be permissible, even aunurable, in a con- cert hgll and in secular songs--all rignt in their pltaces--vhere the owgect 18 to he regalea with sweet sounas and enjoy all that the highest art can do, there should be no attempe, to show them ott before the Lord, They have no relation whatever to praise or worship in heaven or on earth, from the tongues of angels or of men. If anyone would see the wretcheuness of all this let him go stand where 1 have often' stood, in the years since this style came in, while two or three vo- catists with cultivated voices were behind me jiggling out the words ot a hymn--now uo not und fault with me for using that word; it exactly ex- presses what | mean, and it's in the stanuard--1 say. pggling out words, making inevitable uiscords, because they aid not, and could not, jiggle in ungson. It is the bane of choir and congregational singing. Some. vibrate, others do not, and .the result is most unpleasant. | know young girls who have reaily line voices, tute like, bird. like, almost angeic, who are spordng them by allecting this style. But it is going out, 'the best singers before the pibfic do not use it. venny Lind never did ut. The last notable songstress I have heard, - Madame Nordica, had only now and then the faintest sug- gestion of it. May we hope that tis, like other fashions, will wear out and that the last shred of the ungraceful thing will soon be gone forever, Christmas is coming. Christmas songs are the vogue of the season. Let us keep in tune with the angels. '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. hovering wing, And ever o'er its Babel sounds The blessed angels sing." 4 ER PN ER PRR INRA Re TINE The Christmas British Whi Che Christmas British Whig Once upon a time a schoolmaster propounded this problem to a class of boys: . . "Now, how was it that this' great discovery made by Columbus was not fully appreciatéd until many years after his death?" 3 "Because he didn't advertise," promptly responded the up-to-date scholar. Thus is it shown that even children, in these wide- awake, hustling days, are alive to the value and in- fluence of advertising, That the merchants, business and professional men of Kingston are thoroughly alive to 'its advantages is evidenced by the splendid way they have utilized the opportunity presented by this Number of the Christmas British Whig. For some years the Whig has issued a special Christmas Number... Each year has seen it increase in the number of its pages, the excellence of its typographical style, in its fine colored illustrations and its literary character. But jt remained for the 1911 issue to eclipse all previous records. Never before was such a volufne of advertising offered. In order to accommodate this, without sacrificing the literary and illustrative features already arranged for, additional pages were added, making the total issue considerably larger than last year. It has been the aim of the publishers to give to the readers of the Whig the finest: Christmas Number published in a city the size of Kingston. That this object has been achieved can. truthfully be affirmed. TO the advertising patrons, who have made this possi- ble, the Whig expresses its grateful appreciation. The attention of our readers is respectfully called to the advertising columns of this issue. The users of this space comprise most of the best business men of the city. Their announcements are of especial impor tance at this particular time of the year. Taken together, theg¢forth a shopping guide of great value to every reader. The protlem of "What shall I buy for Christmas gifts?" can be readily solved by a study of these advertisements. Kingston merchants, through the medium of the Christmas Whig, have 'made the Christmas buying problem easy for all of us. There no longer exists any™ need of resorting to the mail-order catalogue. To all who have contributed to make the 1911 num- ber a success, and to every reader, big and little, we wish "A RIGHT MERRY CHRISTMAS And s A BRIGHT, HAPPY NEW YEAR! 0) SENOS ANGLER ANGLE Ns . There was 1 The A winter walk along King street a g