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[underline]THE AGELESS STORY[/underline] Christmas is one of the world's most joyous festivals. For more than nineteen hundred years the season has been celebrated in various ways, but in much the same spirit. Whether with great gaiety in years of peace and prosperity, or with grave anxiety in years of war and want, celebration of The Birth is a happy interlude. There has been no change in the simple telling of the story, or in the drama of the fulfillment of the prosphesy of His coming. The Birth, known at the time to a few great scholars and a few humble herdsmen only, has become a time of happy gatherings and of spiritual rebirth. In a wealth of symbolism, mankind prostrates itself in adoration around the crib of Bethlehem, and in color, in song, and in spirit over and over again tells the story which trough all eternity is destined to give hope to mankind. No part of the Christmas legend is more beautiful than that story within a story which pictures the womanly fortitude and womanly dignity of the Mother at the time of the birth of The Son. Without shelter, without comfort, she entered her time of travail with faith and understanding. There is no existing record showing that The Mother complained of having only the night noises of stabled animals and the solace of an aging husband to companion her through the greatest event of a woman's life--the birth of her first child. She accepted the homage paid to her son without vain glory. The rich gifts of the kings, the praises of the three wise men, and the adoration of the humble shepherd - these things she saw as recognition of the completion of the duty for which she had been chosen. That duty she had performed simply and willingly. And the centuries since that day have seen countless monuments built and priceless mementos made in honor of The Son she bore. This season of joyousness and rebirth is with us again. Let women make it a season of pledges to a new way of life, dedicated dignity of The Mother at the birth of Her Son. --------------------------------- "I have seen dark hours in my life and I have seen the darkness gradually disappearing, and the light gradually increasing. One by one I have seen obstacles removed, errors correct, prejudices softened, proscriptions relinquished, and my people advancing in all the elements that make up the sum of general welfare. I remember that God reigns in eternity and that whatever delays, disappointment and discouragements may come, truth justice, liberty, and humanity shall prevail." Douglass
