CHRIST-MASS Dec. 25
Let us ignore all the slaughter and danger
(Think of the Manger! Remember the Manger!)
Now as our day of rejoicing begins
(Never mind Poland—Abandon the Finns)
Lift up your voices “Long Live Christianity!”
(Cruelty, sadism, blood and insanity)
Noel Coward, Christmas 1939
FEAST OF ST STEPHEN; Dec. 26
his little volume is a series of poems on the saints. Each poem is preceded by a brief biography of the saint it celebrates—which is a very necessary precaution, as few of them ever existed. It does not discuss much poetic power, and such lines as these on St. Stephen—
Did ever man before so fall asleep?
A cruel shower of stones his only bed
For lullaby the curses loud and deep
His covering with blood red
may be said to add another terror to martyrdom. Still it is a thoroughly well intentioned book and eminently suitable for invalids. –Wilde, “The Circle of Saints,” 1882
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