Two Christmas Celebrations

Excerpt

A great many years ago, Augustus Caesar, then Emperor of Rome, ordered his mighty realm to be taxed; and so, in Judea, it is said, men went to the towns where their families belonged, to be registered for assessment.  From Nazareth, a little town in the north of Judea, to Bethlehem, another little but more famous town in the south, there went one Joseph, the carpenter, and his wife Mary,—­obscure and poor people, both of them, as the story goes.  At Bethlehem they lodged in a stable; for there were many persons in the town, and the tavern was full.  Then and there a little boy was born, the son of this Joseph and Mary; they named him JEHOSHUA, a common Hebrew name, which we commonly call Joshua; but, in his case, we pronounce it JESUS.  They laid him in the crib of the cattle, which was his first cradle.  That was the first Christmas, kept thus in a barn, 1856 years ago.  Nobody knows the day or the month; nay, the year itself is not certain.