Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

THE BULLETIN, December 24, 1960—PAGE 7-B I The Stars Are Patient A FABLE FOR EPIPHANY m 10 paj '^i»aa»aa»a&3^a3t&a3a3j»3»ais>sia»»s»S8aa3>»a2fa2»a»-a» 3lSiai2sataiS!a3,Sia Ss^ssSiSiaaiaata-3j2sas f ^ By Charles A. Brady Charles A. Brady is the au thor of numerous short stories and several novels among which ore Stage of Fools and Viking Summer. He lives ivith his ivife and six children in Buffalo. New York. _ AS THEY SAY in short sto ries, it was no one’s fault when Francis Merritt’s mar riage began to go off the rails. Not his wife’s, surely. Nor his own—at least, not in any gross sense of the word. Merritt did not go with Women, and he did not drink to excess. Perhaps the couple’s being childless had something to do with it all. For, in pure ly human terms, there is noth ing sadder than passion un requited. So Merritt tried to find sol ace in ideal pursuits, an ex pedient which, outside reli gion, is not unattended with danger for the human person- ’ ality. When, for example, Sputnik 1 flashed across the autumn skies, Merritt took to star-gazing for the first time hnce an under-graduate course in Astronomy. Looking on, resigned and compassionate, his wife, Anne, waited for his latest fixation to go the way of her husband’s other ardent, short-lived enthusiasms. OBSESSION This time, however, vivid interest hardened into obses sion with mystic overtones. Merritt’s business, which was that of an architect, began to run downhill as, in his mind, he pitted the Star of Bethle hem’s soundless track against the beep-beep of Mr. Khrush chev’s satellite. Why shouldn’t the Wise Men’s Star return? he asked himself. And, once he asked himself that question, it seem ed imperative to him that it must return and, as a further ■step, that he was the logical person to prepare the world for the Star’s second coming. The morning after Merritt confided this conclusion to his wife she took her troubles to their wise old pastor, Father Klostermann. Exactly one half hour later Anne Merritt kept an appoint ment with her physician who, to her great bewilderment and greater joy bore her the joyous tidings which, two thousand years before, an angel of the Lord had borne to Eachary, the husband of that Elizabeth who, like herself, had up to then been barren. Father Klostermann’s advice had been shrewdly kind. Now she had a Christmas present for her husband worth two of SLAPPEYS DAIRY Kids Love Slappey’s Milk SOUTH SLAPPEY DRIVE PHONE HE. 2-7643 'SERVING ALBANY FOR OVER 40 YEARS" ALBANY, GEORGIA ALBANY TRUST AND BANKING CO. COMPLETE COMMERCIAL BANKING 3% Paid on Savings Member F. D. I. C. ALBANY, GEORGIA BISHOP LAUNDRY & CLEANERS 232 ROOSEVELT AVENUE 1107 NORTH SLAPPEY DRIVE ALBANY, GEORGIA KIMBRELL STERN Albany Undertaking Company that. Humming Good King Wenceslas, Anne Merritt tweaked the snring of mistle toe pinned to her coat, caught a few snow crystals on her tongue, and. in a matter of minutes, was steering the Chevrolet past the recon structed colonial well which, up to a few months ago, had been her husband’s greatest pride. A child was the classic rem edy for marital frustration, but the news came an hour or so too late. Francis Merritt’s private daemon had driven him to a further conclusion. When the Star returned, the secular mind would inevitably call it a nova and let it go at that. Unless . . . unless . . . He had learned Iranian in his O S.S. days; and Iran was an cient Persia whence the Magi had come. Luckily his pass port was in order for an archi tects’ Middle Eastern junket which, at. the last moment, he had decided, not to attend. There was a letter on the mantel explaining what could not be explained. MODERN MAGUS While he waited for the transatlantic plane, a medley of Christmas songs played on a tinkling celeste chimed over the loud-speaker system. Mer- TKE END OF THE SEARCH ritt thought how meretricious they sounded. The cigar he lit was savorless. In Istanbul he made up his mind not to drink any more wine. He mailed his wife a postcard from that city, but without any forwarding ad dress. When his supply of EARL BRUNSON'S SUPER MARKET "Where the Best of Meats Is No Luxury" Qualify Meats, Dressed Poultry Sea Food and Frozen Foods Phones 2-05G1 and 2-05G2 — Free Delivery 917 NORTH WASHINGTON ST., ALBANY, GA. 323 Broad Ave. Phone HE. 6-1526 ALBANY, GEORGIA A. C. & I. C. OORTATOBSKY Albany Theatre Bldg. — P. O. Box 781 ALBANY, GEORGIA > ALBANY THEATRE • STATE THEATRE • LIBERTY THEATRE • GEORGIA DRIVE IN THEATRE Telephone HEmlock 6-2408, HEmlock 6-2409 D. W. GARRISON IDEAL HEATING & PLUMBING CO. "CONSCIENTIOUS SERVICE" 107 FLINT AVE. — P. O. BOX 82 — PHONE 6-1584 ALBANY, GEORGIA Griffin Motor Co. RAMBLER METROPOLITAN 928 Highland Avenue Albany, Georgia Travelers’ Checks ran low, he used his war-time contacts to get the occasional job he need ed to stay afloat. In Teheran, he decided to travel to Bethlehem by one of the old caravan routes, thus paralleling, as closely as pos sible, the kind of road the Magi must have taken. It is worthy of note that, as month succeeded weary month, Mer ritt stopped going to Mass al together. The continuing Arab-Israeli tension rendered things a little sticky at the border. But the O.S.S. has a way of making men ingenious. Christmas Eve, one year to the day after he had set out on his dream like quest, found Merritt in Jerusalem, only five and a half miles from the little hill town in Bethlehem. Since he had become in creasingly fanatical about this search of his, Merritt did not intend to go to the traditional site of the Crib until Twelfth Night, because that was the anniversary of the first mani festation to the Gentiles of the Little Light of all the World. It was true that so far he had not seen the Star at all. But there was time still. Evening found Merritt in his hotel room reading a French edition of St. Gregory’s Book of Miracles which he had picked up in a Teheran book shop and never opened till now. One of the legends told of the Well of the Star where the Magi had stopped, weary thirsty, and a-hungered, dis couraged, too, for they had lost the Star. But, as they leaned over the Well to drink, lo! there it was again shining up at them from the quiet water. There was an Arab well just down the street. Merritt went out to look into it. But a cloud passed over the moon, and he saw nothing at all. Suddenly the futility of his quest was like a hand smiting him in the face. The Magi had lost their Star—he had never even found his. Perhaps it was this star less well so like his own. For the first time a wave of home sickness washed over Merritt. He put his hand on his wallet where, thanks to some obscure instinct, he had husbanded enough Travelers’ Checks to buy air passage home. THE STAR What with winter flying conditions, quarantine, and booking difficulties, it was af ter dark on Twelfth Nieht when Merritt found himself in front of the well on his own snow - blanched Connecticut lawn. Moved by an impulse of al most nbvsical love toward this homely household thing whieh had once been his, Merritt looked over the coping into the lustrous depths where a single s+ar shone silver. The man looked uo in a start of surprise. It. was only the eve ning star hanging like some well-tended lamp over his own roof-tree. Only the evening star? His own phrase brought home to Merritt, on a sudden, how pa tient stars were, rising and setting millenium after mil- lenium. Wherever the Star of Bethlehem had gone, this star, too, had looked down on Beth lehem then as it now looked down on Connecticut. One must play the role grace casts one for. Mary had known that, and Josenh. and the Ox, and the myriads of watching stars. His wife had known, too, Merritt said to himself, ashamed. He had been a foolish, not a wise man. searching abroad in time for what Could he found now onlv at home in the timelessness of the ritual year. The Babe was today, not yesterday, here, not there, in carnate daily, daily crucified in the Mass. Merritt, too, was a man under authority to whom it had been said: Slav. And he had gone instead. Well, he would stay now, if it were not too late. For the first time in many months Merritt looked away from the inhuman splendor of the stars and, through the frosted picture window, into the cozy human cave where burned an open hearth, a lighted tree beside it, and—it couldn’t, be! But it was! The husband turned the knob and went into the Christmas house where, patient as stars, a mother and child waited for a father’s homecoming. CANDLES FOR HIS BIRTHDAY It was not until some 300 years after Christ had ascend ed that the Christians began to celebrate the joyous public festival of the Nativity of Christ. For them, candles became the symbol of Christ, who called Himself the “Light of the World.” In many countries today a large candle is lighted in the homes of the faithful on Christmas Eve which burns for the remainder of the Holy Season through Twelfth Night. In continental Europe many people have a large candle burning beside the Christmas manger as a reminder of the presence of the “Holy Child, the Light of the World.” Other candles, named for each member of the household, are ar ranged around the crib. Each candle is lighted from the Christ Candle, symbolic of the fact that everyone receives his light from the “Light of the World.” The youngest child is privileged to light a blessed candle which is placed in 1 the window on Christmas Eve to show the Holy Family that they would find shelter under that roof. The Irish have a verse indicating that the candles were an invitation to those who, like the Holy Family were unable to find lodging for the night. During the last week of Advent the family gather to erect and decorate the Christmas tree. After the decorations are complete a simple program can be given which includes the blessing of the tree: “Holy Lord, Father Almighty, eter nal God,” who has caused Thy Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, to be planted like a tree of life in Thy Church by being born of the most holy Virgin Mary, bless, we beseech Thee, this tree that all who see it may be filled with a holy desire to be ingrafted as living branches into the same Lord Jesus Christ.” EXTRA SHOPPING DAYS! Some people have 13 extra shopping days to Christmas! Thousands of Americans, fol lowers of the Catholic Byzan- tine-Slavonic Rite, will ob serve Christmas on January 7, 1961. The difference lies in the fact that the followers of this rite observe religious customs according to the ancient Julian Calendar, while in all other re spects they abide by the mod ern Gregorian Calendar. There is a 13-day difference between the two. FIRST FEDERAL SAVINGS AND LOAN ASSOCIATION 228 PINE AVENUE Across Street from the Courthouse Albany's First Choice for Savings "Where Thousands Save Millions" $eAt lAJbh eS COLONIAL DAIRIES ALBANY, GEORGIA ALBANY CANDY COMPANY Candies - - Cigars WHOLESALE DISTRIBUTORS Roosevelt Ave., Next to Terminal Station Albany, Georgia SAVELLE JEWELRY COMPANY 211 W. Broad St. • Phone HE. 5-5654 Midtown Shopping Center • Phone HE. 6-6626 M. J. SAVELLE, President C. H. MATHIS, Manager ALBANY, GEORGIA ESTATE OF SAMUEL FARKAS Established 1872 COLE FARM IMPLEMENTS & GENERAL LINE OF FARMERS HARDWARE 112-114 Broad Avenue Albany, Georgia KEENAN AUTO PARTS COMPANY ALBANY, GEORGIA Standard Plumbing and Heating Company 406 ROOSEVELT AVE. P. O. BOX 1107 PHONE HE. 2-1901 ALBANY, GEORGIA "Say It With Ours" Hadden's Flowers and Gifts Telephone HE. 5-8374 P. O. Box 1980 1150 S. Slappey Dr. Albany, Georgia