A life in words

  • Christmas Carols in Prose #6: Away in a Manger

    The little Lord Jesus laid down his sweet head in a manger far away, without even having a crib to use as a bed. The stars in the heavens looked down where the little Lord Jesus lay asleep on the hay. The cows are mooing. The poor baby wakes up, but little Lord Jesus doesn’t…

  • Christmas Carols in Prose #5: Once in Royal David’s City

    In the royal city of David there once stood a lowly cattle shed. There a mother laid her baby down using a manger as his bed. Mary was that mild mother. Jesus Christ was her little child. He who’s God and Lord of all came from heaven down to earth. His shelter was a stable.…

  • Christmas Carols in Prose #4: Silent Night

    The night is silent. The night is holy. Everything is calm and bright around that virgin mother and her child. Sleep in heavenly peace, holy infant—so tender and mild. The night is silent. The night is holy. Shepherds quake at the sight. Glories stream from far off in heaven. Heavenly hosts sing, “Hallelujah!” Christ, the…

The common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it. It serves… to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection [and] opens the door to foreign influence and corruption….George Washington, Farewell Address