A life in words

  • 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…

  • Christmas Carols in Prose #3: Angels We Have Heard on High

    We’ve heard angels on high singing sweetly over the plains, and we’ve heard the mountains echoing their joyous strains in reply: “Gloria in excelsis Deo.” Shepherds, why this jubilee? Why do you prolong your joyous strains? What are the glad tidings that inspire your heavenly song? “Gloria in excelsis Deo.” Come to Bethlehem and see…

  • Christmas Carols in Prose #2: Oh, Come, All Ye Faithful

    All you faithful, come joyfully and triumphantly! Come, come to Bethlehem! Come and behold him who was born: the king of angels. Choirs of angels, sing in exultation. All heaven’s citizens, sing! Glory in the highest to God. Yes, we greet you, Lord born this happy morning—Jesus, son of the Father, now appearing in flesh.…

The principal difficulty lies, and the greatest care should be employed in constituting this Representative Assembly. It should be in miniature, an exact portrait of the people at large. It should think, feel, reason, and act like them. That it may be the interest of this Assembly to do strict justice at all times, it should be an equal representation, or in other words equal interest among the people should have equal interest in it. Great care should be taken to effect this, and to prevent unfair, partial, and corrupt elections.John Adams, Thoughts on Government, April 1776