CHAPTER XXVI 



YULE FIRES 



The Peace of the Gods which our Aryan for- 

 bears knew descended at Yuletide hovers near al- 

 ways as we watch the Yule log, whether in the 

 keen air under the stars, or in the tapestried 

 shelter about the carefully fended hearth. Man 

 loves warmth, but he worships flame, as he al- 

 ways has since he first saw it fall from heaven, 

 though .few of us now make our prayer to it. 

 Its flicker in the night will draw us far ; nor are 

 we alone in this, for all the wild things of the 

 wood come as well and toss back its flare from 

 eyes wide with wonder. As they stand at gaze 

 before it, unwinking, so do we, letting its word- 

 less message touch the primal fonts of peace. 

 Around the camp-fire, whether without or within, 

 all men are brothers and the breaking of bread 

 and the tasting of salt are but the more formal 

 symbols of fellowship. Man has made God in 

 many images besides his own, but none has found 

 a finer symbolism than the ancient Persians, who 



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