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Show Christmas Observance-' ''' Let'it be remembered durlngiypufc Christmas celebration tjiatthul'e'lsa signification attachcd.to It aside) from Its'gladsPineiiL'ssj i It; iM the I'eiehfif-tfon' I'eiehfif-tfon' of the anniversary (if theriioX; sacred event In t,)lo history 6't file" wo'rld commemorating tJte With, or Jesi.s-A Gift from od to t,ho.Vor1i!l Consequently tho uppippiiat-oeitie-brat Ion of It by giving gifts to friends and those we loe. A most beautiful custom, making glad, sad h&irls aud giving joy to the despondent. That It Is sometimes, yes often, eelo brated without any thought qf its signification Is true!; and sad Is tlie fact, but it Is also true that It Is Ignorantly celebrated by many in drunkencssand debauchery. Instead of the celebration being tho source of joy and happiness, 1t Is made the source of misery and despair. May be tho fruits are not Immediately gathered by those who engage ih the abuse of the Christmas tliije but the, harvest will come. The seed .are sown. What you sow yqu must reap, That's Inevitable. If the reaping comes In the declining years, when life seems already overburdened, so much the worse. Let your Christmas then be merry and joyous, but do not let It annually murk a period of degeneracy In your life. As a citizen of the United Slates you enjoy the merriment, and as a citizen should respect its saeiednes,s. Whether a Christian or not, you arc, a citizen of a Christian Nation and en joy the blessings bestowed upon that nation by Him of Whom tho angels sang: "On caith peace, good will towaid men." Let Christmas do you good and npt harm. Look upon It as Dickens causes Scrooge's nephew to see It in "A Christinas Carol," when in answer to old Scrooge's declination that It has hover done him any good, the nephew says: "There arc many things from which 1 might have derived good by which I have not profited, I dare say Christmas Christ-mas among the rest, I am sure 1 have always thought of Christmas time, when it came round apart from the veneration due to its sacred name apd origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; tho only tlmo 1 know of, In the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open up their shut-up hearts freely and to think of people below them as If they really were fellow passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, 'uncle, though It has never put a scrap of gold or silver In my pocket, I believe that ItHASdone ine good, and WILL do me good; and I say God bless It!" Let jour Christmas be that charitable, charit-able, forgiving happy time; ono time at least in the year when you look with kindness upon those about you; and, though you are an old Sciooge the rest of the year, Christmas will do you good; and you can heartily say, God bless It! |
