CHRISTMAS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 19, 22 January 1877, Page 4

CHRISTMAS.

ih f.^The Essayist '^taking this for hie them?, writes as follows in the Austral* : tuian :— With no ordinary feelings can ; ! ahy' man of seosbili'iy regard (thia.rre-t YiJrtrrihg festival. I cobpate 'It" with the ingathering feast bf Israel, when the; Giver of Good was thanked with Rejoicings, and the fairest fruits of His bounty borne aloft by the young, As peace is for the pure, and purity, is the E wrfii't of^ Xgedrch, our 'fir-Zt^dMiihioiiid be.to tekft stock of the past year, and ask \ ourselves, have we advanced or "Have we retrograded ? The physical and political blessings Aotfthiave th-^ybiaen used, swayed, and diffused— how far are they ministers of good .?: Born, as we undoubtedly are,, i .to. raise ourselves by faith in .our high origin and destiny, by receptivity 'ol ennobling influences, by self-denying \ disciplines, and far-seam? beneficences,; oan we deny that much yet lingers among us that je aimless* frivolous and vile] yet that could have been extirpated 'did -not our rebel works and will stain out. immortal birth ? lias not our unbridled! liberty bordered on lawlessness, and thus become a terror to the peaceful ? Is not reverence overlaid, and th^ parental tie — tbat true cradle of all religion-— too often scoffed and derided ? and do not maoy seem to delight iq making true religion worse, far wor sa • than' a mere " raphsody of w6r'ds," si vehicle for bad passions, malignity, and r&Venge, and do riot ' | Worldlings blot ths temple's gold With uses vile and baefe ? Is not youth growing up without the lovely grace of modesty and reverence] and is not age too often despicable in its ribald vice ? Is not our very dio! tion and dialect so. vulgarised that Bolingbroke, Swift, and Windham would require an interpreter before they could converse on our brilliant racecourse with a son or with a daughter of opulence and fashion. *'" That spontaneous tenderness to childhood and to womanhood, which (once) teemed to make every map: regard .him*-* self as,, their bouoden protector, that respect for purity, that horror of the f -opliftep arm to woman, is it on the in•crease or on the wane ? Nekl to the dastard who can strike a woman I det *Vest ; the peHroob who ctn witness and /not reqqile, i what perhaps he oouldrnot avert. ; Are either of these rare? Do oot both of them exist ? Is not " smartness, in business '' .deemed to be the one thing* needed ; 'and is hot honorable conduct, spontaheous and unforced, too often called " soft," and the man who merits esteem 1 tdo'often deemed **so much the poorer ? V Is man's trust in man deepened or v starred over ? Is not bribery ceaeiog to encumber herself with the flimsy folds of decency; is merit a passport to anything whatever; is not the word always " to have done is nothing ; if you cannot give to those who govern a quid pro quo; if you are old and waning, what claim arises from the past ? ' Starve, and resign yourself to a pauper's grave." ' Such are a few — a very few— of the reflections inevitable on a retrospect of the past year. Philosophy can give - but "this consolation. " The past is death's ; the future is thine own." Be oar ingathering a festival of love. To '-' indiscriminate almsgiving, philosophy is "joppbse'd.' But let Christmas be;, a jubilee bf hospitality, and let the v heart .- of the shepherd b-» glad." Let cbihl- ]' : hoaid's blythe and pure notes of gbiety t ring forth around the Christmas tree— quaintly beautiful German' symbol I V Let old age recall happy thoughts^ and !;SBB9W in its shrunken veins the life, of joyY Let even tbe haggard _soqwling loafer of the tap be bribed into ablution Kg a condition precedent to a meal _gifaced with, his idolised adjuncts. But it is on the memory of childhood tha^ kindnesses linger and tend to humanise maturer life Bo Cbristmas week & fc-jhbilee; bo laid in, with loving foref ; slight, a large stock oi resolute fofgivejiiess towards young and old. Christmas is the time of justice. Let the bells ring out its dawn to soulj* eoqscious of freedom from debt. Think ' bf the poor self-reapecting trad^smen^ 'whose "small account" is life to hi|i family. And be not forgotten any one .rea/ kindness you may have received. 'during the year, but let bounty^ solid as you can afford, be graced and enhanced jN by words kind and well chosen. . Let Christmas be tbe grave of ali sullen;ness and rancour; the sun of the year "1876 is about to set; let it not set ia wrath tbat can be quenched. , Have the courage to ask forgiveness where .. conscience says you need it, have thfe dignity to grant it, nay the generosity to proffer it. If ha who envies standi. gelt-convicted b( inferiority— surely he who forgives proclaims his . superiority alike io his opulence of nature aud re- ■ source. Christmas is holiday. To the aged ."'/qaiet and peace are holiday. To the „ young, i I'ocent pleasures symbolical of the love tSttiy uiippuse. Ldt duty (stern old dam*.) dose awhile gently '* imid the frolic. Aod let the philosopher ligbteu and postpone his e-twa and jmonitious. Tlie brevity of ihe essayist __J_.ali symbolise his love of ho iJay, hia •wish to aaciitice even the dignity of l_orte_.ioo to tbe joyous spirit oi tbe hoar. Witb beans cie-aasati by penitence, the fruit of self examination, and tbat peace seldom enjoyed by the faaaghiy worliliug, with the sense that .. fcve divine can ennoble the m >nger, *«d rank tbe opulent sige with tbe ' bumble shept.er.i, witb tbe will resigned r to loyalty aaJ luv«., our Chriaimias cannot but prove cheerful as w»li as merry. And may the sew year thus baptised

prove a happier one than its predecee'sor — happier in industry, in purity, ana in love. \ Thou I Bethlehem, raised from lowly state, ; Thy walla the holy child contain, [gat^ Prom Heaven He came, and Heaven's high Shall own Him for its lord again, ! And angels veil the glowing face ! To Him who filled a sufferer's place. Hark I How the prophet lifts hia voice, ; He points to Christ's eternal reign, He bids the distant isles rejoice, j ' And sandy deserts bloom again.. Freah breaks the stream, and, clustering . round, ' The rose and myrtle deck the ground, j i To Christian of every shade — to Jew: to Pagan, to Poaitivist, to Materialist : and to Agnostic, to Rich, to Poor, t6 tbe wise and good everywhere— eveft to the improvident, the reckless, and naughty — the Philosopher's earnest i wish — regardless of the fact that by the time these lines reach the reader the . wish will have partially become an - anachronism— is j A Merry Chbibtmas j ! AND | A Happt New Ybab. j May we aid to \ . " Ring in the Christ that is to be." ' { — Tbnntsoh ,