New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1842-12-26
Christrna. Thnagh ess

Christmas Thaaghfss
This is the day generally ceIebrated-how cor
ree.iy, is of little moments the anniversary Q,
the birth Of the Prince of Peace-the appo'n's0
Saviour OF Mankind. In every direction ot'uie'fes
are sestooned with garlands, and mutitudes OF JOY
full yotaries are thronging ,hther to testify their
rra,i,nde by thanksgiving and praise. But not
slone ,bropeb devotion does the general JOY declare
;,se,f In festive and social gatherings; in happy
-,,,;o,s Of lons-separated relatives and friends;
in the ponp and profusion of the bosptable board,
crowned with every delicacy which can lure the
eve or tempt the palate; In hilarity, merriment,
and reve is testified, however blindly and per.
yersey, the general belief that the first Christmas
heralded the dawn of a brighter day for our sim
ming, suffering and sorrowing Race.
Rejoice ye Of light heart and plen,eous store
vet forget not in the heyday Of your fes,ivy, that
Earth is still valley of tears. Forget not that
even now, while ali around you Is joyous, the tar
greater number of your brethren are sunk IN deg
radiation, ignorance, desttution and sin; that Want
and Crime still darken the pathway of the larger
number Of the children of men, Forget not this
day that even in our free, happy America,
millions of children are growing up with no proper
instruction or warning against the thousand pit
falls of error and vice which every where sur
round them; that millions Of all ages are even
now procariously and scan,ly provided with needfu
shelter, warmth and food. Yes, even in our own
City thcre are many thousands who this day look
forward with apprehension and shuddering to the
inclement season now barely COMMUNICATIVE
- oF
Winter, within the scanty rsgs with which they
would fain be covered, as they reject that even the
neagre subsistence now accorded them is bal
anced on the breath of employer who may
not BIS able, even if willing, to continue it month
longer. Thus the lone widow sits amid her fam
ished children and only Prays, with fear and tremb-
ling, that the privilege she now enjoys of earning
their bitter bread by the hardest toll may still be
vouchsafed her. But harder far than hers is the
lot of the thousands Of delicate and tenderly
nurtured children who day by day pace the stony
streets of our City, Of other Cities, in fruitless
quest of any possible employment, and return al
night to the shelter now grudgingly afforded them
to brood in darkness over the visions of Despair
Is it q wonder that Crime testers and etEervesceS
in such homes as these
Do we recall these pictures to rack unseasona-
by the sensibities of the merciful, quicken the
charity of the benevolent? Neither the one nor
the other. Of useless sorrow for human misery |
there is too much already; Of purblind alms-giv-
ing quito enough. If the present amount were
doubled, it is doubtful that the aggregate OF want
and suffering would BIO essentially permanently
diminished. 1t is not degrading aims that the
mass of the Poor need or desire, but useful Labor
an opportunity to earn bread honestly and eat it
in the pride of honest desert and upon the tenure
of continuing to deserve it. Half the means now
expended Annually in public and private charity,
wisely applied, might diminish Pauperism to one
tenth, if not to onefftieth, of its present amount
If the vast Gum now devoted to charity were ex-
pended in So organizing and systemizing Industry
that every human being able and willing to earn
subsistence should be secured an opportunity to do
so, the NEST prolific source of human misery and
want would be nearly dried up for ever. The sum
so expended would not need TO DO replaced an
nually, but, once efecsually employed, would re-
turn and remain continually. Every dollar thus
devoted would be employed not merely in dlmin-
;shipg present suffering, but in adding to the sum
of human comforts and widening the sphere OF
useful human exertion And thus in few yeers
nigh, Pauperism and Want be nearly banished
from our land, and ultimately from the earth
But we will not here repeat all that we have
been saying, and that others have urged in our
columns since The Tribune was established we
only ask that those who sincerely desire the dimi-
mutton of Want and Wo should, in this season of
general good will, look at the subject fairly and
fully. 1t must be regarded-it SHALL be! We
are not tenacious Of means-bnt will heed any
plan which shall bid fair to that he who has
Labor only to- give and asks Bread in exchange for
it, shall be enabled TO make the exchange-shall
not be liable to sarve in the streets simply because
no man chooses TO employ him. He may have no
claim on any individual but he has claim on So
ciety-on tho possessors of the Soil and all the
mcans of obtaining an independently livelihood. This
claim must be recognized aud secured. Our teller
ant friends who would stop our paper because we
admit articles pointing cut and advocating scien
t;6c mode of attaining the desired end, dose il
they choose but they stie the expression of
our free thoughts. If they object only to the par
tieulsr mode pointed out in the essays excepted to,
why do they not suggest betterf We are ready
to hear and heed them. But, whether with or
without their eoantenance, we cannot cease the
OF Humanity and entwined with oil hopes Of an
improved condition for the mass of mankird--the
cause which ccntemplates the securing OF Employ
Pieyment and Subsistence TO every human being
For this cause ws shall still labor in hore cheer