Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1850-12-28


the evidences of wealth and high civ
ilization shall abound, there shall be
found but little indication of moral
improvement. Gold is the great le-
yer by which men strive to elevate
themselves, and nothing is to be
sought after which cannot be turned
into gold. Availability for this pur-
pose is with many, too many, the
touch-stone by which the worth of
all things on earth is to be tried, and
every other consideration must sue
cumb to what is called the useful. In
the nineteenth century it is known
that Diva Moneta is great goddess,
and from the Babel of the world a
vc . is forever crying "Mammon /!
Mammon!' while the millions 20 up
to worship in his temple. In every
hamlet he has synagogue, on every
hearth-stone an altar, and day and
night his praises are borne on the
tongues of men. The rosy checked
urchin, who should be laughing away
in innocent sport the glad hours of
childhood, has been told by an affec-
tionate parent that to gel gold is the
end of life, and straight he goes
about swindiing his playmates. Cold
worldly thoughts are obtruded into
the minds of boys, and all the warm
impulses and holy emotions of youth
destroyed, and its beautiful visions
degraded and rendered of the earth
earthly by hard apprenticeship to
Mammon. "Mammon is god"
says the scheming mother, and staight
her daughter sells her youth and beau
ty for gold. Manhood wears away
long years in unceasing toll and, tho
weary and worn, can never rest, for
for there is gold, more gold in the
way before him, and palsed age still
crawls around its shining boards and
dies at the feet of Mammon.
In this ceaseless toll of man for
wealth, all the warm affections of the
heart are neglected or forgotten; ali tile
kindly feelings of our nature, which
would rise up and tell us of the broth
erhood of man, are stiAed in the be-
ginning of life, and the voices are un-
heard that would whisper to us Of
death and of the landof the soul.
But all good christians will stop to
be glad ON Christmas, that great day
when the stars sang in chorus with
the angels and all heaven rang with
the tidings that man had found one
TO redeem him. Christmas, the feast
of the year, was the feast our fathers,
even back to the times of dim tradi.
ton, loved. They loved it because
it was kept III grateful commemora-
ton of the goodness and n,ercies Of
God, and because it was day of
family reunion, when old ties were
strengthened and almost forgotten
affections awoke and glowed again
with the strength and vigor of former
years; a day when loving hearts went
out in happiness together, for it was
an old custom that brothers and Sis
ters should come together on that
day under the parent roof, and sit
down as children once more around
the family board.
We love Christmas, and will al
ways ioveit, for the dear recollections
it brings of our childhood's home.-
How merrily would the old house
ring with the frolick and glee of our
innocent sports; with how much more
than springtime brightness, did the
sun seem to shine on Christmas day; {;
and then when the wild birds came
out and seemed to partake Of the
general joy, how sweetly did their
music respond to the poetry of our
happy hearts What jokes we'd
.nake what tricks we'd play ex-
ploding hre-crackers and shooting lit
tie air-guns made ofthe hollow stalks
of alders. Sc