The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1860-12-27
Deleful Christm as!

ktote1WI OaIhvshoe'
Perhaps come of our readers regard ths
caption OF this article as involving paradox.
Perhaps they think IL 1t 10 not msrss, 1t Ii not
Christmas at all. II the law Be plainly un.
cons.itu tional, the Judges do net say 1t u DAD
lsw-that would be to admit that there was
roo,n for error in q science which mas oeen
described a the perfection OF reaaoc. They
took the bull boldly by the horns. They tell
T.. there 10 40 law. The negroes on pianta-
ton we once knew, distinguished themselves
nv all getting drunk on the last day Of harvest
of 4 Ger tain year. The next year the proprie-
TOR told them they should have no whiskey.-
"Humph 7" srunted the head mao, . don't
call dat no harvis', don't" So Is CHRISTMAS
nothing II Il Is not merry, as lAao was noun
ing IL not critical
We suppose. then. the 23th day OF Decemo Der,
I'm the year of Grace Oae Thousand E'ent
upparsd aud sixty, was, 10 US at least not
Ohri,tmas. for, most assurediy, 10 Us IL was
-, go. We speak not of the rumors Of
80 xhicn were rife to the point of tain ting
On. very air we breathe. We speak not OF
massachusetts or South Carolina, of the Presi-
dent that Is going on, or the PRESIDENT that Is
coming In. wespeak not Of secession or revo-
luton. We speak only OF our own peculiar all
ments-of long chill and high fever, ana
.o,s and headache, on the night before the eve
Of the Nativity, when every hair upon our heao
rose mn like rebeliious yassal, jealous OF MS
.o1arsignty, and ached upon its own indepen-
dan hook wiz the yigor OF forty horse power.
We speak of that fearful Christmas eve, when,
following SHAKsPKARE, the bird OF morning
ousbt 10 have sung all night long to keep evil
spirits from walking the earth, out WheH, II
we may trust theevidsnce OF cur own senses,
hs either slept upon his post, or IL ne scared
AWAY one class of devils, suffered anotner
forty times as numerous, and hve hundred
times as noisy, 10 usurp their places. We had
n Il sleps wink the night betore-we were IA
boring under the effects Of powerful aho-
dvue-ve felt nervous, worn out, and wrelch-
"a IN the last degree. How delightful, tnen,
NINA, have been our sensations To ind our
..,vas whenever we were dropping on into
ao.s roused by concatenation OF small ex-
v,,o.top. like an irregular discharge OF small
arm. commencing Immediately under our
vindow running, apparently, all around the
.ou.rs and returning TO the starting post,
vi,h the regularity OF racers on the four 10
a.r "a taxa a fresh start in q new "burst up
a. loud n the roar Of q forty two pounder -
Un.t . charming situation for SICK man TO
Ia nlaced int Especially, when his mind Is In
. xerv confused state, at best, and in his men,
t.,,utltpht. he finds it difficult TO unrayel the
ob,os of soupds which, for aught he can Tell
a, the moment, may be the beginning OF the
1ay If Iudgment On went the roar-louder
grew the diu-more intricate became the per-
nisx,tv The magazines seemed TO have been
r.n,acked-all the volunteer companies might
.,;r rfrd hOXpS DtleO TO sun
nlv the uproar-there must have been powder
.,orrh 10 have fought the battle of Waterloo
arad an the occasion. Infinite variety OF in
tona,ton had these same por-crackers. Some
Of them went not louder than a small poe
pisto,-others crashed like a musket-others
roared like a six .pounder-and some OF them
might rival the explosion OF the big gun al
Old Point.
The night was one Of the longest OF the year,
according TO the almanac. According TO our
feelings, IL was longer than any ever expert
enced at the North pole. We thought over
everything we had ever heard of In the way OF
heavy slumbers. We thought OF the seven
.lesusrs ard their little sesta Of one hundred
and eighty years. We thought of RIP VAN
WINKLE, and his inferior performance OF four
teep. We seemed to have bsen abed longe
than either of them, and we did not feel alto.
sether assured that we had not been asleep
the whole time. We were by no means GER
taiu-if we were asleep-that we should not
wake in the middle OF the thirtieth century
Day, however, came at last. and will come, in
the end, though the night be an hundred years
long. Day came, but with it ceased not the
son nds that made night hideous. They seemed
indeed, rather to have Increased with the ad-
vance of the day. 1t was one continual rat.
tie. clash and roar throughout the day
a prolonged and pertinacious warfare against
the quiet of every orderly neigborhood in
the ciy-a desperate determination TO be
merry in spite OF nature and the heart.
We suppose we ought to tack moral to this
tale of ours We have one at hand. 1t Is
this Do not hope to be merry when you are
sick. be the season Christmas or any other
We missed all the sights, If there were any
outdoors to see; but then, didn't we see sights
in our own chamber }