The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1868-12-25
Our Christmas Greeting.

| we DO 1ot desire 10 look Wearily pack Oh
the SORROWS of gloomy past; ner would
we dwell upon the drifting cloud which
mars the brightness of to-day. We had
rather speak of the future, whose trouble
or gladness is all concealed, and assert the
Christmas creed divine-charity, peace,
goodwill. Now may we pluck out the
thorns which have rankled in our flesh, and
buckle on for aye that armor of tolerance
and trust which will shield from harm and
danger our people and our State.
1t is q grave responsibility which we
now have to bear. The freedmen who live
in the midst of US are capable of good or
harm, as we by our actions may decide.
The evils which grow out of their changed
condition, be they few or many, are laid
not to our charge; but this does not relieve
us from the task Of taking by the hand
those who are ignorant and roor, and who
have not that sober knowledge which would
enable them 10 stand and walk alone. 1t
is eur plain and solemn duty to do all that
can be done for the elevation and improve
ment of the colored people of the South.
We cannot shift the burden from our shoul-
ders by crying cut-'.We did not make them
'free." They are free, their future de-
pends on US; and we must see to it that they
who are no longer slaves of ours shall not
become the grovelling thralls of misery
aud vice. We cannot make them, in mo-
ment, all that they ought to be. We may
never be able to make them all that we de-
sire. Yet must we perscvcre in we'll doing;
for Providence has made the colored people
our wards, and we dare not refuse the
trust. From them we have already had
many slight to bear; but neither thought
less conduct nor personal wrong should
cause US to cast them off and deny them
our counsel and our care. This at first
may win but little thanks; but kindness
persevered in and faith always kept, at last
must prevail. These are the teachings Of
self-interest, and they are also the teachings
of that highest law which God himself has
made.
But not of the colored race alone must
we think and speak this day. We must net
forget the swarming millions of the North
and West who, at home or in the field, bat
tied against US Throughout that terrible
struggle which has ploushol eternal fur
rows on the face Of the sunny South.
Four years have well-nigh passed since
the ruined hosts of the Confederacy laid
down the arms they had borne SO long and
well. South Carolina is once moro mem
Der Of the grand sisterhood of States for
which cur fathers fought. Massachusetts
and Louisiana, Georgia ard the Golden
State, now stand side by side, and ii is full
time that We should renounce forever the
angry legacy of war. Far be it from Us
to ask that the soldier whose body was
pierced, and the matron whose heart was
broken, should be neglected or forgotten.
This can never be. The sacred sword still
shall hang by the Christmas hearth; the
tomb shall still be wreathed with sweet
memorial flowers; the brave who live, and
the memory of the heroic dead, shall still
be more precious than rubics in our sight.
And yet elmity and bete may be removed,
and this whole vast territory be Joined in q
| 1ralernQl uQlOu VI lIlCuullucsS duo lofS'
We would not give to every man our ccnh-
dence and trust. We would not clasp each
stranger to our breast But we would root
ou: the seeds of prejudice and hate, and
weigh the Northern man in the self
balance in which the Southern man is
weighed There should not be one stand
ard for the South and another for the North
and West. 1t becomes net brave people
to be unjust, because they were worsted in
the fight We must judge as we would be
judged; and in according to others sin.
cerity of purpose like unite oar own, we
owe it to ourselves to give cordial greet,
ing to every -lsal and upright man, come
whence he may.
And these things of which we speak may
not be dismissed with word or jest
Christmas tide is upon us, and the New
Year is knocking at cur gates. Once more
we are brought face 10 face with what We
have done and what we have failed to do;