Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1871-12-23
OLD CHRISTMAS.


the merry-makers, and see the glad faces
of the little ones, and hear the roar of
crackers, for it viii be Christmas. Then
will be stir, hustle anda confusion
all pleasant--in the family circle. Each
household will make little jubilee, and
though from circumstances, no two will
be alike, the same spirit will animate
all. The rich and well.to-do will cele-
brate in their own way, aud the poor,
though they cannot make display, will
feel the occasion as keenly as those who
are better to do in the world. 0fcourse,
many foolish things will be done, and,
perhaps, some bad things. 1t is too
much the custom on Christmas day to
indulge in egg-nog and strong spirits,
Many persons appear to think that they
cannot celebrate the day without
coming under the influence Of IL
quor. To enter into the true spirit
of the day, one must have cool head
and clear mind. To be fuddled, and
stagger beneath the weight of villainous
whisky, is to know nothing of Christmas,
but to sink ones self down to the level
of the hogs that root upon the streets.
When he comes to himself after the day
has rolled away, and the noises it pro-
voked scarcely live in echo and the
business world is all ia motion, he feels
that he has-let something go. He knew
nothing of the merry laugh, and nothing
Of the spirit that swept from breast to
breast and from eye to eye like winged
rapture. Come, thou man ofrationality,
let us not make Monday drunkard $
holiday tits not genteel nor moral, and
above all, not Christian. Be merry. That
is right. Be rational. That is manly.
But you little fellows, you inverted para
soils with two handles, and you little
chaps aspiring to pantaloons and peck
cts, just go it. You may shout little,
run little, dance a little, and just taste
the smallest imaginable part of drop
of egg-nog, but mind you, don't do any
thing bad. We never believed in long
face religion. We have often thought
that behind the beetling brows of sane.
hmonious faces the hypocrite dwelt.
You may bemerry, for to be merry is to
be happy, and to be happy is to have
obtained the utmost that humanity can
achieve. If anybody tells you not to
carry on SO, not to laugh so, and romp
so, put him or her down asa little too
particular. They are sobered down
now, these old people. They once
ran the giddy rounds of Christ
mas, and went through all the young
will 90 through on Monday, but
as they sit in the chimney corner
their minds are running back to the
dear old days that have long ago folded
up their banners on the silent shore
where no breeze win ever fan them, and
where the glad shouts are all buried
They are sad but it is subdued sad
ness. That man with the gray hair and
venerable form is thinking of the
Christmas days when bright being
fitted before him and made
the starlight of his life. A
little mound is all that remains now.
That aged woman is thinking of faces
that have all faded, and of voices that
can come no more, Of the tall young
man who almost broke her heart, and
how she tried to break his, and now they
made it all up on Christmas day, and
how they were married. He has lain
over there, on that little hill ever Sc
many years. BE can come no more on
the Christmas days, but she can go and
sleep by his side while all the Christmas
days to come pass unheeded. But we
grow serious, and return to the young
sters and say: be merry, but do not do
wrong. You had better just smell of the
eggnog. That is the best idea. OF the
turkey, you may taste little, but mind
you, be merry. That is all.