New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1872-12-28

the souls Of the little ones, therc is not likely
To be an undue m eponderance of theology. II
Iittle music. a 4 It Of dancing, quantities Of
flowers. sometbino ,xtra TO cat with the OF
anges, a magic LIANT. I'd, comic SINGER ana
nerbans n nrofessionsr thaumaturgist" should
he thrown in. so mueT, he better for the Sun
day scholars. We may ~ hiy nopo LOT anno@
anything when the superb "ehuent Deg'hs 70
give out oranges.
II we were ever addicted (. ; the preaching
Of sermons, we might from % Z text laoouS
oranges) give beautiful one, wA en- would %
just the thing for Christmas wsof. Inc ieS-
tiyal, as IL has with sacred joy bees Sepe from
the very beginning, ia the Chmch's gracious
intlmation TO her children that sher, !"
time TO laugh" She puts off her = HiOe'
raiment for a season, and snspeadibg D'r
montorial functions, smiles upon the g2ysb o.
her wards. She lends her sanction to barn
less relaxation, and bids her lambs learn thu
religions fervor and well-tempeTed mirtb sre
perfectly compatible. She allogs US to eat Of
not drink rather more than is good for Us.
She bids her musicians suspend their adagios
and play something seriously sprightly. She
autboriiatively declares that unless religion IL
something to be sorry for, there 10 no reason
why we should not be glad.
Nor viii any harm come Of it, We suspects
even though the illogical mind Of childhood
should learn to connect religion with oranges
Better, certainly, the pulpy, juicy, well-favored
orbs than the dry husks of an incompreheDS-
bic theology Our church managers ere III
fnitely wiser than the fathers. Imagine
little Puritan boy, who, having tOddled mile
OF 80 through the snow to church, Tor rather
meeting -house,) in which stoves are prohibited
az irreligious, seated upon hard pine
board and treated, for three or four hours. 70
a sermon crawling from First to Fifteenthiy
No orange had the small rase-GOd-For-Au-
His-Mercies to assusge his inevitable thirst.
He was taken in q half-frozen and wholly
sleepy state to the place which he called home,
where he was RECALLED with cold beans and
pork, focged if he laughed and thrust into a
cold bed at sunset, after listening TO prayers
not of the briefest. Happy Sunday-schoOl boy
of the nineteenth century! He has picture
books, steamboat excursions, picnic parties.
concerts, moral entertainments; and now, it
appears, he has also oranges. All these good
nesses- graciousnesses are vouchsafed unto MN
with only the drawback of mOrsel of cateehsm.
For all this light leading and genial training,
is he likely to grow up any worse Christian than
the little Praise-God became VIII any harm
come of making him love the sanctuary in
stead of making him hate it We sincerely
hope not. We are for keeping up the orange
festival, if it would not be dangerous; and we
are glad that the churches seem TO be OF
our mind All the sects have agreed that it
will do no harm to let childhood have its
swing, and even the staid Quakers have
emancipated the sucking Broadbrims, decreeing
that their brims at least need be oyershadow-
inc no longer. The era Of religious oranges
has arrived, and we are glad of it.