The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1872-01-04

signed by prominent men of our State. u
CHRIsTMAs AT HoME,--Santa Clans came
to us upon schedule .time,f and has de-
parted leaving pleasant remembrances,
we hope, with every one of US, the little
ones inparticular. Heaven bless the myth
ical Santa !--He brings happiness, tran
sient happiness, alas! and smiles to so
many, and he fills little stockings with
bon 6Ons to please the briglt-eycd begin
ners upon this life of toll. He relaxes the
a~ustere qualities Of our natures and opens
the heart and hand which are too often
closed to the calls Of humanity. But ali !
Santa too often, If not altogether, passes
by the little ones who have no stockings to
hang up, and it is a sad commentary upon
the professions ofthe religious world that
thousands of little ones are out In the wet
and the cold, %barefooted and helpless, who
have no stockings to hang up. You, who
70 to fine churches and gaze with arrogant
pride upon the costly a%dornmentso of your
favorite one--you, In Winchester and else
where, who struggle to make q little ap-
plause and gain allttle trade for yourselves
by giving a few dollars to this church or
that with d hope OF reward, regardless or
ignorant of the fact that sectarianism is
not religion--doy you never reflect that the
money expended upon unnecessary trap
pings ola house devoted, profcssedly, to
the Savior who was born IN a munger, could
have made, perhaps. some little heart glad
that shivers and is sa in the cold December
upon us ?--some heart that is friendless and
forlorn while you are luxuriating in plen-
ty at home, anil are happy beneath the
light of chandeliers at Church--do you
never reflect that your religion is worse
than no religion at all? Do you never re-
fleet that your pasmodic charity in Christ
mas time is only a cheat by which you
hope to deceive the world, but which can-
not deceive the God who made you? You
made u present, did you? But to whom
did you make it? Was it not to some pet
ted child Of fortune? Was 1t not some one
who was able TO repay you anon--some one
richly connected ?--Great God! in the day
of general reckoning how many who make
themselves a name for charity will find
themselves condemned by the verdict of
suffering ones, redeemed and happy, who
had no stockings to hang up in the Christ
mas of eighteen hundred and seyenty-one!
The star of Bethlehem which shone upon
the shepherds far off in the East will not
shine on them. but leave them to darkness,
to w~ailing:and crashing ofteeth.
But, to the point: The Holidays in Win
chester passed away pleasantly. In &C
cordancc with the hope of the Home Jour
nal there was but one Christmas Tree, ard
that at Trinity Church, the other churches
very magnanimously foregoing any indi-
yidual demonstration. And Trinity was
crowded. Its Christmas. Tree was beauti
fully illuminated and clustered with bon
bons and holiday gifts for the Sunday
School children, and for others who were
not Sunday School children. The gifts
were most artistically arranged, and orna-
mented the branches of the tree that
spread far from the centre. The Rector,
Rev. II. Ii. Sneed, to whose untiring ex-
and good heart we all are indebted
as a community, made q beautiful address
and then announced Santa Claus, who was
no other than Col. B. f. McGehee, un-
it having been concluded that he
looked sufficiently like Kris Kringle
whether he had anything on or not, and
a wise conclusion we must confess. SO, he
distributed the gifts as Mr.. Cutler Cherry
them from the tree, and right well
lid he do it. The Church was beautifully
decorated with evergreens, and told in
silent language the taste o thc ladies who
had it in charge. The following motto. in
arge well-formed letters of evergreen,
made a semicirclc in front of of the large
audience: "For unto us is born thisday in
he city of David a Savior which is Christ
The Lord"
After the usual ceremonies upon such
occasions, the audience was dismissed.