New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1872-12-25
THE DAY.

| the present generation Will talk In conVeh"
tional yny until oil tho freshness is taken out
of our admiration, or at any rate, out OF its
! expression. Ii Is this which makes most new
poetry q reminiscence, a delusion, and, IL we
must speak our mind, an intolerable pore' IL
is this which makes art-criticism, whether OF
marble or canvass, OF music or architecture,
circular repetition of phrases. 1t is this which
makes us weary of the mere description OF
beautiful women, especially in novels, and OF
the love which they awaken. 1t is this which
has caused reams upon reams of common
place in writing about Christmas Day. The
formula for an essay upon this mournfully
merry subject was long ago established, and
remains this morning unchanged You are to
say something about the mysteries and the
mummeTies end the mistletOe of the Middle
! Ages; about the boar's head and the baronal
halls about the shepherds who saw the STAR
and the manager in which the young divinity
was Graded; you are to quote all the English
poetry upon the topic which yon can lay hands
! on, and such monkish Latin as you can pick
up at second hand and you are to finish with
little melange Of tho faoetious and the
| pathetic, and a respectful alusion to Krlss
! Kringle. The reader will at once see that we
| know all about the business, and could do It'll we
would Why should MT we. who have constructed
we are ashamed to say how many Merry
! Christmas "leaders," some of which have been
immensely admiredf 1t is the proper thing
| for O newspaper on the XVIII of December
to dispense cheerful wisdom. like Pantaloon
in pantomlrne. The fates forbid that we
should be false to those high public duties
| IL IL ys
be as merry and as wise as we can.
A man must be bopelessly morbid md bad
natured who, when he sees his fellow-cihzens
bent upon happiness. whether in wise or
otherwise way, declines, though it be only for
moment, to carry short visage, and to join
in the general giggle. we need not live very
long to find out that tho world Is pretty much
what we mako it, and that the heart which
never rejoices, OF OF least never has the grace
TO pretend to rejoice, must be rather cracked
article of physiological furniture 1t is settled,
we suppose, that in this life we must en-
counter both the rough ways and the smooth,
and that an occasional cloud is one OF tho
conditions OF sunshine. 1t might well have
happened that the determination to be Jolly
upon q particular day would defeat its own
cheerful purpose, but the jocose contagion Is
too strong; and unless some hard fortune
intervene, it is usually our luck TO be about
as happy as VIC expected 10 be. We are
saved from untimely acidity of soul
as if by miracle. Providence rewards
us for and through our faith in 1t by throwing
in q s,ipernumerary blessing or two unex-
pectedly, inst as the child upon peeping into
the suspended stocking, expecting much, finds
that the boundlessly b0untiful Nicholas has
left much more than it expected. Whoever,
this morning has heard the innocent laughter
! and tho screams OF surprised delight pealing
through the house, has listened to better
! Christmas sermon than the average pulpit
supplies. This is the children's holiday, and
shall we not stammer out carol as melOdious
rs may be in their honori For, upon the
whole, after due estimate and some exDe-
! rience, we have come TO the conclusion that
| children are the best ornaments, and, we may
say, the best safeguards of this our human
| life, since it is the children who give to homo
! its browning grace, and to our hearts the in
centiye and reward Of afcctionate self-sacri-
fee. They are the tender and unconscious
champions Of human nature, and, IN
! its own despite, save it from confirmed
, and hopeless disTepute. In their innocence VIC
sec what we have lost, and may yet regain;
in their confding faith we are taught what 1t
! is which alone can compensate for our igno-
rance and our weakness; In their natural and
spontaneous love, we find the evidence of q
possibility of tho soul which may at last be
| triumphant over gTovelina hatreds; in their
simplicity of taste and it's easy qualification,
we discover how the best things are nearest
| TO US and in their facile methods OF accom-
mOdnting themselves to the exigencies of life,
with but temporary disturbance, we see how
DOOR md proftless is all the fret and worry
with which we weakly combat unpleasant
| episodes. The dear little philosophers Tho
| small Stoios and dwarash Eplcureansi The IN
voluntary melodists singing all day long like
tho Greek grasshOpperl The tender explorers
whose every hour Ia a voyage Of discovery
Into new FL Dorsdos! The engaging bundles
J of within and piquant caprice and enchanting
waywardness The naturally inspired to whom
each new moment is afresh revelation, every sem
sation surprise, every incident an event for
wide-eyed wonder! The puzzling repetitlons
| Of ourselves, loved as We were, and loving as
we did, reading the books which We read and
revolving in an amusingly energetic way at
the same discipline to which, alas not long
ago we also wriggled Intellectual protest. We
20 to them to perase the first chapters of our
own biography, and then. with half feeling
OF pain, we look into our own hearts to read
likewise tho last chapters of their ownl Well
may We mako Merry Christmas for them while
| it Is yet possiblel Well may we clasp closer
| TO IA our darlings this morning. and half
| laughing and half in tears cast about us visit
| fully to see how the dark destinies may be
/ ar.,+ol f,n,n Thorn 'Ihcn ~ may we'll banner