The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1875-12-24
a5Dirrelianenus
CHRISTMAS.

Hlrr'i'., for King Christmas. with hearty good
Hebil, Is ba !-ellI--our friends to draw near.
ga ieliS tr-, -,l'rsptteu-yonng spirits made
Recess g.. ez.- adsi sick. weary and sad.
We derive the custom of making
Christmas Il time for cheerful recreation
from the most distant period of the mid
die ages, and though much of its original
meaning may be lost in the modern mode
of its celebration, sufficient remains to
make its advent a welcome season to all
classes. 1t is one of the advantages of
Christinas-that it does not occur so often
as to blunt its force by the frequency of
| its repetition. \ year is comparatively
a great portion of our short earthly pill
grimage, aud each year has events, for
| rs, sufficiently numerous and remarkable
to make it close an epoch with an impor-
| tance of its own. 1t is commonly ac-
cepted notion that Christmas is especially
the time for the exercise of charity and
kindly sentiments towards those about
us aud connected with us, for cherishing
our friends and forgiving our enemies,
and this, alone, makes the festival the
most>useful and important in the calen-
dar; from our earliest youth, too, with
many of us, perhaps some of the pleas
antest "reminiscences have been aSsocia-
ted with Christmas festivities. AS chill
dren, we revelled at this period in the
enjoyment of unusual Injuries and un-
wonted liberty. When at school, the
prizes, the heightened holidays, and other
associations, lent their respective charms
to make it peculiarly memorable. In
budding manhood Christmas time af-
forded us an opportunity of whispering
words of affection to those we loved, as
we sat around the cheerful fire indulging
the ''ghostly sentiment Of by-gone ira
Gitions, and in after years, the accus-
toned greeting of friends and relatives
some of whom may have passed away
from among us-were anticipated with
pleasure, and still retain place in our
were forgotten. The liveIiest interests,
however, in Christmas, is experienced in
childhood. Shut out, is it were, from
participating in the cares and anxieties
incidental to every day life, their enjoy
ment is unalloyed. To them it is an all
absorbing question how they will stand
in the good graces of Santa claus-and
as they eagerly endeavOr to get the most
exalted position for their tiny stockings
on the wali-who can lucidly portray the
Juvenile aspirations of those sanguine
little minds! Visions of rich viands, the
contemplation of Christmas tree, liter
ally groaning under appropriate PRESENTS
from father, mother, sister, brother,
aunt, uncle, or dearest friends, without
the family circle, all tend to invest the
season with an increased imaginary val
ue, because they belong TO Christmas
Aud why should these simple, innocent,
and yet honest experience of unsullied
youthfuIness be less appreciated, or al
in after years, when it must be univer
sally conceded that human nature is YER
lily be5tered by the morals deducted from
them? Christmas, like the Sabbath, may
truthfully be claimed an all-wise dispen-
sation of Proyidence-the former to re-
cuperate the toiI-worn frame of physical
nature, and the latter, or the marked
recognition of Christmas time, as mile
stone on the highway of oflife-reminding
US, year by year, of our advancement in
that path. Let Us, then, rather cling to
and cherish the prudent observation of
this season. Let young and old unite
in its highest and noblest teaching-in
los purest sentiment-and verify we shall
not only spend a merry Christmas, but
may with assurance look forward to the
enjoyment of "a happy new year."
HAND SHAKING.--''Whois is he that will
strike hands with me!" asks Jobs. "a
man void of understanding strikes hands
and becometh surety in the presence of
his friends, saith the wise King of Israel
In the old world, the custom of striking
hands, Misunderstanding, no doubt, origica-
ted, for, before 1t became ..a0-s friendly
greeting, shake of the hand was ac-
cepteG as pledge. When Ferdinand
and Miranda strike their tender bargain,
he says, ''Ilere is my hand, and she re-
plies, And here is mine, with my heart
on it." Dunbar, Lord Treasurer of Scot
land, congratuIating Yelverton upon
having made his peace at Court, said to
him, 81 will desire your friendship, as
you do mine, and l will promise to do
you my best; whereupOn, as pledge, L
give you my hand" And so, shaking
Yelverton by the hand, he bade him fare
well. Nowadays a shake of the hand
may mean very much, or nothing at all.
The strong, hearty gripfor-grip of two
old long-parted friends, meeting unex-
pectedly, is one thing; the nerveless.
loose, Indifferent clasp Of acquaintance
ship, another. Sydney Smith attempted
to classify hand shakes, dividing them
ilto the high official, the sepulchral, the
digitory, the shakas rusticus, and the
retentive. The first was practiced by the
then Archbishop of York, "whO kept his
body erect, carried your hand aloft 70
the level of his chin, and gave it rapid,
short shake" Sir John Macintosh af-
fected the sepulcbral, ''laying his open
hand fiat on your palm, so coldly that
YOU were hardly aware ofits contiguity."
The digitory-in favor with the high
elergy-was adopted by Brougham, who
used 10 put forth his forefnger, with,
Chow are youl7 Tue shakus rusticus
was having your hand seized a. in an
iron grasp. betOkening rude health, a
warm heart, and distance from the me-
tropolis, but producing a sense of relief
when your hand is released with the fin
gers unbroken AL the Year Round
THE MANS II 1775.-Those who are
demanding fast mails should read the
I following order, which was published in
in the Pennsylvania gazette, February
18th, 1771J:
/ GENERAL POST-OFFICE.
| pgrTADEIPHTA February II I'VE.