The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1876-12-22
CHRISTIANS.



A Christmas day, to be perfect, says
Leigh Hunt, should be clear and cold,
with holly branches in berry, a blazing
fire, dinner with mince pies. and
games and forfeits in the evening. You
cannot lave il in perfection II you are
very fine and fashionable. Neither,
alas can it be enjoyed by the very
poor so that, in fact, a perfect Christ
mas is impossible to be had till the
progress of things has distributed COM
fort more equally. But, when we do
our best, we are privileged to enjoy our
utmost and charity gives us right to
hope. The completest enjoyer OF
Christmas (next to lover who has to
receive forfeits from his mistress) is
the holiday school-boy who springs up
early, like bird, darting hither and
thither out of sheer delight thinks OF
his mince pies half the morning, has
too much of them when they come (par-
don him this once), roasts chestnuts and
cuts apples half the evening, is conscious
of his new silver in his pocket, and
laughs at every piece of mirth with a
loudness that rises above every other
noise. Next day, what a peg-top will ne
not buy! What string, what nuts, what
gingerbread And he viii have new
clasp knife, and pay three times too
much for it. Sour oranges will he also
suck, squeezing their cheeks into his
own with staring eyes and his mother
will tell him they are not good for him
and let him go on.
A Christmas evening should, if posi-
Gl {sv,,ch NIT vv~in ntf
the excitement without abruptness, and
sheds a repOse over the conclusion OF
enjoyment.
A word respecting the more serious
part of the days subject alluded to
above. It is but word, but it may
SOW seed of reflection in some of the
best natures, especially in those days of
perplexity, between new doctrines and
old. 1t appears to us that there is a
point never enough dwelt upon, If at all,
by those who attempt to bring about
reconciliation between belief and the
want of it. 1t is addressed only to the
believers in a Providence, but those
who have that belief, if they have no
other, are numerous body. The point
is this-that Christianity, to say the
lchSt VI ~, ID SIcdt cNcu1s ~ uao udu
wonderful effect on the world, and
still has, even in the workings of its ap
parently unflial daughter, modern
Philosophy, who could never have been
what she is but for the doctrine of
boundless sympathy, grated upon the
elegant self-reference of the Greeks,
and the patriotism of the Romans,
which was so often q mere pretext for
the most unneighborly injustice. Now,
so great an event must have been in the
contemplation of Providence-eneo of the
mountain tops of its manifestation and
if we say, even of Shakespeare and
Plato (and not without reason), that
there is something "divine " in them,
that is to say, something partaking of a
more energetic and visible portion of
the mysterious spirit breathed into
mankind, how much more, and with
how reverential love, ought we not
to have q divine impression of the ma
ture of Him who drew the great line
between the narrowness of the Old
World and the universalities of the New,
and uttered to the earth, through the
angelic organ Of His whole being, life
and death, that truly celest .al doctrine,
"Think of others 7"