The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1877-12-22

SO was the family dinner, that had some
thing grand and solemn about it con ac
count of the best china, suppose)
though everybody laughed good deal
And SO was the evening, all alive with
cousins, and aunts, and uncles, and
grandmother.
Yes-and grandmother. She was the
best part of it. The dinner was at
grandmother's always there, year after
year,, and the evening also. This even
ing there was high, improvised well
in the back parlor, all covered with ever
greens, with a big monkey crouching on
the curb of the well, and little fairy
with wings standing near. Every time
the monkey plunged into the well he
would bring up paper parcel and hand
it to the fairy, who would trip with it to
grandma and grandma, quite surprised,
would read the name on the parcel and
so on, again and again, until every one
in the room had a present.
l can't help crying now, when | think
of grandmother, with her soft hair, and
sweet face, and kind, gentle voice. Yet
she will be happier this Christmas even
than she was then. But the well has
vanished; the monkey has outgrown his
funny costume and gone into the bank
ing business; the fairy has married a
thriving young lawyer, and mother has
shining threads in her hair, and dear
old "Lizer' has gone to heaven. AL
together, when Christmas comes, though
we're very happy, it isn't real Christ
mas any more. We 'Eknow all about
Santa Claus" We've a part to play
for the new children.
The new children. All there's the
rub. Ours are favored enough, thank
God but if, as old Eliza used to say,
all children were among the scrumptu-
GUS rich If only every little one could
know the real Christmas But it is ter
rible to think of the thousands of little
hearts in sunny Christendom that beat
with no quickened pulse as the blessed
day draws near where toll, and power
ty, and hardship have made the home
only place to suffer in, and to endure;
where there is no childhood, only baby
hood and, after that, only little bodies
with old faces, bending beneath undue
burdens, or young hearts stepped in the
moral malaria of the street.
Heaven bless those kind hearted, busy
saints who gather few of these little
ones together in ragged schools and mis-
sion schools, k-days and Sundays,
and once year enchant them with the
substantial sparkle of a Christmas tree
And Heaven bless all poor parents who
contrive to spare from their scanty store
enough for the one gladstone day when
a few penny toys and sugar plums make
beautiful the little tree that brightens
the bare room
But what shall we say of those who,
without darkening poverty or chilling
care, have so driven the sunshine from
that the Merry Christmas time
cannot reach them nor their children
In cold conventionality they may dole
out gift or two of the most practical
understanding that would soon have
been needed even had the Christmas
bells been silent-but as for bon-bons
and trihes, alas +! they are not even
dreamed of.
knew of one little girl-she lived at
Spotswood, in New Jersey-who, at the
age of fourteen, had never had Christ
mas present Yet this poor little crea-
ture went to school, and had warm
clothing and house to live in. An
other "well-to-do" schoolgirl told me
that her present last year was pair of
gum over-shoes ''real good Ones" she
added, "but-but'-
Good friends don't let any little
child walk about this Christmas with
'but' in its heart if you can help it,
Let this one day of all others be radi
ant with fulilment. Give useful things
if you will, but, if they are not beauti
full, at least enliven the gift with some
thing pretty and bright.
Only once in all the year comes the
Christ-child knocking at our hearts on
his sweet GRAND. Let us do his bid
ding.
Let us make the day beautiful and
precious, tenderly shading the inevita-
BILE disenchantment when it comes, and,
as far as we fifty can, filling the measur-
ure of faith in Christmas mysteries with
a loving compliance to Christmas needs
Every tender observance, from the
"Merry Christmas - strife of the morn
ing to evening sports under wreaths of
holly and laurel, should be held sacred.
Then, when with reverent love we go
back in prayer to where the Young
Child lay, the beautiful glee of our
homes shall yield us frankincense and
mvrrh