New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1884-12-25
CIRLST.M1S D1Y.

Church which under the name OF the Incarna-
ton stands at the base of Christianity. 1t Is
above all else a right royal and merry feast to a
large majority OF Englishmcn who even in this
utilitarian age have not forgotten the traditions
of the Cavaliers of the seventeenth and the
Tories of the eighteenth century. 1t is to the
young the happy season of giving and receiving
of gifts, made beautiful and precious by the
thoughts Of love that go with them. IL is to the
poor man or woman bowed down with life's
burden or stricken with life's sorrow the rift
in the cloud, it may be, where the blue sky is
visible, and the brief sunshine of human kind
ness gives courage to the fainting soul. And
finally, Christmas is to average people the
world over n holiday, legal or social, when the
wheels Of business cease revolving, when
churches are fragrant with evergrcens and joy
Gus with music, and when there is plenty of
time for the united family to eat q dinner Is
elaborate as the circumstances will permit But
to all alike, Churchman and unbcllever, Round
head and Cavalier, gentle and simple, old and
young, rich and poor, it brings with it some
thing at least of joy. 1t is not merely the day
when the Church commentaries a dogma IL is
also the day when the hearts of the people are
touched by the angels song of peace and good
will It is the apotheosis Of the ideal of human
brotherhood.
And well for us that it is so. Life is full
enough at best Of cares and sorrows. Happy
thew who for even a few brief days can go back
in thought to the half-spun dreams of their
childhood, and recall the hallOwed tales they
first learned at their mothers knee. 1t is good
for us to relax for a season the hard set look of
the wording and the money getter, and yield
TO the sweet influence Of nobier and better
ideals The utilitarian is an estimable person
in his way, but there are times when his parrot
like cry, " What use r is an impertinence The
valne of Il festival like Christmas is altogether
beyond the ken of such man, with his dry
columns of facts and figures. 1t is at once
sentiment, a memory, IA hope, and prophecy OF
that which yet shall be.
As such the world needs II, perhaps more than
ever before. The unceasng rush of modern life
Is making sad havoc with the old festalllays of
our forefatheIs. We hardly know how to throw
aside all care and be simply happy. That good
old word Emery" which always goes with
Christmas has strange unfamiliar sound In the
world Ui the steam engine ANA the telegraph.
We Americans especially ate sad race,
serious iaep. uron whom work has fallen like
pall ani Us WhOm SERIOUSNESS i0r Va 6Wn sake is
aiNBsi unknown. We have h0t 6nf baNishea
,hp hNt iats which 0Nf l0tplaheis delighted
,a heNeg, hNi hAte iNiipa ~ eplph,aie property
,hp tow hnihais which 40 gHhgRgiY ailpWph
tp tabs ihplg piaGe.
i.ot Us hing hack the holidays and lot US
learn ia celebrate them rs seasons of rest, at
recreation, at "Reminiscences. There is room tor
them all, for none, perhaps, more than Tor
Christmas. With It's religious suggestions, with
lis lessons OF charity and brotherhood, with Its
memories of the sweet long ago of hopeful,
joyous youth, with its prophecy of that good
time coming when mankind shall reach the goal
of happiness this day is surely worth presery-
ing to humanity. Aside from its theological or
sectarian aspect, it stands forth as the feast of
the asperities of life, and renew in the soul the
fading picture of earlier innocence. 1t will keep
alive the childlike element in our nature with
ont which we soon become hard and unnatural.
And it will remind lis, coming as it does at the
end of each recurring year, when we are about
to cast up the ledger of our failures and sue
ccsses, that the pursuit of wealth or fame is not
all of life, and that both combined will be worse
than useless to us unless they are accompanied
by the happiness that comes from duty done.
-------------
The accomplished leader of Harugan & Harris
lost violin valued at $500 in the Theatre
COmidue fire. He had never left it in the house
over night before. just what constitutes the
difference between dispensaton of Providence and
stroke of fate is the question which now interests
the yiOnst.
The dispatch from Wheeling on the Odd gives the
best evidence that can he obtained of the actual
difference Of the Greenback vote in that State,
aSout which there has been considerable dispute.
1t states that go per cent of THIS vote cast for
the Republican candidates, and 10 per cent went to
the Democratic party This must refer, however,
TO the vote east for Weaver in 1880 nasmuch as no
separate GreenbacX vote has since been cast. On
that basis about 400 Giccnback votes were given
to the Republicans. and about 5000 TO the Demo
Gratis This makes il evident that the proper Re-
publican vote cast for Mr. Blaine has hitherto been
not correctly stated by those who have deducted
the whole Grcenback vote of 1850 from the number
east for Republican electors in West Virginia
Strictly speaking fusion in that State had no effect
the Grccnback force having resolved itself into its
original elements, and rs IN Virginia, definitely
divided between the two large parties.
The decision of the Brooklyn Independents not to
form third party suggests the homey fact that the
material which would mako mud PIE won't make
A planet
Senator Bayard must bc considerably astonished
,t the liberties taken hy tine Delaware newspapers
in discussing his possible successor in the Senate
he should recall Thorn 10 their senses by pointing
out that his son. the third Jane. Ashclcy sBayard
and the nfth of that lln.trlOus line of American
Senator'S Is In existence.
The yrar 1891 has been a remarkable year IN
several respects. but particularly IN cutting down