The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-12-25
TIE YEARS GREATEST FESTIVAL.

The YEARS GREATEST FESTIVAL.
A merry Christmas to all the world Let
one day be given to joy in every household
where joy is possible. All round the world
the dawning of this day has been looked for
ward to with eagerness by juvenile humanity,
and with pleasing anticipations by those old
er. And year after year this glad celebration
of what should be a universal holiday is ex-
tending to other peoples, and taking in nations
in the uttermost parts of the earth. In the
JOY Of the little folks the prejudice and fanat-
icism of centuries melt away, and the chill
drens kingdom is set up everywhere. There
is no withstanding the contagion-the little
tyrants will rule, and their subjects are glad
enough to-day to let them rule. Heaven help
that household in which, during the passing
year, have been whispered the words, 'The
king is dead" And heaven is in that home
Let all the bylaws and constitutions, writ
ten and unwritten, formulated for the
management of the little ones be to-day abro-
gated, and let the socialistic laws of love and
equality be set up from earliest morn until
the night shall put weary childhood to sleep
ThereN be rompings and noise, it may be-;
therell be shouts and laughter all through
the house, and the contagion will spread
throughout the neighborhood; you've been
hoo
there'll be no peace the whole day through.
Don't try to stop the racket. You probably
could not if you tried, and you would be mean
if you succeeded There are two days in the
year when American children should have
pretty much their own way. One of these
days is Christmas. The other is about six
months away. They are much alike in many
respects, at least in the way young people OBJ
serve them. There is no room for political or
domestic tyrants on these occasions.
"A merry Christmas to all the world. A
merry Christmas TO rich and poor; to the
rich man, hungry for peace and happiness
among all his gains; to the poor man, weary
with getting enough to do. A merry Christ
mas to children everywhere. May gladness
and joy find them out wherever they may be,
in palace and in howell, in comfortable homes
and in the unchartable streets. May this
midwirter day bring genuine pleasure to one
and all. A merry Christmas to every father
and mother under the sun. May this dav find
all their loved ones safe against harm, and in
the bloom and glow of good health. A merry
Christmas to all, on land or sea; to those at
home and those afar. May the lodestone Of
love draw all very near together. If there has
been bitterness, let it be forgotten; if there
has been estrangement, let it be ignored and
made right. Let charity rule the hour. This
done, and ali will be well.
But to only too many there can be no mirth
to-day, and the hours will drag by YEARLY
To those who gather about the pits mouth at
Nanticoke this will be day of mourning
The hundreds of bereaved ones at Pont-y-
Pridd, in Wales, will find no joy on this happy
holiday. Christina, of Spain, the widow Of
the dead King, and the widow of General
Grant, of General Mcclellan, of Mr. Hen
bricks, and of "the richest man in the world"
will see no happiness now as she sits in the
shadow Of the desolation that has fallen upon
her. So, too, in innumerable homes all over
the world to cry merry Christmas would
have the sound of mockery. But
the joy of the day cannot be wholly
quenched, and on every side in every Chris
tan lard the salutation is fraught with felici-
tations 1t is good that it is So The world
is saved with the salt of happiness, and out of
the deepest sorrow mankind is gently led back
into the old paths of giadness. To-day it is
opportune to so rejoice that others may be
enlivened and all mankind made happier
bitterness Of new bereayements others, by
the kindness of an all-wise Providence, are
making their way back into the sunlight of
peace. The gladness of the home should
illumine every face and soften all the asperites
of life, make men more charitable and the
world better for the day and its significance
In this spirit we wish one and all merry
Christmas.
THE News, commenting on the delay in the
execution of the laws penalty in the case of