Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1885-12-24
ALEXANDRIA, VA
THURSDAY EVENING, DECEMBER "a.

THURSDAY EVENING", OI.oA1nAoA1A. =
To MORROW WILL be Christmas. How
the heart swells with memories OF days tnae
were replete with happiness and times that
we're abundant with glad emotion 1t is
the day set apart and dedicated to reunion,
when passion should be hushed, envy ST.
lenced and animosities forgiven. 1t is the
time for the proud to unbend, for the rich
tn give. and for the influential to use their
power and place for the noblest Offices OF
charity and good will. 1t is the time Tor
age to renew its golden youth, for manhood
to drift back to its boyish days, and for the
young to be supremely happy. 1t Is the
time when the air should be vocal with
merry voices, and when young hearts snouid
beat with radiant joy and young eyes
sparkle with pure happiness. hno"ieoge'
truth. love, beauty, goodness, faith, and
naught else, can give true vitality to this
seasos. The laugh of mirth that thrills the
human heart, the tears of joy that freshen
the waste places, and the music that beck
ons childhood back again, are the manifesto
tions of the feelings that should animate all
on this festive occasion. For the young
Christmas has gifts and surprises, for youth
it has offerings and holiday, and to those of
maturer age it brightens the closing year.
It is the peculiar and sacred season when
neighbors and friends, the high born and
the lowly, the successful and the
unfortunate should cast aside the feelings
that divide them, and unite in one common
effort to make the day bright for the time
and more brilliant to be remembered. On
this eventful day each heart should have its
gladness, each home its happiness and every
one should catch the reflected JOY that is
minored by noble act or christian deed.
No word save that of love, no act save that
of tenderness, no tokens save that of kind
ness should mark the day that is the ami.
versary of an event that gave to humanity
a religion and code of morals that have
reformed the world and made peace and
good will its predominating influences.
AS THE Constitution of the country OF
which Virginia forms part is the supreme
law of the land, and as that instrument
prohibits any State from making laws i'm
pairing the obligation of pecuniary con-
tracts, the "policy" of the present Legisla-
ture. rs foretold to the GAzETTE's Washing
ton correspondent yesterday. by member
of that body, will be as impotent to defraud
the creditors of the State as any that has
preceded it, though it will undoubtedly
broaden and deepen the stain upon her
honor and, if that were possible, render it
more difficult to regain her lost credit.
Most of her coupons are for thirty dollars,
and to divide tax bills of that amount and
upwards into four parts, payable quarterly,
so as to reduce the amount payable at any
one time below thirty dollars, and thereby
prevent the use of those coupons, would be
aquibble and, technically, so obviously fraud
ulent in its character and intent that it
would be utterly impossible for it to receive
the sanction of any United States court. A
passing strange thing about the Virginia
debt question is the fact that it never seems
to strike the members of the Legislature
that By devoting go much of their time to
the devsing of plans and schemes for pre-
venting the creditors of Virginia from col
lecting what is due them, in other words
for defrauding the States creditors, they
may, and by no means unnaturally, suggest
the idea that their regard for the binding
obligation Of private debts does not measure
up as high as the Virginia standard of
former times.