Western cyclone. [volume] (Nicodemus, Kan.) 1886-1887, 1886-12-30
CHRISTMAS.


good-night~ They are the words of the
rinkling verses which are as familiar
and as likely to be enduring as any lines
in our literature. The man who wrote
them is not counted among our poets,
and while everybody knows the "Visit
from st. Nicholas" nobody probably
can recall any other poem of the author.
1t was his good fortune to put into brisk
and melodious form the universal Christ
mas feeling, and to describe Santa Claus
as the fancy of childhood sees him. The
good giver of gifts is the true genius of
the season. 1t is giving which does
not invite nor permit the reinements of
philosophy and speculation upon their
spiritual fitness, but with a generous
hand showers them upon old and young
as the rain descends upon the just and
the unjust. 1t is the great and affluent
giving of food and drink and doles and
toys and all that rejOiCes the heart Of
man or boy.
Yet it is undeniable that this tradition
of Santa Claus has become almost as OBJ
pressive as it is delightful. Santa Claus
himself indeed, has the cap of FOrtu-
natus. His baskets and stores are self
replenishing, and when he arrives upon
the roof the very gifts for every age and
taste peer out of his pockets and push
themselves into his hands, and he has
only TO slide down chimney, and there
are the capaciOus stockings eagerly
awaiting him and ready to stretch to the
utm Sst to receive his gracious largess.
Santa Claus is happy fellow, as indeed
how could the fountain of such universal
happiness help being? The Pied Piper
is only one of his DISCUSSES. and if we
could once catch that dancing dervish
we should find that the merry music to
which all the children caper is merely
the bewitching tale of the coming gifts
at Christmas
But the disciples of Santa Claus, his
viceroys and substitutes, are very differ
ent from the saint himself. To sally
forth into Broadway or Fourteenth
Street or Twenty-third Street with intent
to fit yourself out as a Santa Claus is
one of the most bewildering of delight
full undertakings. A poor book lover
whom the Easy Chair knew used to say
that the only way TO save his money was
to go into all the bookstores, and in
seeing that he could not buy everything
that he wanted, he was reconciled to
buying nothing SO at Christmas the
embarrassment of riches moderates ex-
pense. and the gaping stocking is in dan
ger of going unfed from the very fulness
of the possible supply. The fascinated
and confused lOiterer, as willing to buy
one thing as another, and unable to buy
all, stareS and admires and universally
desires, and buys nothing. In the happy
enchantment of the spectacle everything
seems to him fairer and more attractive
than anything else, and he returns, how
often! jaded. delighted, dazed, with his
head full of fancies and his heart of emo
tons, but with his hands empty.
The empty-handed, however are not
all. The full-handed, indeed, are them
selves one of the pleasantest Christmas
spectacles. The satisfaction Of the dis
clple who haStenS hOmeward conscious
that he has secured what every stocking
at his chimney most desires is as serene
as that of the parent bird winging nest
ward with the plumpest of worms in his
bill, That sweet smile is the forecast of
childish happiness. The beaming par
entail faces glow with the light of happy
homes. The street seems to be full of
hurrying benedictions- Merry Christ
mas to all, and to all a goodnight"
But as we linger along the Christmas
streets and survey the lavish profusion
of costly or tasteful or useful or beauti-
ful or fanciful devices TO charm the gold
and silver from the wayfarer's purse, we
may well wonder whether Santa Claus
himself, should some mishap befall his
Journey in midair, and some one of his
fleet team, Dasher or Dancer, perhaps.
or Donder or Bitten, should cast ce-
lestlal shoe or trip over snow flake, or
the whole team shy as Jack Frost spark.
les by-whether Santa Claus. if sudden
~ obliged to renew his freight. and
alighting for that purpose in the holiday
city, might not for a moment be little
lost In the delicious pcrpleNitv. and for
get his hntheSome erand in his own de-
light. Certainly, as he passes along, his
heart might justly dilate with q generous
vanity In the consciousness that of all
saints IN the calendar he is most sincere
ly and universally worShipped-if. in
deed. Saint Valentine. 4 little later. did
not dispute the palm.
If the Imagination of the Child-and
"a boys thoughts are long. long
thoughts could reveal its Christmas
secrets, doubtless we should see it shan
ing for his wonder the strange woods Of
Santa Claus, in which the verdure IS all
OF Christmas trees lit with tiny tapers.
and blossoming, beyond apple-treeS in
June, with rare and beautiful gifts.
while yet from out that blooming realm
Oh everlasting green the monarch. mutfied
from the cold, comes gliding over the
hoar-froSt with airy reindeers tinkling in
the chilly moon. To share that mid
night ride, TO behold the multitudinous
stockings, and to return to the realm of
eternal Christmas gifts. is a vision not
beyond the daring Imagination of the
boy VINO in the JOY of the Christmas
morning twilight. rs he feels the forms,
pe1ore seeing the beauty of his gifts.
looks beyond the gifts 10 the region
whence they come "a in touching ivory
and beholding pearls and smelling spices