The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1886-12-23

. right to claim without q warranty deed
for real estate. The less of that kind of
Christmas we have in America, the bet.
ter for the health OF the people.
The custom OF giving and receiving
gifts is an appropriate method OF observ-
ing Christmas. 1t follows the example
of Him whose life was given for human
ity, and whose every word was price,
less gift to this sin.stained world. I am
one of those who believe that "charity
begins at home, but it spreads outward.
It is stingy selfishness that begins and
ends at home. Then do not pass by the
poor with your nose on an angle Of
thirty degrees, right ascension.
What host Of pleasant recollections
hover round that one word, "Christmas''!
How enchanting are the mysteries OF
the Santa Claus myth! The name sug.
gests the essense Of music, poetry and
cramp.colic. Christmas is not time for
the grown folks to wear their brows
wrinkled up like the face of a wash. board,
nor for children to be tortured on the
rack Of etiquette. What multitude OF
the worlds children are dangling over
the ragged edge OF expectation on Christ.
mas Eve. Shall I ever forget how, as All
eager urchin, peeped forth from the
multiplex covers OF trundle-bed, watt
ing for one of Santa Claus reindeers to
knock brick, off the chimney.top with
one OF his antlers? Who dares question
the happiness of the average boy when
he has candyball in each cheek. gross
Of fire.craclSers in his pocket, and gross
Of pains in his stomach? Oh, wish
were nine-year-old and Christmas last
ed six months and had sock as long
as clothes.line!
The year is in the sheaf. Its golden
are gone forever. Its
hopes and fears and pleasures and pains
have faded from realities to recollections.
The news that first startled US sit click
ed from the electric wire has passed into
the history Of the world. What a mot
ley mass Of happenings have stamped
themselves upsn memory's tablet since
the holidays OF 'S5 Weddings and fu-
nerals! Glorious good times and disap.
pointments that choked hope. Broken
VOWS and dead impulses Now is time
to hold invoices and sum up attainments.
1t is time to review your course in the
past, value your position in the present,
and map out plans for the future. The
errors of the past are irretrievable, the
things Of the present are passing away,
the promises of the future are uncertain.
The man who has been weighing lard or
measuring calico for twelve monotonous
months ought now to weigh the ques-
tions of the hour and measure the duty
which now devolves upon him.
The New Year has sent in his card
and is waiting to be received, and while
the children hail his coming with shouts
Of laughter, we hear the dog barking
savagely as he chases the poor Old Year
over the alley fence. The first day OF
the year is usually considered a good
time to register resolves. l consider
that a very improbable business. The
strain on New Year resolve for the first
twenty-four hours is about a million
pounds to the square inch, increasing in
proportion to the magnitude OF the re-
solve. l can make my resolutions as
firmly as anybody, but pretty soon a
little temptation comes along and insin-
uatingly twines his graphing hooks
around my resolution and it is goner.
If were called upon to make resolve
just this moment would write:
.".Resolred, That girl who plays a
piano when fellow is trying to write is
worse. than cannibal."
The present generation stands on the
threshold Of the twentieth century, and
with the spirit Of the time we take the
glass of prophecy and look out over the
foggy landscape Of the future. Tenny-
son says he clipped into the future far
as human eye could see" Well, he
didn't need a very long-hard!ed ladle to
do that. We can only distinguish "men
as trees walking" and we lay down the
glass satisfied to wait and see.
l'hen we take up the glass of history
ard look back over the highway of the
cent?. .-ies. In the vivid panorama thus
brought to view we see the rushing
ranks aud bloody ensigns of thousand
battleIfeids we see nations born in q
day and cities springing up like the
gourd over Niueveh's prophet; We see
monarchies IN d republics rise and fall
contest following contest, revolution
after revolution. AS the picture passes
We hear, in imaginl 'tion, all the sounds
that ought to atteno it. We hear the
hordes of the PhiIilstines Numbering
among Canaan's hills, we near the
moaning of martyrs am ID the hellisf
scenes of St. Bartholomew's Day; W.
hear the roaring OF Rome's c. >0nftagratioI
and the shrieking of Nero's fiddle; We
hear the booming of artillery AZ Water
loo; We hear the last faint murmtr OF a
dying Savior as Calvary is shrouded in
darkness and the veil of the temple is
rent in twain.
More responsibility rests upon the
people of the present age than ever rest
ed upon any people in any preceding
age. The contingencies of our well-do-
ing are grander achievements, the re-
suits of our misconduct are greater ca
lamities. The demand for energy and
the necessity for care are doubled with