Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1886-12-20
CIIRISTM Is.

CHRISTMAS.
Merry Christmas to all and to all a
good night" They are the words of the
tinkling verses which are as familiar
and as likely to be enduring as any lines
in our literature. The man who wrote
them Is rot counted among our poets.
and while everybody knows the Visit
from st. Nicholas, nobody probably
tan recall any other poem of the author.
II 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 refnements of
philosophy and speculation upon their
spiritual fitness, but with 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 il is undeniablc that this tradition
of Santa Claus has become almost as on
pressve as it is delightful Santa Clans
himself, indeed has the cap of Fortu.
hattis. 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 10 the
utmost to receive his gracious argess.
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 disguises 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
al Christmas.
But the disciples of Santa Claus. his
viccrOys and substitutes are very differ
cnt from the saint himself To sally
forth into Broadway or Fourteenth
Street or Twenty third Street with intent
to fit yourself out as Santa Claus is
one Of the most bewidcring 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
10 80 into all the book stores. and in
seeing that he could not buy everything
that he wanted, he was reconciled to
buying nothing. So mt Christmas the
embarrassment of riches moderates ex-
pcnse. and the gaping stocking is in dan
'ter OF going unfcd 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
cnchantmcnt of the spectacle everything
seems to him fairer and more attractive
than anything else. and he returns, how
.oftcn! faded delighted, dazed, with his
head full Of fancies and his heart of emo
lions, but with his hands empty.
The empty handed however, are not
all The ull-handed, indeed are them
selves one of the pleaSantest Christmas
spectacleS. The satisfaction of the dis
ciple who hastcns 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-"M Merry Christ
mas to all, and to all goodnight"
But as we linger along the Christmas
streets and survey the llvish profusion
Of costly or tasteful or useful or beauti-
full or fanciful devices to charm the gold
and silver from the way carers purse we
may well wonder whether Santa Claus
himself, should some mishap befall his
journey in mid-air and some one of his
fleet team, Dasher or Dancer perhaps,
or DOnder or Bitten should cast ce-
lcstial 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 moment be little
lost in the delicious perplexitv and for
get his blithesome errand in his own de-
light. Certainly, rs he passes along, his
heart might justly dilate with generous
vanity in the consciousness that of all
saints in the calendar he is most sincere
~ and universally worshipped-if, in
deed, Saint Valentine, a 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 shap-
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
of everlasting green the monarch, muffled
from the cold, comes gliding over the
frf, ia AZ ts,,l-I
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 who, in the JOY of the Christmas
morning twilight, as he feels the forms.
before seeing the beauty. of his gifts,
looks beyond the gifts to the region
whence they come. rs in touching ivory
and beholding pearls and smelling spices
he is rapt into II far Persian and African
and Indian world, sees hirdS-of-paradise.
and saunterS under palms
Christmas comes but once wear
was the old English open sesame to the
heart aud hand of charity To that APP
peal what lord or lady could be deaf2
Let il be gold to-day. your honor. in
stead of silver or copper; flowing ale for
'mpid water; capon instead of crust; to-
day let US own the equality that we pro-
Tess; for one honest hour let us be
brethren for Christmas comes but once
year, Tomorrow seltishnesS and mean
ness, and class and pride and hard in
humanity; but to-day generosity and
hospitality and kiudlinesS and human
sympathy and brotherhood Christ
mas comes but once year. We cannot.
indeed, return with Santa Claus to his
magical realm of gift bloSsoming groves.
nor step into that swift chariot and fol-
low in the moonlight the soft music of
fairy bells, No, wistful youth, we cannot
stay the fleet angel. but we can compel his
blessing. We can bow to the laying on
of his hands. and rise his disciples and
vlcegerentS, and make his happy bene-
diction real through all the year" Mer-
~ Christmas TO all. and to all good
night, --George William Curtis. IN Hdr-
pers .NagaziRe