The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1886-12-24
CHRISTMAS AND THE cYNlc.
A Pessimist and Optimist Talk 1T
Over,

A Pessimist and Optimist Talk 1t
Over,
aThere Is more brotherly love and uplifting
Of spirit In good fat turkey than in all the
Christmas stories that ever were penned,"
said the cynic "Holiday literature is not to
my taste. It Is usually of forced growth
Written to fit the day, it has flavor of un-
naturalness. The hero of the Christmas
story is either translated on that day, or he
has a streak of perfectly phenomenal luck
It's never so in real life. In fact, pleasure is
more evasive on Christmas than at any other
time, Notwithstanding all the extravagant
sentiment set afloat about the good will bust
ness"
To which the optimist replied: "But isn't it
good thing to have even the stories come
out rights It's pleasant to know that make
believe people find one day in the year joy
GUS. There are SO many wet blankets flung
around ON the other 364."
II would rather have my slice of good will
cut up and given to me every now and then
than to have big chunk of it on Christmas"
continued the cynic. GAN this bluster isn't
sincere. Plenty of people give presents be-
cause it's expected of them. not because they
have feeling of tenderness toward their fell
low mortals And how is humanity benefited
by spurt of generosity?"
ut isn't perfection, this world isn't" said
the optimist, musingly, "but there's lots of
goodness in the human animal after ALL No
body but the babies cares for presents partic-
ularly; but it's pretty custom to give them.
We're likely to grow SO despicably selfish il
there was no Christmas to remind us that we
could make somebody else glad. And when
you come right down to solid facts, the dear,
grotesque old myth, Santa Claus, has done
more toward expanding the human heart and
keeping it tender toward the children and the
poor than all the sermons What would we
do without this good genius Of Babyland who
fills the stockings while their owners are
away in the beautiful Land of Nodg
The simple unquestioning faith they
have in him is worth more than the
crown Of kings. There is no danger of the
earth being made too good by a gush
of generosity. We still have all the old
scourges and few new ones. The Russian
exiles still toll in agony in the Siberian mines
The gaunt wolf of famine still prewls
through the streets of great cities and on
lonely country roads. The forked tongue Of
the hydra-head devil of slander strikes here
and there doing its blasting work. The
north wind stings through the beggar's rags.
The hot breath of disease still leaves its olden
track of sorrow in the houses of the rich and
the novels Of the poor. and the old, old mar
plot, Death, is as formidable as ever. Oh,
no, there is no danger of the grim old world
getting too good even for day, but through
the leaden sky there gleam such stars of
promise that one can almost forget that
Chris mas trees are sawed off at the base and
have sticks for roots
Speaking of Christmas trees" said the
cynic, II saw the most miserable caricature
of one to-day that could be imagined. It was
q cast off limb from some Dives umbrageous
one. A small Lazarus had dragged it home,
set it up near the front window in the pater-
nal shanty and strung it full OF his miserable
possessions, There wasn't an article worth a
penny in the lot. The collection was the
most depressing one ever on exhibition. Small
chunks Of nothing wrapped in greasy paper,
clusters Of old buttons found on the sidewalk
from time to time, bits of leather, nails, whit
tied sticks, pieces of colored glass, and small
china doll with both arms and legs broken
off, comprised the assortment. Being
cynic, I'm not much given to emotional
ecstasy, but could have wept over this
serious burlesque of Christmas cheer. And
that's about what Christmas means to half
the people. The buster and pleasure of the
well-to-dn only emphasizes the distress OF the
poverty stricken. The Christmas angels are
not impartial They fly swiftly over the
roofs of the wretched and linger long by the
hearthstones of the rich"
The optimist smiled and sighed as he
musingly answered: eyes, the millennium is
a long way of, but there is some good will
among us, some generosity, some unselfish-
ness, some almost perfect love, and some
hope for the future of the race. We can't
all have full Christmas trees any more than
we can all have continual joy and riches and
pententment. It isn't in the plan; but it's
something for few to have pleasure. 1t has
been said that if you make children happy
while they are children, you make them
happy twenty years later by the memory Of
it. The rain of sorrow will fall upon them
soon enough Care and grief, old age and
death are waiting for them down the road"
"Well, wish the false would be rugg out
and the true rung in as soon as possible" said
the cync, as he walked away. g. a.