The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1888-01-15
MI CHRIsTMAS.

MY CHRIsTMAS.
All the friendly and social festivities incl
dent to the Christmas and New Years time are
past. Faint echoes Of tho charitable and
kindly feelings which they evoked arc all that
remain in the pleasant recollections Of kind
nesses done and received; and to-day every
body has settled down again to serious every
day work. Every medal has It's diverse side.
and even this festive picture has its contrast
Perhaps q calm inspection Of the other side
may not be out Of place.
For the past three weeks the daily papers
have fairly teemed with graphic accounts Of
how everybody. poor and rich alike, in city. in
country. in our gorgeous Fifth avenue palaces.
in cosey family homes, In the most wretched Of
tenements. In hospitals. In orphan and other
asylums, even In poorhouses and jails. have
Toasted, boon Toasted. and enjoyed themselves.
While these gay and charity breeding festivals
we're running their course, a tale Of want. pri-
walton, misery, or sickness would have been
out Of place,
Like sweet bells tangled. out Of tune and harsh.
But now they arc over, and ! may speak.
By way Of prologue, I will state that I am Of
all human beings In a civilized community the
most u~nfortunate-a poor, old, inflrm, and alb
solutely destitute gentleman; a foreigner by
birth. without family. without relations or
family connections here; no friends, no homo
(barring q wretched room, OF which I cannot
lock the door: no human companion, and. with
one solitary exception, no live companion. MOI
not a dog. and not a canary bird. The excep-
ton Is q little mouse. / made her acquRint-
ance In my dire misery, and, strange as 1t may
seem. she is q great comfort to mo. She is a
link which binds me to life. She comes
regularly out Of her hole, where. I
think. she is rearing a family. for
I notice she takes crumbs into 1t. She started
our acquaintance by looking up at me inQuisi-
lively. and l thought at times %pityingly. as II
wondering what I could DO doing all alone
in such an attic at such a season. and
l fostered the acquaintance by sprinkling a
few crumbs Of stale bread upon the floor. Now
We know each other intimately. She greets me
when l get home. climbing up to my knee, and
nibbles at what food l provide for her. And I
love to think that she. the only living thing I
can cherish in the world, would miss me. Don't
run away with the idea that loneliness and
misery have unbalanced my brain. My men,
tai and moral faculties were never clearer or
more active: but everything is relative in this
life, and l have learned to value tho gratitude
and affection Of Il mouse.
i nave Sdlu ludt u IoOT u6CHytu Olu ReutlS-
man is. of all human beings. the most unfortu-
nate. II an educated man, as is almost neccs-
sarily the Gaze !. he derives no pleasure from
and cultured mind, he cannot herd with coarse
and boorish folk: he has no sympathy, with
interiors. in mental qualifications avoid him:
man gets into the doldrums. i is far moro DIFF
he a laboring man or a skilled mechanic. The
majority OF people among these have learned
what misery Is, what It Is to be out OF work, and
help each other. As Dido sang:
Haud ignara mali, miseris succerere disco.
Not so among gentlemen. As a class they have
never learned the want of Woe" and their
In a community like this a poor gentleman
cannot command a living. unless educated to
s sDa Il Profession fSsss h. such iS Is as the law dsns or medicine Shnn
friends or, family connections, Foolishly, as
think. he has never learned a trade. II old or
intrm he Is united for manual labor, and for
Office and other brain work employers prefer
young men.
Again. a gentleman must be decently dressed
hat napless, his boots unpublished. or his gem
eral get up seedy. his chance Of obtaining a re-
these social r p'aui y HHTs' a n iaborine man naDM or a a
skilled mechanic is OF course free. He lives
a abo ihs w sbiEtd in and his s ESfsi elotb asss are a donn his
only on Sundays.
Moreover. Of course. q. gentleman. young or
All that a gentleman in my position can do is
to hunt for work. hunt from morning to night,
ba3 oh. t. th f5i Seas,n and get &c t then a to asnt b for hi@;
with which | have climbed my four long flights
g. But st4 !hen n1 I hsv s,'e sha niE3 Go d. w FSsGh I my Est t fs.ls!
my little pet, and ! cheer her, and she helps mo
to h sSfs ct. R sEa 5G ssons 81 s tSs %1 afs Holidays to a
to make one mad. The sad recollections OF
o osher ns sIds.' offf hs nd ana q dee dear Gia l oS@D f fan ny
circle, OF which so many members have gone
to she f5a ses fsca and 81 50 tba many saIf6 others snd are aIi scattered q red
den and In the streets. everything and every
body seemed bent upon reviving remem-
descend to q vulgar phrase. rubbing It in.
t tRirly y's sMsr1 os5si %ltb was bol EHrse io,k rh s1d St sSsrs
one was happy. The lispins BABY in ecstacfes
over its new, rattle. the octogenarian, who lived
@iloSVseIIys. budding budding maiden. PROUDLY nea dye Conscious nfeHoi se OF
e esT bbeau5y S bnSs Its sp upi gi4jsa fu aPP pr fhna SGr1 the
mas gifts. and pocket money, everybody poked
his happiness into me, and seemed to yell at
eve, while riding down town on a Broadway
car. a perfect little group got In. an old gentle;
t man lf Fl se eberu %y Of af fets 2 tb y9u remi m9sae ane sn az
Murillo's pair watching the assumption of the
Virgin. But, OF course. as Lucretius sings:
medic de fonte lcporum,
surgit amari aliquid.
They brought to my closed eyes the picture
Of two little graves In the cemetery Of my old
home ON the other side. and my yelling eyes
nearly, oyerdowed.. Nothing but the thought
Of my little mouse in my lonely room kept mo
that Christmas Eve. that ride, and that group:
th aaa d ahHh ysf IN fn0P e. u6s s9 Of eps of sn %!
leading jewellers ! happened to be aclnainted
iy asked me to take a walk through tho place
and inspect its treasures; 1t seemed to me that
/ had been transported into Aladdin's palace.
Myriads OF gems of every conceivable color and
in such profusion! 1t struck, me that. to
furnish the hrilllants alone, all the diamond
mines Of Africa and Brazil must have been
cleaned out. The collection OF pearls must have
required the labors of thousands of divers for
hundreds Of years. Il seemed as II the whole
earth, must have been carefully raked to supply
the thousands Of rubies. .sapphires. opals, and
emeralds IN this one collection. Thousands,
aye, tens ems OF t the Island ;b OF pr SsEa gems! ,o,.0
which, In my eyes, had even greater value than
a.brac-in which the. brains and genius
OF man shone, with, still brighter ,lus-
49,. ALa. oil @AAA. LODI H. -l---