New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1890-12-24

L S" w
25th OF December, we know this, that
| Christ was not born on that date.
So as we can't agree upon the date
for observing Christmas, why not
divide it up all through the year? 1t
doesn't pay to save all our charity
for an annualdeluge. A waterspout
isn't q good thing for a garden. A
loud-burst destroys more crops
than ithelps. What blesses the land
is not the thunderstorm, advertising
itself far and wide with noise and
fire, cyclone, tightening, thunder,
roar and crash. The smiling farm
and dirty lane, the garden and the
stony street laugh in gratitude for
the commonplace, quiet, rather driz-
zle-drozzle that comes down without
attracting much attention to itself.
'Love covereth multitude ofsins,"
sayeth the Apostle Peter, and of a
verify, brethren, the little short
lived love we feel for our neighbor at
Christmas time is an ulster made to
serve as an ulster in July and an
ulster in December. You have given
a Christmas token to each of the
servants, if so be that you are like
Canaan, "a want unto servants"
That is right. But did you pay
their wages regularly all the year?
And ifyou didn't, don't you know
that prompt payment is ever so
much better than present? "Thou
shalt not Cypress an hired servant
| that is poor and needy, whether he
be Of thy brethren or of thy strangers
that are in thy land within thy
gates. In his day shalt thou give
him his hire, neither shall the
sun go down upon it, for he
is poor, and setteth his heart
upon it; lest he cry against thee IN
to the Lord, and it be sin unto thee'
Is there dressmaker or a tailor, a
shoemaker or a carpenter, hired man
or servant girl holding a claim
against you this week that you have
put off to suit your own convenience?
''Thou shalt remember that thou
vast abondman in the land of Egypt"
You'd better; because if you forget
it, there are hundred people right
here in this congregation, who re-
member it for you, and who will take
frequent pains to remind each other
that they can remember when your
grandmother hadn't clothes to wear
to church. And this story, oft re-
peated, will lead to the belief that
your grandmother dressed in a palm
leaf fan and was baptized in the river
Congo by missionary.
Do not abate one lot of your
Christmas benevolence; but do not
admit the firm of Mammon & Mann
mon to your dealings. To whom
are you most apt to send the costli-
est gifts? Do We not lend to those
of whom we hope TO receive? And
how often do we read that the en-
ployes of a certain house have clubed
together to present gold watch to
the boss? HE that giveth to the
rich shall come to WANT Do not
make Christmas a financial burden
and worry yourself and friends.
"The desire Of a man is the measure
OF his Kindness" q token wrought
by ones own hand is a treasure to
the friend who receives it. A letter
of dozen lines is better than an in
sane frenzy of a, Christmas card,
representing a bowling snow-starm
on the seashore at midnight, with
woman dressed for bed, and half a
dozen barefoot children pick
ing up sea-weed with hot-house
blooms on it, with a verse
of poetry that doesn't rhyme
scan, or mean anything, printed in
pale letters on a white ground on
the margin of the nightmare. And
is it not so, in these days of high
art, that it is even cheaper to give
unto & friend a house and lot, than
a second prize Christmas rebus?
And is it not so, beloved, that Oft
times the women of the household
have worn themselves out in the pre-
parations for Christmas, so that it
was the hardest day of all the year
to them? And is it not so, that peo-
pie labor to remember all to whom
they should send gifts, and make a
catalogue of their friends? Verify,
our love is altogether lighter than
vanity when that costs us an effort.
Rather had we be forgotten than
have people tax the brain into
headache, trying to remember us.
Give simple gifts out of the fullness
of your hearts.
After the deliverance of the Jews
from the plots of Hannah, and the
days OF the deliverance were estab-
lished among the Jews in the provin-
ces of King Ahasuerus-the 14th day
of the month of Adar and the 18th
day of the same, 'as the days where
in the Jews rested from their enc
mics, and the month which was turn
ed unto them from sorrow to Joy,
and from mourning into a good day:
that they should make them days
| of feastirg and JOY, and of sending
! portions one to another, and gifts to
the poor" Now, there is a good
way to celebrate Christmas. If you
love me, send turkey to poor
family down the alley; if you want
| to make your brother present,
l -