The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1890-12-18
CHRISTMAS CHEER.
What the Day Has Done for U.s.
Universal Good Will and
Giving.

A world q Cnrlstuas. WV
Of us can imagine it, or in imagining
can fail to realize what Christmas has
done for the world2 The exigencies
of our modern life have robbed us OF
the full meaning of Sunday; one
mans rest in it is purchased at the
cost of another mans labor, n no
universal peace prevails. Our time OF
thanksgiving is a time of merrymak-
ing. each family choosing its W
way. 1t is a national, not a universal
Jubilee: held closer to the hearts OF
certain sections than to others. ana
so with high days and holidays the
world over: with all feasts and festl-
walls. They belong to creeds or gov.
ernments: to superstitions OF the SOIL
or the traditions of atribe. But Christ
mas-Christmas belongs to no one ma
ton alone, nor to one tongue, nor to
latitude or longitude, o to one color
or creed. Neither is it a movable feast,
though it comes withthe frost OF win
ter. as with us; and with the perfume
of dropping blossoms, as in the south
ern hemisphere. Nor yet Is it a day
one man celebrates with a dance and
another with a feast, thinking he has
fulfilled all OF its spirit. Though
feasts belong to it, and good cheer,
and all the sweet delights OF gifts
given and gifts received; though the
beauteous tree comes in and the blaz-
ing log; though the deer of st. Nlcho-
las prance over the snow, and
young hearts are merry and
old hearts are glad-though all
these things belong to this day, yet
even they are bat the outcome, the
fulfilment of that deeper note which
marks this day, that note OF good Will
to men, sung first by the angels OF
Bethlehem. For it is the spirit of
good will to others that all men feel
on Christmas that makes the day dis
tinct, pre-eminent, distinguishing IL
from all other days, and giving TO 1t
all the power 1t has
We have done much for Christmas.
We have given it joyous ceremonlals,
growing in beauty and sentiment all
these centuries through. We have
done this for Christmas, but Christ
mas has done more for us. 1t has given
to the world this one day, when all
about its hemispheres, like a nneiy
wrought web, one thought is woven
in the minds of men, inspiring the
best and sweetest actions of the year.
There is nc man but feels its influence,
or falling has more sorrow for him
self that his joy is dead, than for those
he has failed to make happy. The
poorest. the most squalid, the keenest
sufferer, the happiest, most pros
porous of men-all these obey N
common impulse; they give their
best. poor as some OF their offerings
NAV be, for the JOY of others. 1t is
this. then, that Christmas has done
for the world, stirring men to COM
mon action. And with such a Gordon
of thought about the world, growing
stronger and wider each one of these
eighteen hundred and ninety years,
VINO can doubt that in its spirit may
be found the true secret of those great
ph%ilanthropic measures which, beyond
all other events, mark the enlightened
legislation of our day.-HG1peT'S
Bdzdr.
Advice Abou Children.
Some parents compel their children
to eat against their will, as when
they come to the breakfast table
without an appetite, or have lost it in
prospect of a visit or a ride, or for
the sake of ''eating their plates
Clean in encouragement of wasteful
habits. Unless we are hungry we
cannot drink the purest spring water
without aversion, and as for eating
when there is no appetite it is revolt
ing, as any one may prove to himself
by attempting to take a second meal
in twenty minutes after having eaten
a regular dinner. The appetite, the
hunger, is excited by the presence
of gastric juice about the stomach;
but if there is no gastric juice there
can be no hunger, M appetite, and to
compel a child to swallow food when
it is d~istasteful is IN absurdity and a
cruelty.-HaHs Journal Health.
Natural Gracefulness in Girls.
1t is one of the vagaries of our orna-
mental training of girls that it usual
" leaves untouched the simple, neces-
sary, everyday matter in order to
cultivate what is occasional and often
superfluous, writes Caroline Gray
Lingle in Kate Fields Washington
Thus a girl who walks abominably i:
taught with greatest care to dance
and another whose speaking voice
suggests anything but the Lorelei il
given expensive singing lessons
There is Just now a little movement il
the direction of teaching girls to do
well the ordinary acts which make uI
most lives. 1t is a tendency which
ought to be strongly encouraged
I ~ ~- -14-- 1900 - Il