The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-12-24
THOUGHTS ON CHRISTMAS.

Observe the Season With Propriety-
Wreaths-Sensible Hints.
Thoughtful people have discovered that
We are in danger Of losing our Christmas
by doing it to death. It may die OF surfeit,
as we'll as a pet. or a love, writes Elizabeth
Stuart Phelps in the Ladies' Home journal.
The madding crowd making itself
maniac across the impossible streets, chok-
ing the writhing shops. stalling the railway
trains, blocking the United States mails,
and choking, stalling, blocking and mad
ding more madly every year than it did the
year before, does not necessarily meanh
growth of the Christmas sense, but is quite
as likely to mean the growth of Christmas
nonsense. 1t means a vast amount of folly,
imitation, greed, ambition. It means an in
cAlculable sum of envies, disappoint-
ments, jealousies. It means unmeasured
aches. 1t means women literally tired to
death. and men in debt, and ncighbors Of
Tended. and rich relatives cajoled, and a
host of human plumbers which we might
call the Christmas waste. All the processes
OF action have their waste, and it does not
condemn the action, but only appeals to the
intelligence behind the action to regulate
the proportion between profit and loss.
So, when we have tine thing-a fine art,
invention. feeling or custom-the first point
ls how not to lose it, and it may be found
that We need high spiritual economy to
save our Christmas from the kind of de-
cadence that belongs to society like ours.
1t is the greatest--it ought to be the grand
est-day in our calendar. A petty spirit,'a
false extravaganza, a lost temper. worm
out body, disappointed soul, have no
more place at Christmas than at marriage
time, or heaven time.
We want a little more of sentimentality
IN, IN Hvov nv,1 Ia 1oco
Christmas wreath. the star of Bethlehem
hung in your window and mine. tells the
outsiders that we believe that the Christ
has come, and that We wish goodwill to
men. In many home it is tho only token
of Christmas, and the bit of green, telling,
as it does, Of a belief in the present and
hope for the future, is something too prec-
ious to be cast aside. Say, mother, is that
your boy or mine. far off in some city, alone
on Christmas eve; say that he has done that
which is wrong and has fed from the sight
OF all who knew him; say that he has been
wandering around wondering what they
are all doing at home, thinking of the time
when he helped fix Christmas wreaths. and
now there seems no home, no God, nothing
for him: He passes by his neigh
across the street shows him the green
wreath and the red star just as it was last
year. It is in somebody else's window, to
be sure; but then he knows that though tho
world is SO big, though the people are SO
many, there are yet those who put up the
sign of Joy and Rladness that gives him, a
stranger within the gates thought Of
new life and willingness to go ahead with
all his might, that he may 70 ahead, not
like the prodigal, to the old home and be
welcomed with JOY and honor. That's
what tho wreath in the window does. It
whispers in every berry, in every green
sprlg. of hope and encouragement, and it
tells again and again that the angels are
proclaiming afresh, GLORY to God in tho
highest. and on earth peace and good will
to men,
Bny no more than you can afford.
Give no gift where you do not delight to.
Shop no more than you have the strength
for.
Entertain only within your means.
Keep your Christmas nerve, and muscle,
and heart, and hope, and cheer. first for
your own home, your own Preside, your
dearest, your closest, your sweetest-and
then for the homeless the tirslesa the I'M
loved. the ''undeared," and be true, t, ne.
true, to the last Christmas card that goes
to your postofice, or the last merry Christi
mas" that crosses your lips!
We are generous people, and happy
people, and Christian people. and We
must keep our festival with sincerity, honor,
intelligence and good sense. if We would
keep it alive and Tin His name.'