The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1892-12-07
The Shadows OF Christmas.

So mote it be. BILL ARP.
-@K-t-ES---~-
The Shadows OF Christmas.
In the very prime Of the year appears
the hectic of its decay. Sitting upon
some happy June lawn, or ,trolling in
some whose branches "high overarcb
and embover," while still the roses are
blowing .nd the dog days are far away,
one little yellow leaf forecasts Autumn,
fros, and Winter. Shall We say because
cf the atartling hue, a. of that bright
spirit, "f.r off his coming shown" or as
10 Lochisps warning, "and coming events
cast their shadows before! This will
depend upon the mood Of the mind. If
it be pensive or minor mood, anticipa-
ting decay or sorrow, the coming event
will css, shadow. If, on the contrary,
it be major mood, q feeling Of cheerful
anticipation, than fer offthe coming event
will shine.
Coleridgs speaks of a melancholy both
in the Spring and in the Autumn. But
he discriminatss between them. One ID
soft, buoysat, eranescent, the miat of the
morning. The other is a gathering
.hroud of storm. Every pleasant ami
versary ia anticipated with pleasure until
a. time passes, it comes to record ine1or-
ably the lose of time, and the heart be-
gins to ask ITSELF "How many more shall
I heholdw One of Hawthorne's grew.
some tales is the Christmas Banquet"
whose company is never to be enlarged.
With the inaxorable years tho guests
dwindle and dwindle, until Only one re-
mains, and the happiest of festivals be-
comes a gbastly feast. The reader is
ready to chide the story-teller who can
find it in his heart to cast shadow
upon that day of happiness, and turns to
Irving and Dickens and Thackersy for
the Christmas of good cheer snd general
joy.
Irving's "Cbristmas," we are told, is
his most delightful paper. There is q
peacefulness, freshness, simplicity, a
dome.ticity in his treatment which
bresthes the very spirit of the day. 1t
is very Christmas that he describes
whether in the Sketch Book or in Brace
bridge Hall. 1t is soft, idyllic picture,
blended of the spirit Of Christmas and of
England.
But what il the substance of the pic
ture? Ia it vast and ostentatious eX-
pense, a lavish display, a toilsome and
exhausting eudeavor to give something
to ell your acquaintance, wearisome an'
ticipatiou, and painful suspicion that
somebody has been omittedF Thackeray
describes little dinner at Timmins'. A
modest couple make themselves miserable
and spend all their little earnings in or.
der to give dinner to people for whom
they do not care aud who do not care for
the.a. 1t is series of notifications,
and the young make themselves needless.
ly miserable and at damaging cost.
They know it. Their good sense accuses
them Of it. But other people do 80, and
they cannot do otherwise. What would
Mrs. Grundy say, Awful thought! She
might tell the truth, and say that they
could not afford it. They cannot afford
it. Timmins and his wife cannot live as
the Duke of Westminster lives, nor
even IS the water-ta1 collector. But in
stead Of living pleasantly as they can
live, they must needs pretend to do as
their richer neighbors do, and ludicrous-
ly fail in the preteuca.
Christmas is made miserable to the
Timminses because they feel that they
must spend lavishly to buy gifts like
their richer neighbors. They thank God
with warmth that Christmas comes but
once year. It is becoming vulgar
day, a day not of domestic pleasure, bnt
of ruinous rivalry in extravaganza, day
to be deprecated rather than welcomed.
Are not the Timminses legion? Is there
not reason in their dread of Christmas
because of the sordid and mercenary
standards by which it is mearured?
The same good sense that sees the folly
of Timmins' little dinner and avoids it
can stay the abuse and regensrate Christ.
mas. 1t is essentially a day of human
good. will. 1t commemorate the spir.
it of the brotherhood of men. You can
not buy Christmas at the shops, and a sign
of friendly sympathy costs little. If the
extravaganza of funerals is such that a
great society ia organized to Withstand it.,
should not the extravaganza of Christmas
cause every honeSt man and woman prac.
tically to protest by refusing to yield to
the extrsvagances.-From George W1
liam Curtis last contribution to the Edi-
tors Easy Chair, in Harpcr's Magazine
for November.