The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1893-12-17


of experience;
but yield at the
cost OF SO much Impotence on one side,
and so much heartache on the other. that
N would seem worth while TO lessen the
friction involved in the process.
This old and simple truth comes freshly
10 mird with the return of our holidays.
Festivals are flaming, two-edged swords.
They turn both ways with equal ease and
sharpness. Created to enhance JOY, they
emphasize sorrow. Their evident useful
ness is to the glad but their less-consider-
ed influence is strong upon the sad. We
sometimes forget that holidays are hot
the especial property of happy people.
There is something as irritating to the
thoughtless as it is appealing TO the SYM
pathetic in the phrase:-"They are DAYS
10 be got over" The first time that we
hear these common words, plainuvely dis
cordant to the holiday key, we have no
more comprehension Of them and little
more patience with them than with a
Chinese grammar. Then the day falls
when we understand The great deaf
mute master, Life, teaches us. too: frames
our own trembling lips TO form the Ian
guage Of bereavement, of bitterness, or of
desoation. We too. slip into the secret
places Of wisdom, of sorrow, and of
peace; then the gay and the young and
the superficial in turn stand critical of us
1t is precisely this dual process, this
change and interchange of effect which
constitutes one of the most interesting
by-pays OF experience.
There is no sufficient reason that /
know of why the old, dense wall between
him who hath and him who hath not
should not be perforated with a few intel
legible hoop-holes. One need not expect
10 batter II down 1t is too venerable and
the foundations too deeply laid But TO
look gently through now and then is alto
gether possible
BE patient with the sad, happy people,
DO not exact too much OF the old and
weak-you young and strOngl Put your
selves in the sack-Cloth Of the homeless
you who reign in the purple Of home,
When the holiday stir Is in the air, when
the taper is lighted on the tree and the
holly trims the hearth. when everyone
that Is glad grows gladder, and every
heart that is sad, turns saddest, there
comes sarced summons 10 the pros
porous life, peculiar to itself and TO the
time. Then 1t is that those whom God
hath blessed are called to understand if
they can, those whom He hath smitten.
say, understand. 1t is not enough TO
remember" as the word goes. Christmas
charity is commonplace and fashionable.
Christmas comprehension is more rare
and a hundredfold more valuable.
A lady, passing a blind street musician
and his wife, went back and whispered:
'Im sorry for you" The poor souls over
whelmed her with pathetic signals of
gratitude for months.
"Oh, it's the words you said It's the
words you said!' the woman cried Money.
clothes, fuel. were small matters, and
cold. Personal comprehension was the |
warm and precious thing
The press, the sermon, the story. the |
ballad, and the social current; all the |
holiday power: press us into the stream |
of blind, initiative benevoence. We give
turkeys because our neighbors do fami |
lies without coal and oatmeal. get from |
three TO five of these festive birds. |
apiece. We load Sunday school trees be- |
cause the pastor says So. We spend the |
pocket money of a year in four weeks on /
presents for ur relatives. because it is |
"the thing expected. We purchase pneu-
monia by playing saleswomen at church |
fairs; and overload the strength and tenn
per OF our servants by houses brimming
with company. because 1t is the way"
We hunt up every person we ever knew,
TO whom we can decently offer a gift or |
n dinner because "the Romans do" We
dedicate (wisely and welD the day to our
children, and make them blase with all
the modern improvements on Santa Claus.
But in all our giving, We may not give the
sweet spirit that knows just how friend
or child or neighbor feels. And in all our
getting. we may fail to get the patience
and gentleneSS which put us In the place |
of him who receives.
The study of the mind and heart Of !
another is subtle art. The highest form
OF tact consists in making ourselves per-
sonae gIatae to those upon whom We con-
fer a favor.
Happiness is the only real Dobless !
oblige foI eVer. Possession Is always under |
to DENIAL and strtrgth is the |
divinely appointed serVitor of weakness. |
DO not suffer in yourself that natural
recoil OF the sympathies when the one
sad heart I'm the home group yields to the
face that jars a festival hour. |
There usually is at least one sad person |
In the sunniest household. Perhaps il is
the maiden sister whose own young hope |
went out In ashes. long ago; whose pain
and whose pride keep rigid step together,
whose abundant interest in yourself and
your affairs is not always as natural
Or as easy as II may seem to you. what
10 her enc holiday week, year
SINGER DO you remember the day when |
The was plighted 10 her lover? Or the day |
when she broke the brief betiothal whose
has Swallowed her life? BE sure
she does.
suppose IL " the poor fel2tion, with |
cred and gray, and patient. who needs but
never ask your large hearted oonsidera-
tlon.
ono is so used TO her drawn face,
her quiet step, her long accomplishing
service. her content with what is grossly
call board wages that one hardly pauses
10 put her outside of the daily habit OF
the house as a soul by itself. When the
home days" come, when the extra step
and the extra smile are exacted and expect
ed OF her-is there always somebody to
how lonely she feels. or to under
stand the heart-sick homcltssness of one
who spends a life in the homes Of other
people? IL Is not an easy way to live
All your sweetest tact and gentlest
cannot make IL so.
1 was once In serious illness under the
ARE or professional nurse at holiday
ime On Christmas Eve she sdisturoed
no u good deal by hearty III of crying. ,
The brute instinct of the sick rose and ,
'ebeiied. and somewhat fretfuliy, l fear. !
asked; what is the matteryp Then ,
he story poured forth:-Too poor to keep !