San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1896-03-15

believing the pretty story Of the
old man with his tiny sleigh and
reindeers? Do not the winter
hours before the Christmas pass
all the pleasanter because around
the bright fireside the little ones
indulge their fancies over what
Santa Claus is going to bring
them? Do not the little ones In a
thousand homes really grow better
as they think Of the old fellow,
who knows all their naughtiness
and rewards their good deeds by
Christmas gifts, and Furnishes
their badness by Withholding them:
Surprising all this is not so, is
not the spirit and purpose OF the
whole pleasant delusion wholesome,
and is there any sense in robbing
the little ones Of their pleasure in
their waiting for their stockings
to be filled by Santa Claus?
Surprising that you do not be-
lieve that sweet cradle story Of
Bethlehem, that you consider the
appearing OF the angel to Mary
and all the particulars Of that
visitation a fairy story, do you not
know that thousands Of mothers
have sweetened all their thoughts
Of their coming babes with that
story, and grown glad in the
thoughts of motherhood all the
more because of the dear traditions
that linger around that manger
cradle, and which make 1t his
toric above all the cradle stories
Of earth? What right then have
you to take heart out of their joy
by proclaiming your disbelief in
their ears? 1t is cruel, and heart
less, and the objectionable thing
to destroy faith in these innocent
and time hallowed beliefs that are
so inwoven with all our thought
Of home and babyhood.
Because you do not believe in a
hereafter, is that any reason why
you should take issue with the
mourning ones who standing in the
presence Of sorrow, as they lay
their dear dead down, comfort
themselves with the hope of see
ing them again on the other side
of the unknown country? What
matters it what you believe, so
long as your belief is not theirs,
and your belief brings sorrow to
them, is it not a monstrous thing
to rob them of their joy, in order
to show that you know more than
they do? Faith, trust, confidence
is the divinest thing on earth, and
the man or woman who murders
it is the most guilty thing on
earth. To do this is to kill joy
and and take the heart out of de-
light and leave the soul a dead
thing in the body OF its fears. The
man or woman who would do this
would murder sleep in the bed of
innocence, and destroy the peace
of the child in its cradle.
The people who are so wise that
that they must tell every one else
how greatly they are mistaken in
their cherished beliefs, how they
have misunderstood the past and
the future, who put the thumb
screw OF their literalness upon every
fancy INDUCED in by YOUTH or every
dream OF old age, who deny the
common beliefs and decry the &C
ceptance of the myths of the ages,
are so wise that they are fools.
There is not a myth OF all the
ages, not a page OF fairy lore, not
a sacred shrine OF the religious
not belief in the minis
try OF the unseen, not a thought |
that reaches backward to the in
finite Father, or forward to the
OF our lives with those
gone over the border, but does in
some sense rob earth Of its bleak
ness and span the sky OF being
with its bright bow Of promise.
What wisdom is there In trying
10 unsettle the mind or heart in
anything that comforts it? What
g belief any way, but a conception
IF the mind? What are its uses but
20 aid the possesser OF it to be and
10 the best OF which he is capable.