The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-12-19

slace and perform the duties and enjoy
the privileges, are in many respects an
ideal condition in this world. That is
the condition that we think of as char
acteristic of the English villages or the
German towns, from which so many of
our notions of Christmas-keeping come
Just for purposes of Christmas we would
Ike all friends to be old friends, all
neighbors to be neighbors of long
standing, all places to be familiar. We
would like to do what we have always
been used TO do," provided, of course,
that that is satisfactory in retrospect.
Any one is excusable in being an old
fogy about Christmas, and wanting to
have settled home and belongings. and
in missing everything that was famil-
lar and is gone. If we could have the
feudal system turned on again for
twenty-four hours every year, aud have
doings in the great hall of the castle,
and wassail and boars' heads, yule-lOgs
and bear-baiting, and the various plea
santr.es whereof the memory has come
down, no doubt it would seem perfectly
natural; and though it might scandalize
refOrmers, and leave headaches in its
wake, we should doubtless feel after it
as though Christmas hal really been
here and We mad kept it. Alas! we have
not the advantages of feudal times.
Yule-logs are scarce; miscellaneous was
sail is unauthorized and frowned upon;
bear-baiting has given place to football,
and that is n Thanksgiving observance.
Still, we do our best. Though less pic
turesque than our remote forebears, we
are, of course, a good deal more COM
Portable. We still have children, and
they have stockings (Which children did
not always have five centuries ago., and
though fireplaceS are scarcer than they
were, stockings may be hung on rad
| iatOr, and are often found to have been
! filed overnight. Though we are not as
| closely moored to the soil as our an
| cestors were when they were serfs, we
| do sometimes have settled houses in
| which Christmas finds us, and when it
| does catch us in new place, still we
| find certain c0mpenSations in the modern
| annihilation of space, which, though it
| breaks up families and scatters friends
| still makes reunions comparatively easy
! and communication very easy indeed
| Remember the overladen letter-carriers
in Christmas week, and the inceSsant
wagons of Ine express companies heapeC
high with parcels! All that testifes to
! the existence of love that dnfes sepa
rationS and of kindness stretching out
| through space to remember and remind
A little fun to match the sorrow
OF each days growing
Only the young really have fun: only
the young, and persons of whatever age
who have managed to keep youth alive
! in Them Older nersOnS have pleasures
and satisfactions. Successes please
them. They Ike to win; they like to
accomplish their ends, and to make
| them meet, too, and if possible overlap,
/ They like society and conversation,
E, clothes, books, horses, and various graf
! ifcations Of taste. They are capable OF
/ finding Il good deal of satisfaction in
! Christmas gifts, not only because they
love the giyers, but hecause the things
given please them. 1t is not altogether
! Il waste of effort to give presents TO
adult persons. 1t pleases them after a
| fashion. If you have enough gifts to
/ go around, let the grown-up have their
I share. BE kind to them. 10 become
grown-up is the common lot. Scarcely
! any one evades it satisfactorily. 1t has
! happened 10 you. or, If not, it win pres
emily; and for your own protection AMI
in your own interest you should see that
grown-ups have due consideration shown
them. Feed them pretty well on Christ
mas day. They like TO be well fed; you
| may have noticed that. IL they have
been hard-worked, make it holiday for
them, and induce them to 90 - and
! walk about and prattle to one another.