Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1898-12-22

New York, Dec. 10. The air was
brisk and bracing, there was some
thing in it like mental stimulant
which filed one with bouyant spirits.
/ walked along Broadway, watching
the hurrying crowd. Here and there
in front OF shop window the sidewalk
would be blocked with a good -natured
bunch of humanity, watching with
keen interest the old paste Santa
Claus, with his imitation fur gloves,
his coat sprinkled with cotton snow,
the mica frost, the reindeer, the tiny |
sleigh and all that goes year after year |
to make up the symbol of this dear old |
saint. The fashionable lady, clad In |
her sables, steps from her brougham
and mingles with the crowd; the dirty |
little street gamin, with his red Worsted
muffier, the little old lady with white
hair and the prime-fgured spinster
from the hall bedroom of the board
inghouse all jostle together. Humanity
is on level when Santa Claus comes
about. People tell me-my fashionable
friends-that the sentiment of Christ
mas is dying out. God forbid 1t may
oe with them, it may be with those
palates stated with Sybarite pleasures;
with those who can no longer conjure
up a heart throb at the old Yule-tide
message, s,Twas the night before
Christmas, when all through the
house. - But thank God that there
are people in the world who hug this
dear old sentiment warm in their
hearts, who hang their stockings up
by the chimney corner, and who in
their dreams hear the jingle of the
tiny reindeer and their good-natured
driver halt before their hearth. Thank
God for the genuine, wholesome child
ish children, for they bring fragrance
and rest to world-beaten soul. God
bless them and may their little stock
ings be as crowded with gifts as their
honest little hearts are filed with
anticipation and mysterious delight.
Ii YOU feel as if the sentiment of
Christmas is all gone, go off from
Fifth avenue; go into some East Side
streets and look through the windows
of the dingy little parlors. Look at
the gaudily- trimmed trees with their
tinsel balls and little wax angels hang
ing over all. These and the few cheap
pictures on the wall in their gilt
frames are the few bright spots in
these cheerless- looking houses, but
dull eyes stare at them and sad hearts
catch q glow from them and see in
them vista of far-off Wonderland and
its fairy dreams.
When cynics prate to me of Christ
mas sentiment being dead | always
think of story told me by writer Of
books. 1t was of one Christmas when
he was visiting in the country he came
face to face with q woman he had
met in the town, amid vastly different
surroundings
She and an old woman were ironing
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little farmhouse. Her soft white hands,
ringless then, were passing to and fro
over the linen and she chatted OF
homely things. AS her eyes met my
friends shadow fell on her face, but
she showed no recognition of him. The
old woman, looking up and recognizing
in him friend of her landlords, sale
proudly, my daughter, sir; we d.
not often see her. She has u placi
i'll the city and can't get away often
but she never fails to spend Christina
with us. Christmas would not b.
Christmas without her, would it Bessf'
'.No, mother" replied the girl, sim
ply, and bent over her work; but
tear dropped on the snowy linen.
For these days she left her furs AM
jewels and the whirlpool of her lif
and lived for few, days with wha
was clean, wholesome and pure. i
was the one anchor holding her I
womanhood, and maybe in the end
was strong enough to save her from tn
eddy of destruction.
OF course men will laugh and sa
Christmas customs are purely sent
mental ones, but | have lived Ion
enough to think that sentiment has
legitimate place in the world.
The shops are so full of lovely thins
one hardly knows where to turn. Bl
where do all these atrocities that OF
sees now and then come from? WI
gets up all those dreadful little presen
that flood some of the shops? In IL
chamber of holiday fortunes no hoiro
are missing, from the red plush phott
graph album to the distorted vases
pairs. Surely these atrocities breed il
sincerity. No one can feel truly graf
full for frosted nickel calendar hun
with green and red ribbons, or pi
cushion with impossible flannel wat
lilies. 1t is an accepted law of Chris
mas that one must be delighted
everything, so the victim goes throuy
IA polite spasm about the lovely q
and inwardly wonders what she will
with it.
The almighty dollar has to accou
for the slaughter of many joys in the
fin de steele days. People feel ii
they must spend too much on presen
Peace on earth, good will iowa
men," What an exquisite sentime
and how woefully it is misapplied, q
truly there is no time in life when
should be more scrupulously observ,
One should allow ones heart, INT
than one's purse, to go with prese
Good feeling goes a great way tow'
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attractive. The bazaars along the m
are full of lovely things and you can
go far wrong in the selection. A iii
TACT and little taste help wonderfu
in the giving of a present. A k
message and loving heart aid
making the simplest offering sc
royal. Then, don't give without
thought of the recipients taste.
because you like Copley print
Hosea don't give one to the man
sees nothing above the frame; dC
give sled to the lame boy next dC
don't give q sable muff to your fri
who is going to Florida to spend
winter; don't give pair of 81
curling tongs to your blonde fri
who admits that she wears o (
front; don't give a copy of Car
to the man who never reads anyti
but the papers and Sporting Life,
fact, / would not give such a
anything); don't give useless pi
of fancy work to the bachelor III
in boardinghouse room; don't gi
mastiif dog to the timid old maid
lives in the hall bed room. In
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