Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-12-25


| Sures you born.
The firecrackers roar,
! never heard before
People havin' so much fun with bell and
horn;
But 1t does not signify,
am not disposed to try,
For I'm feelin'
Awful homesick,
Sures you born.
For on this Christmas-Day,
In an old home far away,
| Two old folks feel dreadful lonesome and
forlorn,
For though much love to roam
am wanted bad at home.
And I'm feelin'
Awful homesick.
Sure's you born.
What a Japanese thinks Of Christmas
| That would be an appropriate headline
| for a conversation 1 had with a gentle
men from Nagasaki the other day. In
| response 10 a question as TO what ne
| thought of the celebration OF the ami
versary Of Christ's birth by making glits
and by feastng and rejoicing, he said:
tian. j know a great deal about the
| Christian religion. Maybe / will practice
it some day. 1t is a beautiful system.
We get to know about great many re-
ligions in Japan. You people over mere
don't know about but one. meet
great many people who never heard OF
Shintoism, or Buddhism, or of Confucius'
or Gautama-
"There are few people in the world, 1
hax.
they know anything at all, know OF
Christ. They do not all believe in Him.
But they know of Him. 1 do not believe
in Christ. l mean, i do not think lie
was the Son of God. l mean, l think L
do not think that. But l feel sure He
must have been one of the finest charac-
tiers that ever lived. / think He was
good man, and a great man. Everybody
who writes about Him says He was
good, and 1 know He was great or He
could never have given to the world Il
system which has eXerted such a power
full influence over mankind. May be He
was the Son Of God.
81 like Christmas. Everybody seems
in such a good humor. It's good TO be a
Christian when Christmas comes You
American people take a rest then. l like
the way you have of sending gifts to
friends. 1t puts everybody in a good
humor. In my country we do not make
gifts much unless we want TO get some
thing in return.
You people have a mighty funny way
Of getting drunk on Christmas day, and
Of quarrelling and fighting / should
think Christians would feel so glad when
they think about a Saviour that was born
for them on that day that they would
all be in a good humor. 1t is your way,
1 suppose. 1t looks TO me like a very
funny one.
christmas is a fine argument for Chris
tianity. You don't understand. Well. the
spirit Of good will you see manifested so
! generally on that day seems to me to be
the essence Of the Christian religion as
l understand it. Another thing is the
universally of Christmas. 1 have seen
il celebrated by Americans and Euro
peans in the most out-of-the-way places
on the globe, in every continent, and, IT.
seems to me, in every latitude. It strikes
me that the fact that you can hardly go
anywhere on earth without seeing the
anniversary OF the birth Of Christ cele-
brated argues much for the vital force
| and power OF Christianity. 1t has over
/ spread the earth.
"Win my country ever celebrate Christ
mas? Why, you can hardly so into
town in Japan on Christmas-Day, no mat
! ter how obscure, that you do not ma
Europeans and few native Christians
| celebrating the birth OF Christ whether
II will ever become a great national fes-
| tival nobody can say. You know we
Japs are a nation Of heathens. we nave
| progressed so greatly since your COmno-
dore Perry made us put out the latch
string fifty years ago that we do not
believe in our old religion. We DO not
believe in Christianity. Some day
maybe. the religion of Christ will be the
State Church. When that time comes
Christmas in Japan would make much
longer article than now"
The greatest fraud on earth is the
croaker who says the spirit that makes
men celebrate Christmas is dying out
There seems to be a general opinion
that the celebration Of Christmas was
never begun with greater zest than was
displayed by the Richmond people last
night Had the Japanese gentleman re-
ferred to been here from o'clock until
midnighy he would have seen his ideal
Christmas spirit manifested on Broad
street. He would not have seen the fight
ing. nor the drinking, TO which he very
naturally objected, but he would have
seen a plenty OF the joviality, and the
mirtii, and the good cheer that character
lie the Christmas men and women pic
ture when they are old and look back
to the days when Santa Claus was the
most blessed reality Of existence.
1t is queer that men and women should
so enjoy celebrating Christmas in the
manner annually employed by the people
who gather on Broad street every Christ
massive. blowing. bell-ringing, hat
smashing, and firing of popcrackers are
amusements one expects children TO en-
Joy, but staid, grown people never. IL
only shows that men and women are but
children Of larger growth They become
hard and cold during the twelve-month.
Familiarity with the shams and the dis
appointments Of life drive them into their
shells. 1t needs the warmth Of Christmas
cheer to make them real men and women
again.
al can tell the teetotalers that Christ
mas is celebrated in manner much
more satisfactory to them than II was
when / came on the force over twenty
years ago now" said a well-known police
official last night. '"There are fewer
Christmas DRINKS every year | do not
have TO go to the record TO prove this
Every officer on the force will tell you
the same thing, just speaking from his
own observation and experience. Why, /
remember Christmas-Eve nights. and
nights of Christmas-Day, when we used
TO have to put prisoners I'm the city jail. |
there was not room for them in the sta
tion-houses. also remember when lady |
would hardly dare enter the crowd that
celebrated on Broad street Christmas
Eve You see the finest women in Rich |
mond there now.
How many drunken men did you see |
In the crowd tonight? You had sharper
ewes than the notice N YOU saw many |