Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-12-25
PART XMAS PLAYS.
WHAT TT MEANS tt THE YoUNo
AND OLD
SOME PEOPLE ARE VERY GLAD.
IL Is n Milestone In Life Where
People stop to Rest and laugh, noe
some DO Not-As IL f. for ALL
Pessimistic Old sian.

This is christmas-Day, as all tho world
knows, and the question naturally comes
What does It mean TO us-you and al
OF us? What part does II play IN eur
lives7
Every one knows with what Joy that
expresses itself In shouts OF laughter the
school-hoy halls the first snow OF winter.
The widow, whose children are shivsrins
before a ~freless hearth and they are beg
glng her for bread. wesps at that same
snowfall
It may be there are people in tho world
who look at the Christmas holidays ana
festivities with even as great q difersncs
Of feelings.
What a magnificent carnival that was
on Broad street yesterday afternoon and
last night. The air was filed with shouts
of mirth. resonant with the blasts OK
horns, and the night red with flames OF
fireworks; the great crowd, which mas
become now q feature and event OF
Chrlstmas-Eve In Richmond, logged along
good naturally. but now and then.
amid even these scenes or mirth. a sad
face looked out. 1t was weary, deep
lines marked Il, the eyes were sunken,
the lips smileless. and the steps hurryins.
IT COMES BUT ONCE A YEAR.
Christmas comes but once a year to
children, and the year between SEEING
very long.
TO southern boys and girls 1t is the
greatest of all times. They look for
ward 10 Il for months before II comes
and talk Of It. All last week the little
things were eager and could scarcely
keep from screaming out their illy-sup-
pressed joy.
1t is the time Of Santa Claus. What
will he bring me?" is asked by each one
a hundred times and more. III / get this
or that, what a great time ] am going TO
have" Then the nuts and candy and
oranges, and the great dinner Of Christ
mas-Day look so grand in anticipation.
These are the children OF well-to-do. or.
at least. CONTEMPLATING parents,
There may be children, even In Rich
mond. city OF churches and OK the best
people on earth. who are not 30 glad.
and Christmas does not mean anything
like this 10 them. IL may be TO them
only a time when they are forced 10 look
upon many little people like themselves.
only better clothed aud happy with their
many bundles Of presents for their conn
pauions and good things for themselves.
while they SILVER in the cold an. have
no bundles, no toys TO play with, no
A'''NHNR ~ ~ NA1 ~ IN0"kRNb u
table filed with all that a boy and girl
loves. There are Few more touching
scenes than that Of a thinly-clad child Of
I or S, hollow eyed and e~mpty-handsd,
gazing into some beautifully-fuTnished
window, a verltable Falryland OF play
things.
TO YOUTH AND MAIDEN.
Christmas is a happy time to youth ana
maiden. They are near enough 20 obud-
hood to love the good things and the
bright things, and human enough still to
cherish the good dinner. and too far yet
from old age TO feel its chill. There 10 the
Joy Of receiving presents from friends, and
the still greater delight In giving thsm.
They. too, indulge In the sports even az
the children. School Is out for q week,
and they are not too far along LIES road
that they do not feel they can jast lay
aside every care for that time and give
themselves over to tho pleasures OF tho
time.
FOLKS IN MIDDLE LIFE
Christmas, as a time TO DO careless and
Jolly and upr0arous, Is not much TO people
in middle life. This burden OF care that
people persist I'm carrying all their Hives
Will not be shaken Off even for a week.
one standing by a pool OF clear water and
seeing a glObule OF water rise 20 the top
and burst into a bubble, knows there Is u
disturbance going on beneath. Some
times, too, 10 these older folks a bubble ot
Joy far down rises to tho surface. bursts
into a bubble OF laughter, and then passes
quickly away.
But they have begun 20 think more So
riously Of Christmas. There IL a solemn
joy in e.. a kind Of sacred religious Joy,
which, after all, means more and IL moro
than all the eftusions OF youth.
But 20 some middle-aged folks Christ
mas IS n weary time. There IL a great
population OF criminals-not really bad
people. but unfortunate ones. In a mo-
ment OF weakness the cup IS taken, or tho
angry word IS spoken. and a poor fellow
IS taken before a Judge and sent 70 jail.
What a dreary day Christmas must be,
how long and cold. spent IN jail
In Richmond here the Police Justice has
made il a custom % release from fail q
number OF the lesser-dyed sinners for tho
Christmas holidays. That IS all right, and
not one murmur OF %disapproval has ever
been heard. But what IL Christmas when
q poor fellow has been shut up I'm Jail for
weeks and months. is disgraced, looked
down upon by his former friends. or else
not looked upon at all by them, and
treated coidly by his own family?
Spending money In the pocket puts mora
joy in the breast az Christmas time than
anything else does. Here IS a sad case.
OHiy a lew udgs ago tue romeo justice
gave freedom 10 a middle-aged man that
he might spend Christmas with his family.
The man had no money. He went 10 the
factory where his children earned bread
for themselves and their mother, drew
their money, and got drunk. He was I'm
the Police Court on Friday, and was sent
again to jail. this time for three months.
THE YEARS PASS QUICKLY.
Perhaps the most striking thing about
Christmas 10 people nearing the close OF
the old year ~ their life IL the frequency
with which they cOmc-the uttle sDtn Of
between them. The years are long
TO children, and IN Tune Christmas seems
a long way of. but not so with grand
father and mother In the home. Scarcely
one Christmas has gone when another
comes. and the years fly by with tho
Of the lightning. bearing them on
the great unknown.
An old man said only the other day: 'I
have no pleasure az all now IN Christmas;
that has all passed, and Il will pass by
for you, too" placing his hand on tbs
shoulder Of a young man who stood by
as he spoke. Tire youth declared Il would
never be so with him.
1t may be the old man was right.
q. NJ. c.