Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-12-23
Whose Sounds Should Make Us Rise
to Highest Thought.
CH[LDREN'S DAY And 4 HAPPY ONE
For the Rest Joy Comes in Giving
to Others.
PEACE AND GOOD WILL
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.
NEW YORK, December 81, 1899.
"Hark, the herald angels sing,
Peace on earth and mercy mild"

the herald Angels sing,
Peace on earth and mercy mild
And the bells are ringing; Sunday night
will be Christmas eve; Santa Claus, if he
comes at all, will come in his old-fashioned
clothes. and the writer of this column will
| not affront him by intimating that the cut
of his garments, which does not change
more than once in a few centuries, is old
fashioned.
We will not bother about clothes at all.
We will wear those we have and forget
them after they We will put aside
as much as we can the firing trammels of
an infinite conventionality and rise to the
very best that is in us. Rise to those
heights to which human nature occasional
ly does rise, which make the pictured
angels seem commonplace; heights which
though not as often attained as they might
be. still are always a help to those who look
up to them, and which make the black
abysses to which we sometimes sink seem
| less possible or probable.
| We will forget ourselves and however we
| spend our holidays, whether at home or
abroad, we will spend them to the happi-
ness of others.
| back, and to celebrate it properly one must
| begin some time before. Take even the
gifts one makes. They must be thought of
much in advance II they are to be worthy
| of the day. Whether they are made or
| purchased, time Of a practical sort must be
| given to them; but the time for either MAX
ing or buying will be much curtailed if one
Will only remember not to remember too
large circle Outside of your own fam
lily and the needy only give to your very
nearest. dearest and oldest friends-and to
only few of them. Then leave out all
your relatives IL you are simply giving to
them because they are your relatives and
not because they are near your heart
that life without them would be a mockery;
l.
them a Kindness which they could not do
for themselves; or because they have done
you many kindness for which a grateful
spirit prompts you to make some return
inadequate though 1t may be.
Real Spirit of the Day.
After we have weeded out our list TO
such an extent we will have more time to
think of the real spirit OF Christmas, the
leveling of barriers, the overflow of the
spirit of charity and love, the time to
think of our poor neighbor; to do for the
poor Certainly in this Christmas began
long time ago. We will have time to think
who are the poor, and in what way do
they differ from us. But perhaps we need
not now consider this as much as to think
about what we can best do for them For
to whatever creed We subscribe or what
ever creed we dispute, still the problems of
life remain; still there are the Door to be
clothed, the hungry to be fed, the sick to
greatest angel of all and covers the great
est multitude of sins. And this is the day
for charity.
Workers who must rest on this holiday
as on all, In order to be fresh for the battle
on the morrow, have to make others their
almoners. Indeed, after one has remem-
bered the servants, the janitor the bell
boy, the laundress, the postman-or rather
men Zone downtown and one at home), the
charwoman who cleans the Offices the
newsboy, bootblack and other satellites of
the modern busy life, one feels as If char
ity had had share larger than one could
expend on ones dearest. But these are not
the real poor, for they all receive money
for work done
Poor Always With Us.
The real poor we never see in our busy
lives spent in a world peopled with those
who earn stipends, either great or small,
and unless we can have more time to hunt
for them we will never find the poor. They
will never cross our paths. / doubt II we
would recognize them If they did. To
those who support the charities of this
world must we give our aims II we belong
to the workers.
Christmas is essentially the children's
| day. Did you. ever see the picture of the
| little girl setting out of bed in a forlorn
garnet, turning her face resolutely away
| she does take one good look the doll will
vanish like q dream? Item. one doll from
| each Of us to one little girl, and let US not
| forget one top or ball for one little boy.
Especially to really enjoy Christmas one
must begin a long time before. One does
not get very far along in life before there
are aches which seem to be intensified on