The Kalispell bee. [volume] (Kalispell, Mont.) 1900-192?, 1900-12-20
CHRLS7MASLESS PEOPLE

| / IN ~ sAS ALi i''hihe'' OSAo iAlS
| |N\ out, for soli2 there must al.
ways be no Christmas. Or
- " it there is Christmas at all to.
these, II is almost q go vesty of that
festive season, a fragment, bare
hour stolen from OFT OF the every
day dizziness. 1t is not the very poor
that are meant. There is scarcely a
family in the most ignoble s]ums that
has not its hint of the glad festival,
some pitiful attempt at decoration, {.
tldblt or two of food, a toy or SO for
kinder, "childher, hani;lni. On
Christmas Day, SO wide-reaching are
the wings of charity, the wolf leaves
nearly every door, if only until the
morrow
Yet many are they who have no
Christmas, whom the joy passes Ivy.
Not necessarily OF even the moderate
poor are these peop.c Possibly, in
deed, fat savings bank accounts stand
IN their names; they may be win
ming their way in the world more than
well. Wife and babies may be COM
fortably clothed, and the fear T.: an
empty stomach never haunt the mas
ter of the household. Nevertheless
he may be Christmasless.
We who, after our Christmas dir
ner enjoyed to the full, wander out of
the afternoon into the streets or out
into the suburbs, may see not few
of these. These are the electric car
motormen, the conductors who jerk
the bell, this Of all days, with an add.
ed twang. Not that the Christmas
cheer does not penetrate to their
hearts, but it is. alas! the cheer Of
other souls. The men and women
they see and "ring up" stop for, Oft
ener coldly pass by-men anil women,
many of them, not a whit more pros.
porous financially than they--have
not been driven by necessity, on this
blessed day, from their firesides and
families. Conductor ami gripman
find it hard to bear. The napp7 hol-
iday crowd is not for them. Today,
though they have never realized it be-
fore, they are in an outer world.
The big policeman, pacing SO cheer
fully, is all in the same boat with
his fellows of the traction trade.
There is no Christmas TO-. Lin either.
The same old duty calls him or, no
matter what the day. Holly, mist'ctoe,
glittering fir trees laden down with
presents, have no message for him.
Quite probably = for bibulosity -four
ishes at Christmastde - it Will % an
extra hard day and night. That portion
of the jostling crowd that seeks ere
sorts" and the streets for it's fun fiuds
it's pleasure only in boisterous. trou-
blesome merriment.
Now at his side, now here, now
there, the uttered, will-o'- -wisp
newsboy is in evidence. He would
tell you that he "wuz havin' a bully
Christmas" mindful of the spread
charity furnishes to every wide awake
youth of this trade. But it is a
pitiful little Christmas after all that
he gets, though to his little stomach
a dinner is undoubtedly the extreme
bliss earth can offer. 1t does not
free him, at all events, from the dras
of an "eXtry" day.
Up in the fire-engine houses iiremen
must sit, even though it be the bright.
est and best of Christmases. Fire waits
| for no man any more than tie sched-
ule of trolley cars. No matter what
the holiday, the fireman must be
ready for the signal that comes when
least looked for. The ferry pilots, too,
and the deck hands of the ferry-bCuts,
the street-cleaners as well. Ill il I've
their posts that cannot be neglected.
Civilization makes it necessary for
the world to run on in its ordinary
grooves. Not even for Christmas
can it stop. There must II" some
ever and eternally at the machine,
|
working when the rest Of us can
play. The Puritans said 40 to this
policy; they made holiday 4 hell.
day; day of rest, a real day of rest.
But what metropolitan clamor woul,.
arise were the Puritan ideas taken
literally today.
Another man with no Chri at ,.as
comes to mind = the metropolitan
reporter of the day. Not 4 twenty
fifth of December dawns upon the
world that he is not hard at work at
the same old task. Christmas or no
Christmas, the assignments come il
Yet his is not the dreary day of the
others. 1t is at least lightenea by
novelty, excitement, constau. change!
There is a world of pity for tie peo-
pie so unhappy as thus to miss the
gracious influence of Christmas, its
sweet charm, it's religious sentiment
The modern world ought to leave, in