The times., 1900-12-28

nave hid their lustre in the grave: and vet the
| old house. the room the merry voices and smiling
TRIVIAL circumstances connected with those happy
meetings crowd upon mind with each re-
eutrence of the season, if the last assemblage
| had been but yesterday Happy. happy Christ
| mas. tiat win back to the delusiens ,st
our childish days; that recall to the old man
! The pleasures of his youth; that can transport
| the sailor and the traveller thousands oG miles
away. back to his own iresde and his quiet
| home
The Christmas festivities at Dingley
| Dell, though of the vintage of the early
| thirtes. offer convincing evidence of
| their antiquity. Squire Wardle was a
| squire of the most conservative type. and
| he consciously kept it up without de-
| Walton from the rules and practices of
| his ancestors back to the Conquest at
| least The time honored breakfast, din
| ner, games in which all the servants
| joined, and all the rest of it, kissing
under the nistletoe included, were duly
honored. 1t was truly and fully Dick
ems Christmas and 1t certainly was not
an immigrant from the United States.
Mr.. Fiske is entirely disconnected from
| his base in assuming that during the first
| half Of this century public interest in
Christmas was greater in this country
than Dickens and other authorities prove
to have been the case in England. Per-
haps the people of New York may have
inherited the idea and some of the spirit
of the festival from Holland: but not
great deal of either. What they did get
from that source. rather. was New Year
Day, strictly Dutch affair. 1t was long
observed in New York, and. imitatively
elsewhere, largely to the detriment OF
Christmas. Abuse of the custom and, in
cidently, a growing conviction that 1t was
anything but English, led to its abandon
ment. and the good old feast of toasts and
tremens went finally out of existence os
a recognized social function about the
year 1870.
While Dickens was writing truthfully
concerning "the good qualities of this
Saint Christmas in 1885, the said saint
was only held in good repute by Ameri-
cans who happened TO be connected with
the Anglican. Roman. and Lutheran com
munions. The evangelical denominations
of that day as a rule, frowned upon the
anniversary as a popish invention. With
in the memory of numberless persons still
living, in New York even, Methodist,
Presbyterian, and Baptist parents on re-
ligious grounds abstained from giving
presents to their children on Christmas,
choosing New Year Day for that and all
festal purposes.
Perhaps it would not be difficult to show
that the present universal observance of
Christmas dates only from the decadence
of the New Year Day calling habit. To
the rich or well-to-do the two festivals
did not interfere with each other. But 1t
was different with people of small means.
The hospitality expected and everywhere
extended was heavy drain upon the fam
lily purse. Good things to eat and drink
had TO be provided for the entire circle
of kin and acquaintance. The cost could
not be incurred without greatly restrict
ing ability to give presents to children
and relatives. The little ones of the ma
jority class to which we allude have con-
siderably benefited by the dethronement
of New Year Day and its replacement by
Saint Christmas" Let US sing with jolly
old Squire Wardle from the carol he sang
at Dingley Dell several years before Dick
ems discovered Christmas in America and
brought it over aad domesticated it:
'But my song troll out. for Christmas stout
The hearty. the true, and the bold;
4 bumper drain, aid with might and main
Give three cheers for this Christmas oldi
Well usher him in with a merry din
That shall gladden. his joyous heart
And well keep him up. while there's bite sup,
md in