Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-12-19
THE YULETIDE AUTHOR
DICKENS WAS PRINCE OF CHRIST
MAS STORY TELLERs.
Some Characters Which Warm Our
Hearts at Holiday Time-Marley,
Tiny Tim and Bob Cratchit.

From Men and Women
Christmas. Word that never loses its
magic even for the lowest. the basest, the
most sordid among us. In childhood, the
one dream that comes true, the one fairy
story in which the eXuberant imagination
does not cheat the material eye And in the
years of wisdom what season In which TO
melt our animosities, our hates. our sor-
rows and perplexities, and to generate
kindness and good feeling. Whose heart
does not respond to the ring of Merry
Christmas is fit for worse than treason
strategems and spols. No fairy story for
us then. but the sweet delight of kindling
the glance of childish eyes and earning an
extra pressure of dimpled arms around our
necks and hearing the ring of joy, all gold.
in the piping voices that are dear to u.s.
And for those of us not so blessed, the grip
of brotherly hands and the glances OF low
ing eyes in annual ceremony of acknOwl-
edgment Of vassalship to the great Power
of Friendship. day upon which we meet
even our enemies with a smile and a CHEEKY
word and something within us. something
long dormant but which the season has
galvanized into actual, beating life makes
our hearts warm toward him and gives an
impression of inward sincerity 70 our out
ward demonstration of friendship
Christmas. which sounds a minor chord
only for the abandoned. and those whose
great brotherhood Of humanity. And what
a season of good cheer! How green the
holly looks! how the vast array of poultry
and game, and fruit and sweets inspire
within US heroic resolutions of self-deniai
having for an end the more intense enjoy
ment upon the great day when the food
shall warm our bodies even as the love,
newly generated. shall warm our souls
danger of mortality from lack of proper
sustenance.
Poet of Yuletide.
Charles Dickens might aptly be styled the
poet Of the cheer of yuletide. That hap
piness comes from within. rather than
from without has been a growing belief
upon the Part Of mankind. Before the ad-
vent of Dickens that portion Of literature
which was constituted by fiction was not
SO much the reflection Of life as the re-
Election Of those conditions in which man
to lie. Heroes were personageS Of exalted
station; heroines were also exalted In adj
dition to having great personal beauty: the
scenery of romances was laid around old
castles, baronial manors or palaces and
had to do with the Vaccinations. the hates.
the loves OF the powerful, the great, the
rich exclusively. When humble folk were
introduced, as it was necessary they should
be they were belittled; even their very
existence was deemed Of insufficient I'M
portance to engage tho attention Of their
lordly superiors. That they were the same
as their more exalted neighbors In all
things save. perhaps, the possession of the
consequences Of wealth. soem- to naver
have bean eraspsd by those who were given
the gift Of seeang and the duty Of falling.
And the worthy folk themselves. when
!! weary Of the cares OF the work-a-day
world, they sought tie sweet roIief az
Books, they roEaled themselves highly upon
lust sucA mental pab1lunl
n raj and unln9fafinR n the hyoase ~