The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1908-12-23
CHRISTMAS AND HOME
VIE SHOULD MAKE EACH OF
THEM MEMORABLE.
And Kindle in Souls Lights Which
Viii Shine Radiant and Beauti-
full Forever.

full Forever.
Tho following beautiful prose
poem is from the pen Of Mr. A. B.
Williams, the accomplished editor Of
the Richmond News-Leader, and who
is well-known in South Carolina
It will do you good to read it:
Through many souls the rever-
heraticns Of the bells OF the coming
Christmas will fsll in the faint and
mournful tones OF q distant dirge
Hearts will be burdeaed by sorrow
net to be defined nor weighed but 50
heavy that no human strength may
lift it, will be darkened by clouds
which none can see, but bringing
with them the hlackress and chill O.
starless wiIter midnight. No
desert is so lonely, no wild waste Of
ocean waters so desolate as Christ
mas time for the absent from home
who have known Christmas times at
homo.
Wa1derer, outcast, stranger or e1-
lie, each sight and sound Of the sea-
son Is a new bitterness. By merct-
less, mysterious traEsmutaticus old
pleasures Of past happiness become
present miseries. The more intense.
the nearer perfect the joys once
known, the deeper and sorer is the
lack OF them, the more dreary the
recollection. The laughter Of by
gone days is dead and silent, but
the ghosts of it come in the sfghs
which mean mere sorrow than any
others because nobody hears mol
heeds them, the tears which sting
more than any others because they
do not find vent from the eyes
Each Christmas light for these
strange and lonesome hearts throws
darker shadow, the voices from
festal homes are mocking remind
ers of privation, the exultlng. thrill.
| ing Of the Te Deum becomes an in
coherent wall for the lost and gone
In every part Of the civilized
world people are at home or on thei'
way there for Christmas. How
many kinds Of people, how many diff
ferent circumstances and condition!
they present and yet, how many o
them have the same stories, hope!
and expectations and will know th'
same experiences! There are th'
{. young men and women, who are go
ing home after their first indepen
dent fights into the big world. Som
Of them carry bad consciencss, tn
dismally oppressive sense Of wron:
done, opportunity wasted, failur
| and disaster threatening. Other
are taking home triumphs over LIT
! tie successes. looking large now
destined to look pitiiul and trivia
when looked back to few year
hence.
Older people are returning site
long absences, hearts crowded will
| old retrospectio1s born Of renewet
thought, OF once familiar places, fac
es and scenes. Some go back beat
en- and bruised from the great battle
! disconsolate and needing the tende
touch of friendly hands, the heal
| ing balm Of loving sympathy AM
caressing voices. Others, victors o1
! large fields or small, are going t.
have the pleasure Of the winnini
sweetened and hallowed by the ger
erous affection and adulation "
find nowhere else as at home, per
haps. secretly looking forward t
taking some tribute of the envy AM
freshly developed honor of old &C
quaintance. They are carrying hom
WEAKNESS to be refreshed, sor
wounds. tc be scothed and bound up
mournful stories Of defeats to NEE
consolation. boastful accounts OF vic
tories to be gloried IN.
! Some arrogant and eager to dis
play their success, some ashame'
and seeking strength and comfor:
many going because Sof the pure
strong wearing of honest and clear
hearts for home and home peopl
and the sharing with them OF tn
Christmas impulses and feelings
+ the many thousands from ever:
quarter CT the earth are bound 70
homes in every part Of it. Poor peo
pie who have pinched and accumu
Hated little by little are using thel
savings that they may be once mor'
in the simple homes to which thel
hearts have been turning all tn
months or years of absence; and tn
rich are returning to splendors ant
luxuries, moved by the same beau
tiful and holy spirits.
For the other thousands who can
not go home or who have no homt
to look to, there is the sadness
desolation, the vain, vague yearnins
for intimacy and love, and the rest
fulness and warmth OF home ant
home circles and fresides. No mat
ter. It may be fate and it may be
| fault I: may b9 estrangement
weakness or wickedness, casual cir
cumstances or deliberate choice
However it may be. for all these
the Christmas mus bring the sense
Of loss and lacking, Of being exelud'
ed, shut out, apart and deprived
hanished from the dearest glory and
the sweets light of the time.
Most pitiful Of all the homeless
are those who are homelss at home,
who shut their hearts against love
and light. warmth and laughter, who
environ themselves with cold and
darkness. VINO look from behind
their barriers Of selfshaess. anger
OF pride, chilling happiness where
they can, .refssirg to share in it.
The outcast, ashamed, abandoned,
despised, may look with hopeless
wistfulness from the outside through