Douglas Island news., 1910-12-21
The Douglas Island News.
Christmas

iC W2G0 the same gle6 JQay the SpdThlluS eyed youth clap their hands and laugh ingly exclaim it. Have you thought of it, reader2 If not, don't let this week pass away without procuring some little token of remembrance with which 10 gladden. afresh the heart of some one. The giving of presents is q oeauti- ful, happy custom, and we are so glad that there is one day in the great round of the year when that custom is so universally practieed. The eynic and the churg say 'it's all bosh; it's fancy that does not become men and women of good sense; it's all wrong and should be discontinued We are glad that we are neither cynic nor a churl. We are glad that there is in our veins taint of superstition that warns us up to the bright and gladsome custom of storytelling, of the quaint old griZZled Santa Claus and his spirited reindcers; of the frost glittering woods and their homes of the gnomes and witches; of the diamond tipped, rainbow hued clus ters of everg~ ~eens and sparkling foun- tains. where the fairies reYel and work their spells. What harm have they all done? What good have they accom- plishedj
 The harm they have inflicted has been in measure as the old woman's drawing the sea by the thim ble full. The good they have accomplished is as prolific as the sands of that sea. They keep back the selfishness and greed; they swallow up and destroy the rank lings of revenge, the nor bid feelings ot unhappiness. We had rather that our children should go to bed wondering about the felicity with which the kind little fairy scattered cheer and bless ings than to bother their young brains over the spirit that controlled AleXan- der or Napoleon, and made them sigh for more worlds to conquer We had rather see our children lovingly cud- ding their inanimate dolls and repeat ing to them the triumphs of "Jack, the Giant Killer" or "Cinderella," than to have them preCociously boring their neighbors with the problems of Euclid or the "dou ble rule of Three" There is no rose blush on the cheeks, no merry sparkle of the eyes in the pre- mature an-child-the manikin made to order. If such an one is rememb bered with a Christmas token, it takes it as though i, were but duplicate of the IuOOGi llaNlNaNN Sg At0NAAv SAaNNS AS no un bound curiosity in the COnstrGc- tion of the tOy-it Is all matter of fact. and there the bounds of imagina tion are set. Life is always, to such a child. a stern reality to jostle which with a tangent of guileleSs merriment, is to shatter the fragile vase of per feet ratteru. While to the happy, sunny sDul of the Ci hers there is, in the
 I,N la FlF . lsT1. Kringle surreptitiously conveys down the yawning chimney, or through the pithless stovepipe, over the red hot coals of fire, and into their stocking, a great mine of curiosity into which they vigorously delye ail thI Ough the bliss ful day and dream with pleasure most supreme all night, awaking the follow ing morning with sigh that Christmas comes but once year. To them the squeak of the painted duck, horse, doll, sheep or other artificial lung toy, Is music of the peculiar kind that, how ever monotOnous, sings the melody ot opeu-hauded, free-hearted Christmas, and their blithesome joy is such that any cynic might we'll envy and kick himself into the realization of the lost pleasure that has made his life mere excrescence of excessive selfshuess.
 Nor let the children alone enjoy all that Christmas can bring. While their mother does with great heartedness enjoy the gladuess of her children, re- member that she Is your wife and the mother of your children. Ramemb Der that there was a time when you would cheerfully bend to hard labor to earn means with which to buy something that made you proud when she accepted with thauks your token of esteem. It is truo, perhaps, that the calls upon your Durse are many and hard to meet. But it takes a triAe, only, to recall the happy days of youth when she was all and everything to you; when you would brave fire or death itself, if called upon, to meet with her friendly and atfec- tionate smile Don't let the sweetness of that womanly smile go forever from her lips or the light of younger days be plotted out from her greeting eyes. If you have neglected her, make amends for it by quietly slipping some little token into her stocking, so that the morning toilet shall be interrupted and made a gladsome surprise to her also. She knows that you, perhaps, cannot afford it, but if she knows that you have denied yourself some little comfort to get her this, she will know that it comes from your heart, and then you will be again her darling old sweet heart. Try it.
 If you have to spare, get some little toys for the poor children you know. A pair of stockings or pair of shoes, or hood or shawl-these things you ought to have provided for them long ago. A bright, fancy toy will warm up the heart of an almost frozen child, and while they are delightfully."- examining if ryitb cbatteriny teeth they are bless