The Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1912-1917, 1916-12-20
"a WHITE CHRISTMAS.

Nearer we hold Of God
Who gives, than of his tribes that
take, I must believe.
Browning: Rabbi Ben Ezra
"a White Christmas!" The phrase
strikes home. And the incorporation
of the wonderously beautiful Symbol
lism in the Legend of Catheay in the
Christmas church service is impress
i've. Our Christmas should be white,
white as that soft blanket of snow
which covers mother earth, each year
as symbol for spiritual purity.
To give rather than receive is a
grand, a majestic principle. And it is
refreshing to learn that the hearts of
the children are being trained in many
churches to give without thought OF
receiving.
We are wont, and with good reason
to associate the giving OF gifts with the
coming of Christmas. We are happy
in the thought that we can bring, at
least one time in the year, some thing
to those we love, something which will
show the depths of our devotion. What
brilliant eye the truer giver turns
upon you as he searches in the bright
archives of Christmas treasures for
some appropriate object, some gift that
will throw out the most lasting rays
of appreciation for the love that has
L. 81
the popular and also in the legal sense,
means that which is voluntarily be-
slowed without expectation of return
or compensation. But the meaning of
this word is abused there are people
among us who persist in measuring
their gifts according to standard
they think wholly honorable, namely,
What will | get in return?"
But notice little child, for instance,
who has been brought up in a normal
atmosphere of home life. With the
keenest pleasure he or she sets about
to make some little remembrance for
father and mother. There is no
pensation; there is only the expecta-
ton of seeing the parent smile. Have
you ever noticed the healthy embar-
assment that such child labors under
when the gift is discovered? 1t is
a most refreshing sight to see the
child hang back almost shamefacedly
CT nf
There is hope locked up in the
child's breast that its gift will be re-
warded by some sign of satisfaction,
but there is no Interior motive. 1t is
merely a childish pleasure expressed
in truly naive way. This manner of
giving digs the deepest burrows OF
happiness, friendship, and love.
Would it not be an ideal condition of
affairs if we all could keep this mai
vete through our lives? But we have
too many examples cast before us
Some people stop their giving of
gifts for no more Of reason than the
fact that some person failed to reach
their standard of compensation. Many
selfish people make present with the
thought of getting some thing equally
as valuable in return. If this hope Is
torn, they tear themselves from the
list of gift givers. There is no
thought IN their minds of the pleasure
brought to the receiver; Christmas
card is not sufficient,-they think it
merely retaliation.
Moreover, there are among. us also
a large number of people who feel
that gift giving is thrust upon them;
they feel that they are under obliga-
lions to those from whom they get
present. The gift received, they pro-
ceed cody in an estimation of it's mon
etary value. They think it their duty