Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1917-12-24
CHRISTMAS SYNONYMOUS WITH
GIVING.


Nest OF the obseryances that have
become common TO the human family
iaust credit whatever degree Of OPP
alarity attaches to them to the will,
bur this Is not true OF Christmas; it is
one red letter day in the worlds cal
ondar that Is parented by the heart,
and this Is probably why il is entered
into so universally and with such zest
The day has an appeal well nigh ir-
resistible
Man has never been able 10 analyze
many OF the impulses that have been
instrumental in shaping his life. He
delights to cali himself a reasonable
being. and yet finds himself doing
some most unreasonable deeds. He
boldly boasts that he has full control
OF his emotions, and then cries over
the mIsfortunes of a movie star He
believes himself to be In direct line
from Solomon in the distribution OF
wisdom. yet wanders over the earth
in the wake OF an idea, largely be-
cause it Is his own While most OF
the impulses that have given direction
TO life can later be subjected 70 the
microscope test, the desire 10 have
part in the celebration of the natal
day OF the Savior is beyond the ken OF
his investigation. and regardless OF
how often a kind providence has per-
mitted him to partake Of Christmas
joys, each recurring year brings with
1t a keen anticipation Of all for which
the day stands.
Even the least thoughtful among us
realize that the mind and the body
must now and again be introduced TO
tho new, the different, or both win
break under the weight of uninter-
rupted monotony The artisan who
labors in the creation Of some one
piece Of machinery may produce SUI
perior article, but the monotony of
day after day doing identieally the
same thing demands a toll of his life
that cannot be denied This is why
the Creator set apart one day in seven
that man might rest from ordinary la
bors and this divine scheme was even
carried" 10 the land that 1t. too, might
not become impoverished by being re-
quired to yield too sustained a toll
Left to his own devices. man Will
blindly follow his own ideas or pay
tribute to precedent. thus shortening
his own career OF usefulness and rob-
bling the world of an influence that
was intended to last through three
score years and ten; so the divine in
terposed and Christmas became a
great reality which year after year has
demonstrated its supernal birth.
Man needs these occasions for more
reasons than can be enumerated short
OF large book. and while the first
need may be spiritual one, this is
not usually reckoned as the first and
best reason. nor does it include the
entire man. Christmas is for the en-
tire being. II calls the mind of the
man away from the routine: il invites
his eyes TO observe familiar objects
from an entirely different angle; it
makes an appeal to that organ he calls
heart and with which he has been
acquainted merely as pump that
forces the blood through his veins: 1t
opens TO him door through which he
may not only see the large number
of less fortunate beings in the world,
but through which he may enter into
an unexplored realm where his heart
may guide his hand TO where his &C
cumulations OF earthly goods are laid
up for rainy day and where sugges-
ton may be whispered that there are
better places for depositing character
than any strong box on earth.
Christmas and giving are almost
SYNONYMOUS. He who gave us Christ
mas gave also Himself and this exam
ple. the superlative. is still guiding
men to PARKWAY places where they
may bring their richest gifts and revel
in the glow that follows the recogni-
ton Of a need and viii to relieve.
II is perhaps of the reason that the
day gets so close 70 real being that
il burrows deeper into the affections
from year to year. It finds where the
heart is located, and the heart. after
o1s - .ha roai epn