Oxford eagle., 1919-12-18
THE CYNIC'S BAN
| THE PAST AND
PRESENT CHRISTMAS
A Cynical Sermon.

AS this is a Christmas edition, full
Of good Christmas advice and replete
with holiday spirit, it seems that to re-
call our former conception Of this
great day and strive to contrast it with
the present it may serve to awaken
IN some the desire that the days ought
to bring a realization Of the necessity
Of distributing happiness, instead of
| merely being the recipient of happi-
ness
Christmas hardly meant always just
what it means now. 1t was not al
ways a hard burden of debt for father
to meet on the first of January when
| the bill collectors came around. 1t
was not always financial burden IN
which everybody sought to give every
body else. In short it was not always
commercialized.
BY the time Christmas arrives now
most o. us are tired. The previous
lays of shopping have been strenuous
and somewhat irksome. All because
we strive to have too much spirit
when our heart and soul is really not
in so much. There is scarcely a time
Of the year when more happiness and
ljoy should be rampant and universal;
| and there is scarcely q time which Sc
many dislike to see approach because
of the expense, the worry, and now
days the hardship Of providing ade
Iuately For our station in life" The
rich are more or less bored, and the
poor are more or less unhappy be-
cause of their inability to have
Christmas in keeping with the time
and fast moving spirit of the age.
And the middle class share a degree
of each other class, and inexplicably
intersperse a great deal Of happiness
in it, which they themselves know not
how they do.
1t would be a wonderful thing if
we could keep the day in its true spir-
It. But we don't There's too much
superficial, nay, hypocricy, in it for
that-on the part of some, fortunate
| " not of all. Our heart ought to &c
with everything we do at this time
and vet, does it? Dc we not give be-
cause we have to? Because we fear
they will give US, and we won't be IN
position to reciprocate? Because
we think Christmas is a good time to
remove our obligations? We don't
know how it is across the water, but
in America too many go Christmas
mad.
Just above we said it would be Won
derful to keep the day in it's true
sense an dspirit-a time for happi-
ness and joy and good cheer. That is
the idealistic view. The realisti" force
behind it, is that we do come as near
as we do to keeping it despite all
these disturbing forces of commercial
ization so common in almost every
thing in our country. Yes, that's the
wonder of it. After all, our reckless
preparation for Christmas isn't all
bad, because, and simply because, OF
the end in view. Most 'of us may jus
tify the means thereby, if we want to,
and then we think, we're perfectly sat
isfied and justified.
What an opportunity for an ideal
Christmas this is. Of all the distress
and misery and wretchedness around
us, we need not look to the world for
chance to spend an ideal Christmas.
It is at our very door, if we will but
celebrate it in true fashion, and to
lasting goodness and benefit To our
mind a Christmas this year won't
mean all the joy and happiness our
own heart brings in company with all
our dear ones, but that great joy which
we may cause to be brought to some
other hearth where the fire of op-
portunity or advantage isn't blazing
so alluringly.
/ There are all kinds of Christmases
just as there all kinds and degrees of
everything. Christmas is what we
make it. If we are reckless and dis
satisfied in preparing for it, we shall