The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1919-12-26
REFLECTIONS ON CHRISTMAS.


Christmas aeain-and Santa Claus Last week
IN the vounp folks Christmas seemed million miles
away Today the tiny hands throughout the land
ere eunptying their well-filled stockings and JOY
reipns supreme In spite of all our fslicitations
there comes occasionally tnge of sadness through
all the sweetness which is hard to explain. IL may
be that we realize our shortcomings in the year
that is closing, it may be that we are wondering
whether everybody else is as happy as we are, any
way, the feeling will creep out every now ana
then, try as we may to prevent it. fellow PROB
ably wouldn't be much of fellow if he didn't have
it, it must at least indicate that you are not all sell
fshness.
Isaac Erwin Avery deceased, one time city edl-
tor of the Charlotte Observer in the days OF that
grand old seceder, James P. Caldwell, so aptly ex7
pressed our feelings about the Christmas season
that we are going pass what he had to say on to
you.
some wonders what Christmas means to the
other fellow To the children it is Paradise trans
planted, but men and women view it differently
To some it is time for love and charity; to others
time for envy and discomfort. To some it brings
the jubilation that finally came to old Scrooge; to
others it brings boredom.
ITO composite element of mankind Christmas
is long space relieved from tediousness by fam
iy dinner that provides two helpngs of rice and
gravy, not mnee pie and sleepiness. Your oldest
relative once more tells the story of your most
youthful folly, and afterward you 60 into the par
lor and pick away at the nuts and raisins and
things that rest in bowl and decorate the center
table. The youngest child in the house brings you
fresh, smelly story book, to read upside down;
everybody resists an inclination to stand up in front
of the CRATE and stretch; and somebody goes over
to the piano and plays "The Blue Bells Of Scot
land" with the right forefnger. A man from a
distance has sent the daughter of the house some
American Beauty roses, and she busies herself by
carrying these from room to room, hunfming as
she walks. Out in the hall you hear children from
over the way Dragging to your children about the
superiority Of the gifts that in their stockings.
When you 60 to bed that night you feel as If you
had spent the day at the circus where they didn't
have any clowns; and, moreover, your sheets feel
chilly and daupish. Sheets alwass feel like that on
Christmas night, somehow or other.
"Christmas is like any other gala day or big
reception. To find pleasure you must have it in
side yourself. This statement might seem unnec-
essary if it were not for the fact that in the mat
ter Of happiness the vast majority of people are
utterly without personal resource They must have
happiness thrown at them, absorb bits Of it here
and there; and when they forced to subsis only
on the lights and thoughts that God has given
them they very properly perish with ennui. The
empty fool in search Of amusement touches you at
every corner
"You see, there is such hue and cry over Christ
mas, and when the day comes it may easily bring
unsweetness-that let-down feeling of disappoint-
ment. No one is allowed to approach Christmas
soberly dispassionately. few weeks before
hand life may be in placid waters, but the time
of celebration draws nigh the stream becomes
swift current and then vortex that whirls to and
fro, the universal multitude clutching holiday gifts
When the storm ceases, if you woman and are
satisfied with what you've got you are miracle;
il you man and can pay for what you have
given you blessed exception. This is Christ
mas with the varnish off-Christmas described in
remembrance of home-knt socks that didn't fit;
inevitable indigestion; wet fingers that plastered
pink candy; useful donations that weren't useful;
and the same old snowbird on the same old white
card"
WHY THE HIGH SCHOOL?