New Britain herald., 1926-12-24

significant they cannot be located with the unaided eye.
 Christmas means little to any of us unless it centers around making children happy; not necessarily our own children, for some of us may not possess any. but children Of others, the tottlers who would have q dreary Christmas indeed were it not for the help of more fortunate individuals. Opportunities to play the transformations Santa have abounded on every hand, and 1t Is as certain as that the days of days is due tomorrow that every man and woman has done his duty.
 At every gathering of the young
 folk, whether around the family Christmas tree. or at the numerous chidren's parties sponsored by vari- ous organizations. the elders enjoy
 themselves quite as thoroughly as the children. and this by merely ob
 serving the antics of the innocents. That is how the oldsters get their greatest Christmas joys-by noting
 how the young, innocent of guile and firm believer in the beneficent
 mysteries of Santa Claus, accept everything from his workshop with such shouts of joy as only the days of childhood yield.
 There are carpers who tell us that the spirit of Christmas is degenerat- ing; that the holiday has been "com- mercialized.' meaning pre-holiday activities arc devoted largely to bar ter and sale--or sale without bar ter. When there is nothing else to say about thing one can always have recourse 10 the charge 1t is commercialzed when in reality the aid of commerce is merely invoked for our convenience, to assist US in obtaining the most ioy-producing gifts in the shortest possible time. Were we left to our own ability 10 provide the toys and gifts we need it would be q meager Yuletide in dced, although the day no doubt could be enjoyed in some fashion. Our children, mayhap, would get less out of it-for to a child it makes no difference whether the toys are made in a factory and sold over the counter, the main consid- cration being that it is toy, pos sessing the innate power to radiatc unbridled joy. Avaunt with the con- mercialism allegation. It would be a poor Christmas, indeed. one remi- niscent of the cave days of mankind, 1 without the efficient aid of this 
 The meaning of the day remains regardless of everything else. It cannot be obscured. It is a day de- voted to the anniversary of the birth | of Christ the Saviour, and the very | name of the day well advertises | that fact. The religious aspect of the holiday cannot be submerged | under the play of Santa. for the story of the mythical toy maker ap. ! peals only to children whose minds | have not been sufficiently developed ! to realize that such parsonage is an impossibility. It is fun to tell | them the story and watch their awe struck reactions. Just about the | time when the child begins 10 doubt whether the toy-maker actually | crawls down chimneys, or comes I from the North Pole behind rein deer, he is mentally able to encom- pass the greater and more meaning | ful story of the Christ child and | what His advent has meant to the | world.
 We are prepared, therefore, to l disabuse our minds of all reflections | of a kind not in keeping with tho | glorious benefits of Christmas It | is a time for ultra -optism, ultra ultra-happiness. The world may wag unsteadily in spots, | the heart Of man may have cause | to feel dismayed, tragedy may stalk | here and there, misery lays her heavy hand upon the unsuspecting; but this is no time for sombre re- Elections. The holiday is for rose tinted glasses, and the earth for once looks like a paradise.
 once more youth and cheerful ness combine 10 reign bcneficently- Tor on this day, friends, all of us, wen the oldsters, again are young n spirit. That is one of the com- for all the worry, bother md incidental expense. For age loes not count during the glad and merry Christmastide: 10 realize that millions of children throughout the world are feeling the unutterablc oy we ourselves once felt when "of hat age" cannot do otherwise than urn back the hands of time.
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