Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-12-22
Christmas Is Not Dead
Challenge Accepted Spirit Rns

~ HRISTMAS," said one Of the
cynicS, "iS useless article
wrapped up in himsy pa
~ per and cheap tinSel and
given in exchange for a
'doofunny' done up in tin foil and cot
ton ribbon. 1t is a merchants holiday;
an ogry OF extravaganza; day of
platitudes; imitation sentiment; a lot
OF hurry and hustle and nerve strain
and the bill comes in on January l."
Christmas! Christmas?" said one
Of our hard working authors. There
Is nothing more to say about Christ
mas. It has become commercial feast
1t is as highly organized and iInper-
sonal as the charity organizations and
the Government tax. You know the
day you have to pay-and you get
ready for it. Christmas spirit is dead
and the last Christmas story has been
written. In a highly efficient age
where all our emotions are catalogued
and condemned by the psychiatrists,
and the psychologists can prove an evil
motive behind every good deed, what
chance has Santa Claus? There is no
more Christmas spirit-no more Christ
mas stories"
We learned about Christmas from a
President of the United States and a
taxicab driver, from John Erskine and
owen D. Young, from a poet and a
priest, from piouS woman and a
woman of the world, from a man Just
out OF prison. They were efficient
people, but being good at their various
jobs had not killed their souls They
taught us that Christmas Is one of the
great common denominators of the
human family, that 1t can touch all
peoples alike Christian and unbeliever,
CQlnG Ci01nr-fk fe
thing the scofterS have not been able
to laugh into its grave. But it is a
day for action. 1t calls for deeds.
This happened when Calvin Coolidge
was President of the United States
1t Is an old custom Of the Coolidges to
bring to their board on holidays friends
whose cups have been emptied, or who
ind holidays a torment Three times
while Calvin Coolidge was President of
the United States he took into the
White House for the holiday week
Senator's whose homes had been broken
by death.
One year they had lost an old friend.
a man OF no political importance, lust
an old friend who had gone to war and
come. back with a broken body, but
| enough spirit left to keep him alive
| through those years when the war was
being forgotten. It was near the holi-
day time. Many friends were kind
The Coolidges were more; they were
understanding. They knew about holi-
days and broken families. So they In
vited the widow of their friend to spend
a few days in the White House. II
would be something new in her life
something to crowd out heartbreak
memories.
Calvin Coolidge escorted her through
the great halls and drawing rooms
filled with the portraits of the Nations
residents-Lincoln, Garfield and Nc
Kinley, who had given their lives tc
their country. And In this unspoker
gesture, Calvin Coolidge had woven the
life Of a simple citizen soldier, who also
had given his life to this country, into
the golden fabrics of the Nation.
record. s,e
There was no talk of personal things
but much was said Of this or that his.
tortc bit in the mansion, and Mrs
Coolidge finally took the soldiers widow
to the south window for the lovely
view Of the Washington Monument anC
recalled the lines Of schoolboy: Prom
Arlington, where sleep the men who
have given their lives for their country
the Washington Monument seems {
giant spike God might have driven intt
this earth and said, Here, stake {
claim for the home Of liberty"
| The terror of lonely holidays for thu