Year: 1866

w oie iii the midst OF the Christmas hoIl-
days, when no serious work is to be done by
anybody who can help it. All the courts of
law are closed-except those of Justices of
the Peace. whose doors. like those of the
temple OF Janus, are always open; for
brief period the citizen may rest in peace
without fear of summonses to serve on grand
Or petit juries. and the prisoner in his cell
may enjoy his respite from prosecution, and
feast upon the public bounty. Creditors
and debtors smile together, church bells and
dinner bells ring their merry peals. and peace
and brotherly love and conteutment descend
upon the land. We Americans are such a
Gevil-may-care and driving people that it is
a good thing for the Christmas holidays to
come 'once year to relax our nerves and
muscles, and give US time to recuperate our
wasted energies, and grid our loins anew for
the rush and turmoil of the coming years
battle of life. 1t will not do, in these mod
ern times Of liberal opinion, to rest the claim
for the observance of these holidays upon the
narrow foundation of their religious origin.
Doctors of Divinity disagree as to the proba-
BILE day of the year on which Christ was
born. All days and ali places are equally
holy in Gods sight, and ne who does best
the duties of this life presents the most ac-
ceptable offering to his Maker, and his creed
will not be inquired into on the last great
day. We are not all christians, and yet we
all observe and enjoy the Christmas holidays.
Jews and Gentiles meet and agree in devot-
ing them to festivities and friendly greetings.
They have become, by tacit consent, Ma
| tional institution, and our General Govern
ment-which has no religion-agrees with
the people, and sets them apart for relaxa-
ton. Congress, though crowded with most
important business, has not deemed that near
a fortnight spent by its members in their
homes and in domestic recreation will be lost
time. Nor do we believe that such a recess
from legislative business will be of any det-
riment to the country. The members will
return to their work with steadier nerves,
and clearer insight of what is expected of
them by their constituents. A crowd of
about forty bachelor Members of Congress
1--WE hope they are bachelors) have accepted
an invitation, and are travelling, as Congress-
men generally travel-scot free-through the
South, as the guests of the Southern Rail-
road companies. We hope they will have
pleasant journey of it, and that they will
come back to the Capital with correct no.
tons of the needs of the South. If pleasure
is the object of their trip. no doubt they will
be gratifed, for the Southern people know
how to be hospitable in their homes. If
correct information is what they are after
we fear they will gather but scant supply,
for it is hard to judge truly of people when
they are dressed in their Sunday clothes, and
Southern gentlemen and ladies will most GER
tainly be in their best suits and behavior
when they receive invited guests. Human
nature shows off, if not to the best advantage
yet in its truest colors with coats off, shirt
sleeves rolled up to the elbows. ard features
set intent upon the pursuit of an habitual





our gay Congressman are not likely to have
during their present excursion. Let us hope
that the public may find profit in their Rep
resentatives' pleasure, and that better un-
derstanding between the different sections of
our country may grow out of a closer view Of
each other, and that before another recur-
renee of these days, discord and dissension
shall be unknown among us. Christmas
holidays in California are as unlike what
they are in the older and colder States,
as they are there at present different from
what they were in olden times. Here, what
ever may be the content we hold in our
hearts or the comfort we have in our dwell
ings, there is little to tempt sober and sane
man out into the open air to seek pleasure
As general thing, if there is to be muddy
and disagreeable spell of weather in Decem-
Der, it comes in the holidays. Wading thro
water and mud, and carrying an umbrella,
is not very cheerful business, and those who
have homes show their sense when they spend
these days in the family circle around the
family stove. keeping themselves dry. While
our atmosphere is sufficiently chilly to make
fires comfortable at this time of the wear, we
have none of the cold. sharp and crispy
weather which was the delight of our boy-
hood. and which we now look back to with
fond remembrance. The merry jingle of
sleigh-bells is unheard of among us. Buffalo
robes and hot foot stoves are luxuries we do
not now require. Rolling up giant snow
balls on the school house play ground is an
impossibility here. No skating on the mill
pond or canal, and no more frozen ears or
noses! All these pleasures we have enjoyed
in times gone by, before we came to Califor-
MIA, but can never hope to feel them again
while we remain in this golden country
Modern improvements have made terrible
inroads upon the ancient modes of observ-
ance of the holidays. The cooking stove has
banished the huge Christmas lack log and
all its concomitants. The generation of ma
tive Californians now growing up to supplant
us of the immigrant breed, will know nothing
of the holidays of the old States but what is
told them by us venerable seniors, or what
they read of in story books. But when the
boys are made to understand that sleigh-rid-
ing and all that fun means the mercury do wn
to zero. or its freezing point, for months in
the year, and the girls learn that Christmas
back-logs mean cooking over the kitchen
fireplace, we doubt if they will wish to