178 
Judies 2Ptora! iSwJniiet mad JHctormt Some 
jomjmruon.. 
sakes became poor”; and the poor grow tenderer 
toward the rich, as they feel that the icy harrier of 
pride melts away in the warm rays of divine love. 
It is not alone in material things that the world is 
moving, hut in spiritual as well; and in nothing is 
this more apparent than in the nature of its chari¬ 
ties. How absurd would it have appeared a century 
ago to offer to the destitute poor, the entertainments 
which are now provided upon Christmas day through¬ 
out the length and breadth of our land ! the Christ¬ 
mas-tree, loaded with fairy gifts 
for the waifs of the street, the 
rich flowers and luscious fruit, 
carried to the bedsides of the 
sick in cellars and attics, the 
feast of dainties provided for 
criminals within prison walls, 
and, better still, the words of 
love and cheer that are as freely 
given to those who, guilty 
though they be, are brothers still 
to the Son of Mary. 
How much of the tender 
character of many of our chari¬ 
ties, is owing to the more general 
observance of Christmas day as 
a hallowed festival, it might not 
be possible to estimate, but we 
are sure that it has not been in¬ 
significant. There is a peculiar 
charm in the observance of the 
great Christian festival that 
thrills all hearts. Its merry¬ 
making is merrier than that of 
all the year, for its joy is genu¬ 
ine and pure; its worship rises 
higher, for it swells the rapture 
of heaven with the gladness of 
earth. It is good to observe it 
outwardly, to do it honor with 
every tribute we can bring of 
loving homage, to wreathe gar¬ 
lands and make feasts, to give 
and to receive gifts. Above all 
it should be marked by gifts of 
love ; and who so poor that he 
has none to offer, and who is 
rich that has it not to give ? 
“ Love is a present for a mighty 
king."’ 
God had no better thing to 
offer, and he gave it to the world 
on the first Christmas morning. Like the breath 
of the south wind it came, and a new spring was 
born. Cruel faiths and dark superstitions fled before 
the soft radiance of the Bethlehem Star that gilds our 
day with beauty and blesses our nights with peace. 
In every land we find some gentle thought or ten¬ 
der strain of feeling running like a thread of gold 
through, the Christmas customs. None are more 
beautiful than the remembrance of the animal crea¬ 
tion in the universal rejoicing. In the far North the 
Norwegian peasant children tie together a sheaf of 
wheat and other grain, which they place upon a pole 
planted in the snow as a Christmas-tree for the 
birds; and in the far South the Italian housewife 
makes white cakes for the stalled cattle. Even those 
superstitions are beautiful that still cling about the 
day—superstitions which Puritanism condemned so 
severely, and Romanism exalted so unduly. The old 
German legends weave it into the warp and woof of 
their strange stories, like that of our engraving, 
where the maiden, by the observance of certain rites 
on Christmas eve, is borne away to Elfland, where 
children that have been transformed into birds 
for offence given the fairies, await the coming of 
some beautiful maiden to restore them to their homes. 
If the fairies give her fruit, and she eats it, it confers 
on her the power to release the offenders from the 
power of the spell, and give them back to their belov¬ 
ed ones. But this is only on condition that the 
maid be fair, and will consent to remain herself in 
exile in place of those she releases. Sylva, the belov¬ 
ed of the whole hamlet where she lived, “ as the 
rarer lily blossoms ’mid the green herbs of the field,” 
resolved to adventure the spell for the sake of return¬ 
ing the child of her stepmother, who, by perverseness 
and cruelty to Sylva, had offended the little people, 
with whom Sylva is an especial favorite. An 
earth fairy, who loves her, cannot prevent her 
being carried away, but casts her into so deep a sleep 
that she cannot be awakened to take the offered 
fruit, and the gnomes are obliged to return her to her 
home on Christmas morning at the rising of the sun. 
Like all the rest, the story has its thread of gold, and 
the tale is not for the Norse folk only, but for us. 
Let us make the gold our own. For each of us 
there is some deed of kindness to perform, some 
ministry of tender affection, some unkindness to for¬ 
give and forget, some bruised heart to bind, some 
sinful soul to cheer with words 
of hope. 
“Make channels for the streams 
of love 
Where they may broadly run ; 
And love has ever-flowing streams 
To fill them every one.” 
Kindle bright fires, wreathe 
your houses with holly and 
mistletoe, spread your tables 
with good things, give to your 
friends, give to your enemies, 
give to your beloved ones, make 
your homes bright and your 
children happy, give to the poor, 
but take heed how you give: 
“That is no true alms which the 
hand can hold : 
He gives nothing but worthless 
gold 
W ho gives from a sense of 
duty ; 
But he who gives a slender 
mite, 
And gives to that which is out 
of sight, 
That thread of the all-sustain¬ 
ing Beauty 
Which runs through all and 
doth all unite— 
The hand cannot clasp the 
whole of his alms; 
The heart outstretches its eager 
palms, 
For a God goes with it, and 
makes it store 
To the soul that was starving 
in darkness before.” 
Better to warm the heart 
than the body. I)o not offend 
the one that you may benefit 
the other. It has often been 
made harder to the poor man to 
accept a benefit than to go without it. Get him work 
and he can earn coals and blankets, but he can never 
buy a flower for his wife, though she loves them well ; 
nor a toy for his child, though he looks into the toy¬ 
shop windows with longing eyes. Do not forget this 
when you would make him a present. And, kind 
readers, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a 
Happy New Year. 
Christmas Gifts.— No Christmas gift is more 
universally acceptable than flowers. They are al¬ 
ways elegant, and admit of such range in taste and 
cost as to satisfy the requirements of the most fas¬ 
tidious. 
