Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, December 19, 1909, Page 25

FPART TERESR DRAMATIC PAGES 1 TO 13 ‘THE OMAHA SUNDAY BEE. EACE ON EARTH ; Goeod will toward men!” Over ~ the Judean hills this shepherd’s cry of\ old s Ml rang outon that first C'hr_ist- “‘%“ € il mas morning, proclaiming Iy the birth of the new-born king, the Saviour of the World, and on down the centuries it has come soundmg with clear ap- peal its same glad tidings of joy and peace to all mankind. Christmas is almost here. Before another week comes around the Yuletide joy will be supreme. No festival in Christendom holds the charm for the human heart that Christmas holds; no season of the year is half so merry; no sentiment has struck quite so near the heart of mankind or held it in its spell with quite the same impassioned zeal as those im¢ mortal words that came resounding from the lowly Bethlehem ninetecen hundred years ago. But, after all, what do those words mean? What does the joy of Christmas mean? Is it some vague, mysterious pleasure which only the tew may feel—somd exclusive boon for the heart already filled with happiness? If Christmas means anything, it means a time of universal joy and gladness. It is the birthday of the Saviour of Mankind. It is the anniversary of at once the most lowly and exalted ruler the world has ever known or vill ever knew; the author of the Golden Rule; the patron Saint of genuine democracy. And therefore Christmas is not a time of oppression for any man. - No matter what the gloom at other periods of the year, no shadow \ IP\I\H\ \I \II\\ MORNING, l)l"\ EMBER 19, PART THREER WOMEN PAGES 1 TO 12 (-(m FIVE SINGLE ule’ufle a‘;'\\ can resist the penetrating rays of the *Yuletide joy, or should. This is the time for observing the amenities of the most minor relations and stations of life; the time to pause in your thoughtless haste to do some- thing for some one else; the time to forget self and remember the other man or woman or boy or girl. Did you ever think that every such festival, and especially the Christmas festival, must entail severe hardship on your neighbor unless you take the ut- most precaution to prevent it? W here there1s so much pleasure to give every- body must be careful that in the giv- ing some one is not denied, or imposed on. Greatenjoyment means preat ef- tort often, and certainly at Christmas time. Throughout the United States in these later years the newspapers have been carrying on a crusdde at Christ- mas time and for weeks approaching it in behalf of the merchant and his faithful, clerk. At first fmen scoffed ‘and said it is silly. But today the ap- peal for “Early Shopping” is recognized as the appeal of humanity, and for humanity, an appeal that carries the most serious meaning. And unless this appeal is answered that cry of the lowly Judean shepherd must lose much of its practical meaning. Nothing but the most inordinate selfish- ness or idle thoughtlessness will, in the main, keep people from responding to this appeal. It 1s as easy, and much more profitable, to buy early as late—to shop before the final rush of the last day or two. As a matter of fact, early shopping means better shopping-—the goods have not all been picked over and the clerks tired out until ‘they have little patience with a customer.’ It is too late now, of course, for “early” shopping; all that can be done is to avoid the climax of confusion at the finale. Barely a week is left, and if the first three days are well occupied by the shopper it will help the trades- man a great deal. The tradesman and trades- woman has his and her right to a merry Christmas day, but cannot enjoy that right if completely exhausted by the toil of the pre- vious day and days. 7 The Christmas spirit is a spirit that should not spend its beautiful force on one day, but should last the whole year round, and if it does then the shopper will not need to be re- minded annually of the storekeeper and the clerk. “Christmas is too noble an institution its spirit too exalted and useful to be breathed in the human heart, flushed with a good im- pulse on December 25, and then forgotten when that day is gone. What if it were Christmas in spirit for 365 days in the year! And it would bé if the deepest meaning of the (Brt‘ehngfi day were carried into practical, every-day life. There would be no domineering of the strong over the weak: no blind disdain by any man of any man’s happiness. In the light of such indifference to the’ pleasure and comfort of other people, those lofty and inspired sentiments of the Yuletide lose their meaning and become hollow mock- eries. Don’t be thoughtless, don’t be careless, don’t be selfish, don’t be indifferent at this one season of the year,and that may help you not to be for the other days and weeks and months. Say you will think of the-other fel- low. Say you will try to lighten someone’s load. = Say that you, for one, will lay in the stores with which you expect to give pleasure in time to prevent laying on someone else a burden on the very eve of Christmas. The Christmas spirit is the spirit of doing for others. The life that came in at Bethle- hem went out on Golgotha. The cradle and the cross must ever dwell in the minds of men as companions in the destiny of the world, as co-ordinate forces in the school of salvation. Omabha is a prosperous city; Nebraska is a prosperous state, and all the sister states are prosperous; but there isn’t a community in this rich land that has not its quota of poor and unfortunate. To some homes on Christ- mas the cheer of the Yuletide will not come; to some young hearts the joy of Santa Claus will not appear, and in some fathers’ and mothers’ bosom the thrill of their children’s pleasure will not rise and fall. -