Tuesday morning...Dec. 25, 1850.
Christmas.
In these times of Abolition and Secession, this glorious Festival, thank Heaven, is not abolished, nor has it seceded, nor is it likely to become extinct, so long as the impulses of pious gratitude and love, and the purest domestic affections continue, to sway the human heart. Churches will continue to resound with inspiring anthems of exultation and of joy, echoing the melodious thunders that swell from the innumerable choirs of that angelic host which first proclaimed "Peace on earth; good will among men;" and ten thousand firesides will glow with more than the brightness and genial warmth of midsummer. In the interchange of kind words and loving deeds, which blesses this birth-day of the Prince of Love and Peace and Charity.
We rejoice that the South Carolina Legislature, in abolishing sundry holidays, has spared Christmas, which is an institution that cannot be nullified, and which ought to be recommended to every Southern man for the very reason, if for no better, that it was execrated by the Puritans, who banished from New England every man who kept Christmas or looked with favor upon mince pies. Nevertheless, let us on this day be charitable even to the Puritans. Let us reflect that if we have a holiday on the 25th of December, which commemorates the grandest event in the history of the Universe, they have one on the 21st, which celebrates the Landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock, considered by them the grandest incident in the tide of time.
On a day like this, no matter how various our modes of celebration,--there is one common ground on which all ought to stand,--acts of charity to the poor. Let us remember the children of want and suffering, and, in remembering them, we shall present to Heaven the most acceptable of all sacrifices and oblations.