scated; yet the privileged
Christmas mendicant may actually proceed to insolence if his claims are
ignored; and the meek Briton submits to the insult. I cannot
sufficiently deplore the progress of this spirit of beggardom, for it is
acting and reacting in every direction all over the country. Long ago we
lamented the decay of manly independence among the fishermen of those
East Coast ports which have become watering-places. Big bearded fellows
whose fathers would have stared indignantly at the offer of a gratuity
are ready to hold out their hands and touch their caps to the most
vulgar dandy that ever swaggered. To any one who knew and loved the
whole breed of seamen and fishermen, a walk along Yarmouth sands in
September is among the most purely depressing experiences in life. But
the demoralization of the seaside population is not so distressing as
that of the general population in great cities. We all know Adam
Bede--the very finest portrait of the old-fashioned workman ever done.
If George Eliot had represented Adam as touching his cap for a sixpence,
we should have gasped with surprise at the incongruity. Can we imagine
an old-world stonemason like Hugh Miller begging coppers from a farmer
on whose steading he happened to be employed? The thing is
preposterous! But now a strong London artizan will coolly ask for his
gratuity just as if he were a mere link-boy!

It is pleasant to turn to kindlier themes; it is pleasant to think of
the legitimate rejoicings and kindnesses in which the most staid of us
may indulge. Far be it from me to emulate the crabbed person who
proposed to form a "Society for the Abolition of Christmas." The event
to be commemorated is by far the greatest in the history of our planet;
all others become hardly worthy of mention when we think of it; and
nothing more momentous can happen until the last catastrophe, when a
chilled and tideless earth shall roll through space, and when no memory
shall remain of the petty creatures who for a brief moment disturbed its
surface. The might of the Empire of Rome brooded over the fairest
portions of the known world, and it seemed as though nothing could shake
that colossal power; the pettiest officer of the Imperial staff was of
more importance than all the natives of Syria; and yet we see that the
fabric of Roman rule has passed away like a vision, while the faith
taught by a band of poor Syrian men has mastered the minds of the
strongest nations in the wor