who have no fathers or mothers or grandpas, and all the poor, and all
the sick, and all the blind, and all the distressed, have had a merry
Christmas.

At a time like this, when the security of your own reward relaxes
scrutiny for the shortcomings of others, I would have you take up these
"_Trifles_."




A CHRISTMAS MELODY.


The Prelude.

"Twenty-nine dollars! Very well, Mr. John Redfield: I think you _have_
cut your allowance a _little_ low. With bracelets, bonbons, and other
gewgaws for your interesting friends, I must say your enjoyment of this
prospective Twenty-fifth of December is somewhat reduced. When a man has
skated over the frozen surface of society a little matter of
one-and-thirty years, it is just reasonable to hope he has reached that
desideratum known as years of discretion. There is a little adage
relating to the immeasurably short time the feeble-minded enjoy
pecuniary advantages, which I think decidedly applicable to you.

"A rather severe epigram, occurring in the Holy Scriptures, goes to show
the impossibility--even though the somewhat unsatisfactory argument of
the pestle and mortar be resorted to--of separating the same class of
people from their rather confused ideas of the fitness of things.