that is now closing, and the Christmas that is coming will dawn upon many deserted hearthstones, many vacant chairs, many bereaved and saddened hearts.  To look at happiness through others’ eyes is a cruel task at any time; at a time like this, when all the world should be rejoicing, it amounts to keenest torture.  It is our bounden duty, as it should be our pleasure, to contribute our quota to the universal joy, whether it be in the way of relieving suffering or poverty, of speaking a kindly word or of sending out a loving thought; hence we cannot selfishly shut ourselves up with our own happiness without losing something of its sweetness.  We cannot, perhaps, accomplish much; our influence, after all, is not very far-reaching, and the world is very wide and very full of trouble; but we can send outward our kindly thoughts — those winged messengers of peace and love — and we can waft upward our interceding prayers — those ministering angels of grace and sweetness — and thus we can feel that we, though unworthy servants of the Prince of Peace, whose birth we celebrate, are at least following — though very remotely — in His divine footprints.

Unknown (1900, December). Among Ourselves. The Designer, Vol. XIII (2), 216-17.  Retrieved from http://victoriantimes.us/year-1900/among-ourselves-december-1900

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