HERE are many things from which I might have derived
good, by which I have not profited, I dare say,
Christmas among the rest. But I am sure I have always
thought of Christmas time, when it has come
round—apart from the veneration due to its sacred
name and origin, if anything
belonging to it can be apart
from that—as a good time; a
kind, forgiving, charitable,
pleasant time; the only time I
know of, in the long calendar
of the year, when men and
women seem by one consent
to open their shut-up hearts
freely, and to think of people
below them as if they really
were fellow-passengers to the
grave, and not another race
of creatures bound on other
journeys. And therefore,
though it has never put a
scrap of gold or silver in my
pocket, I believe that it has
done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!