To-Morrow

About This Item

Title: To-Morrow
Date: 24 December 1858
Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Whitman Archive ID: per.00852
Source: Brooklyn Daily Times, 24 December 1858: 2. Our transcription is based on a digital image of a microfilm scan of the original issue. Microfilm of original issue held at Pennsylvania State University Libraries. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the journalism, see our statement of editorial policy.
Editorial note: This piece is unsigned, as was the case for most of Whitman's journalism. However, this editorial is part of a series of texts that deal with a coherent theme that has been identified by the Whitman Archive journalism team as likely authored by Whitman. This decision is based on a combination of historical and (auto)biographical accounts, similarity to contemporary Whitman writings, a history of scholarly attribution, extant clippings retained by Whitman, computational stylometric analysis, and, in some cases, manuscript evidence in Whitman’s hand.
Contributors to digital file: Kaylen Michaelis Samantha Gilmore Brandi Faulkner Stefan Schöberlein Karie Cobb
Cite this page: Whitman, Walt. "To-Morrow." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 17 July 2024. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
Source File: per.00852.xml (TEI)

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To-night is “Christmas Eve.” What sweet memories cluster around the term! What an endearing and gladdening influence it has on all ages and all classes! What an interchange of good wishes and friendly feelings it will bring about, and how many hearts will be gladdened by the geniality pertaining to the season!

Let to-morrow be celebrated in an honest, old fashioned way. Let the hearts of children be gladdened and let those of older growth be rejuvenated on this blessed holiday time and celebrate it in a manner worthy of the anniversary of Christ’s Nativity. Let all remember the tidings borne by Him, of “peace on earth and good will to men,” and strive to carry them out in their daily intercourse with the world. Let all prize the day, not merely as a holiday, but for its sacred associations, and while we make it a day of rejoicing, let us not forget the sublime and precious event it commemorates.

To-morrow will be a day of happiness to many. Let those who are blessed by an abundance of this world’s goods not forget those who are differently situated. Christmas day should open all hearts and make every disposition softer and more genial. It should quicken all charitable impulses, give fresh vigor to all philanthropic purposes, and make all who come within the scope of its influences better and nobler. Once in the year surely, those who are well situated should “remember the Poor.” The exercise of a little benevolence on that day will not impoverish the pocket and will enlarge the heart and humanize the feelings. In accordance with the usual custom, we shall issue no paper from the TIMES’ office to-morrow, in order to afford our employees an opportunity of enjoying themselves on the day. Meantime, nothing remains for us but to wish our readers, one and all—“A MERRY CHRISTMAS.”