AUSTRALIA FEDERATA.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXI, Issue 292, 8 December 1900, Page 4 (Supplement)

AUSTRALIA FEDERATA.

CHRISTMAS GREETING TO Till- COM

MON WEALTH,

Chime on, ye happy bells, , P.eneath the steely stuns and radiant moon, This midnight, mellow as a northern noon— Chime on, each cadence tells Of something strangely sweet and grand, A grey old story in a fair new land. Shall an ancient myth enthral us, Shall a grey old tale delight Men who have marched and fought In the foremost files of thought? Can a message come to call us To a. purer, holier height? . Yes; for this tale Is ever new, • And set to music of the spheres, It falls through nineteen hundred years, Grateful and fresh as morning dew To those who, faithful each to each, A higher destimy would reach. And thus the old-time story Once told by Jordan's stream, Sounds by the noble Murray Not as an klle (beam, But full of hope anc glory And melody supreme. That angel-song's vibrations Still through the ages swell; New aims and aspirations In many a heart up-well• • The latest born of nations Bows to the potent spell. The Star of Bethlehem no more With strong attraction, as of yore, Leads men to 'a material goal; Five brilliant orbs have formed instead A mystic fiery Cross o'erhead Which onward draws the year-ring' soul. ..clvanee, Australia! In that sign What splendid triumphs may be thine! Afar from all the old-world strife, Be thine to mould a higher life, More sweetly pure, more nobly bold, Than seer or prophet e'er foretold. •

Point thou the way, and lead the van, To the true brotherhood of man; Seek Honour, Virtue, Truth and Right, Until the strain we hear to-night The utmost bounds of space shall fill— "Peace upon earth; to men good-will." J. LIDDELL KELLY, in the Wellington •'Mali."