IF!

Evening Post, Volume LXXXII, Issue 150, 22 December 1911, Page 6

IF!

"Your If is the only peace-maker; | much virtue in If,", said Touchstone. Though one does not wish to quarrel with Shakespeare during this season of goodwill and merriment, it may b© said, apologetically, that little If can be a bie peace-breaker and bear a load of sorrow. In nearly every man's mind If is a peg on which hangs a long string of vain regrets — lost , loves, lost dividends, lost opportunities. ' And memory sits whole lonely hours ,And weaves, her wreath of hope's faded flowers. i So near the end of the long road of life a man may look backward and gaze upon a landscape of If— hills of If and trees- of If. and y*Jt he can finish his jburney happily enough. His philosophy tells him that every man is beset with If. It is a Republic ot. If. Also, if he is fair to himself and fair to his fellows, he remembers that much of the If was good for himself and good for the world. Against the "debit, too, there is a credit. If If is the foundation of some black structures of despair, ifc is also the basis of some glittering towers of hope. Those beautiful castks in the air rest really on If, and who does not love to have a few of those castles, either leasehold or freehold ! Hence man or woman may sing sadly or sweetly in, the key of If. From the general Ifs, the countless legions of them, dark and bright, it is easy to descend or rise- to special Ifa, and dally with surmise. Here is an If for Mr. Massey's party. It is said that Mr. Massey himself believed that he would win much territory from Sir Joseph Ward this month, but his army did not apparently share the general's faith. If they had all felt that there was a chance to signally defeat the Ministry the final figures on tfie night of 14th December might have put a very plain Massey complexion on the "state of parties." If all the leaders had been confident of victory throughout the country the party would not have allowed over twenty seats to remain uncontested. An If is here to slightly sadden Christmas ' for the Opposition, though the party gained enough to give it good cause for gladness. There is an If for Sir Joseph Ward. If he and his colleagues had perceived during last session the Opposition's strength in the country, what a different turn might have been given to the course of events ! It would have been •-a session of solid work rather than a period of masterly evasion. 1 The Ministry would have toiled with might and main, and on top of a session crowded with thinge to hold the public eye would have come an election campaign to recall the feats of Seddon. The Opposition's success at, the polls surprised tho Government ac mkich as the Opposition. Labour has an If. It is commonly conlended now that Labour holds the balance of power, but the queetion must remain in suspfenee till the next meeting of the House of Representatives. If Labour had only "sensed;" three months ago, such an evenness of the Ministerial and Opposition forces ! If Labour had only suspected a probability that the two large parties would finish the electoral battle just strong enough to hold each other by the throat! What a stimulus such prescience would have been ! What a power to organise the Labohir units ! Other Ifs abound for individual politicians who fought in vain for 'the people's favour. One sighs : "I I had only had two or three more vehicles in 'the morning of 14th December!" Another murmurs: "If a fire of lies, which I could not quench, had not blazed-v against me!" So "If brings some chill into the Christmas cheer of some" homes, but it is a good word. The world cannot get along without If. j