The Feilding Star. SATURDAY, DEC. 23, 1882. CHRISTMAS.

Feilding Star, Volume III, Issue 54, 23 December 1882, Page 2

The Feilding Star. SATURDAY, DEC. 23, 1882. CHRISTMAS.

The whirligig of Tine has brought us another Christmas, and before the ] echoes of the rejoicings of twelve j I month's ago have scarcely ceased to resound in our ears, the one season which by common c >nsent is given up to universal rejoicings, again comes with its benignant presence and influence. To poor and rich, to men of all parties and (we may almost add) of all creeds, there is a magic in the very name of Christmas. To many amongst us tha pceans of gladness sent up by the .shepherds of Bethlehem still seem to linger in tlie ear, and the wonderful birth in the Jewish city nearly 1900 years ago is an abiding fact. Christmas through all the centuries has celebrated, (sometimes with pomp ami magnificence, sometimes with a lowiier show of reverence, but always with a religious reality), the birth of its founder. But the old order chaugeth and giveth place to the new, aud Christmas, though merry Christmus still, is to a lar<;e portion of the community but an ancient name, though a day clad with happy associations, ard one the observance of which is as willingly accepted now as ever it was in the good old days, yet the sentiment which once wholly surraunaed the Yule-tide bus not utterly vanished, even with any of us, and the severest savant ceases for the nonce to bubble of protoplasm and primordial clenieiits, while he listens to the Christmas bells with a heartfelt joy which he knows to be the happiest survival of the fittest. Divested (as the season must, of course, almost entirely be in New Zealand) of the glistening snow, the whistling winds, and the nipping frost which poetic fancy and stern reality eomline to associate with Christmas, yet we in this greater Britain of ours, knowby intuition how to welcome the gladsome season when the revolving .evele of years brings it to us again. Father Christmas comes not to the settlers of the North Island clad in furs, and with a hoar-frosted beard, but his rubicund visage gliines as jovially under tho influence of the genial sunshine and balmy breezes of iNew Zealand as , ever it did amongst our forefathers in Europe. The real associations of Christmas, the abiding principles which keep it evergreen in the colo- . nial heart and memory, can never be 10.-t. Still do the pioneers ot civilization in this fair young laud hail he advent of that memorable season of the year, which in days of old brought to tbe poorest man an interval of contented happiness, and to tbe richest the pure enjoyment derived from making others happy, The material associations of Christinas may be fast vanishing, and we venture even to think that there will be a day when a baron of beef at Christmas will be as extinct as the dead, and when the celebration of the season by universal gluttony will be generally voted to be barbarous. But even when plum-puddings and mince-pies may have lost their charm, and the eatins 1 ot a heavy Christmas dinner be regarded as a tempting of Providence, the spirit of which such pecu liar festivities were begotten will be as keenly cherished, and perhaps more firmly appreciated than ever. It is good for us all, and for nj portion of poor humanity more than for those in a new country, that there should come a timeof peace and goodwill, when the hatchet shall be buried and distinctions of class, party, and creed obliterated ; when the ambitious shall contend only to give the greatest happiness to the greatest number, and when care and woe may be momentarily forgotten in the onward current of a Christmas joy. it is in this spirit, and this spirit only, that the true lover of the season awaits its approach. Holidays in plenty lie may enjoy duiing the revolving )eu,\ but no season of breathing comp; res with Christmas in its time-halloa e I associations and its influenc s on Lu man happiness and love. An Act, o Parliament may create a holiday, and thousands who snatch it from the devouring maw of business may enjoy the leisure as water in a thirsty land is eagerly hailed by the wearied traveller; but the celebration and enjoyment of Christmas comes as naturally to the civilised man as does the air he breathes- It may be that we io the colonies, like our friends in the mother countrv, take our pleasure sadly, and that, as a rule, a holiday is a day upon which we unsuccessfully try to appear happy. But tho rud -y glow of Christmas thaws the most unsympathetic heart, lights up the care-worn visage with a smile, aud changes a growl of dissatisfaction into a j yous carol. It is good for us that ther° comes atime when we can shake ban-is [ all round, and forget, for a too-fleet-ing period of time, that yesterday we certainly did not love our neighbor as ourself, and that our hand mav be against every other man's hand" t< - " morrow. The Christmas season * should remove some, at .least, of the < rugged corners of our nature, and ] soften the ugly knots which worldly ! 1 troubles are aj«t to plant in the human r

disposition. The business of life is a constant buttle, and the intervals are too often but traces in which to bury the dead hopes and aspirations which have fallen in the struggle. But at Christinas the din of war ceases, the blinding -smoke clears from the battlefield, and all is peace. The war may terribly thunder to-morrow, but let us be friendly, and eat and drink and be merry while we may. Here, in a prosperous community, plant d in the midst of a noble land and a heavenly climate, there should in the strictness of thing's, be no one to whom Christmas comes without bringing themeans of enjoying- it. If, however, there is one man, woman, or child in our midst, for whom the Yule-tide leg cannot crackle, or the seasonable fare be set forth for lack ol means, there are not wanting many to whose g nerous hearts no Christmas is completely happy so long- as one of the human family remains to be succoured. The purse-strings are unloosed, end benevolence at this happy season, like the quality ot mercy, blesseth him that gives and him that takes. 'I hat the spirit which will celebrate Christmas in Feilding is such as we have indicated who can venture to doubt? Certainly not we, of this journal, who at the coming' Christmas can look around upon many staunch and true friends, and upon a whole cummunit.y in which we luvc not knowingly madv a single enemy. To our readers, one and all, we heartily wish a very merry Christmas, and tho fullest capacity for en]oying it, and that the cordial relations to which we have alluded may renew their youth in the festive season we are just entering upon.