THEN AND NOW

Hutt News, Volume 3, Issue 29, 11 December 1930, Page 22

THEN AND NOW

Christinas conies but once a year; the old Christmas cards ; always said so. Their main reason for reiterating the fact was that it furnished a nice easy rliyiiie. "Year" rhymed with "cheer,/* .which, of course, was always, predicted

■ • good.'' The fact that Cluistmas came once 'a year only contained the imputation that it would conic mo?t surely. Therein- our fathers did not prove themselves to be acute observers.

They failed to note that, wlrile indeed Christmas always comes, it is never quite thu same Christmas that comes. For instance, this approaching Christmas will be nothing like the Christnmses yon and I remember as :boys. Yet the young people will imagine it is quite the genuine article. The anomaly is that no people sing more earnestly "Change and decay. in all around I see" than the people who talk -as if the Christmas institution eafjoyod exemption from the universal law of change. The ©hanges are none the 3ess real though not immediately perceptible. Under an extended survey the differences show up distinctly. Of course, Christmas has certain stage properties which are always brought out —the Stocking hanging, the merry making, the ; gift giving and receiving. Tilings seem ever the same. But they move for all that: \ ■ ,-. . - ; • .. "' '.'':" ■ ■ ''.'/'-.\ Santa Claus seems a permanently established figure; all your life/you have known what he is (like. He was as iami-

liar in appearance as John Bull, or Mr ! Pickwick; his equipment consisted of his inmovo'leßt'.sniile, his white whiskers, his

reindeers, and sleigh. The reindeers have gone j the nuttorcnr lunl v short iumngs as. a means'"of conveyance; Hut now Santa Claus'sweeps down upon us in an aeroplane. Before long- he will have been transformed out of a3l recognition in dxess and appearance. But" the youngsters will be quite satisfied with him all

the same.

' TTl»e older generation cannot complain* They have long siu.ce fashioned Christmas according to a pattern" of their own. Very necessarily and widely too. The old-fashioned English Christmas was nevor possible in the Antipodes. To tell ! the truth, it never really existed in England. Dickens started it; the-lesser writers keep it up, and, with the help of the Christmas number artists, they palmed off as a reality what was never more than an elaborate fiction. But they effectively standarised Christmas joys, and threw in numerous accessories designed to nmke everyone sentimental.

~%o\\ remember it was always on an English Christmas eve that the black sheep of the fanrily^returned unexpectedly j- the 'door was thrown, open, and. he was welcomed in out of the falling snow to-join in the happy revels. Then at midnight he confessed that the impoverished condition in which he had returnocl was a mere disguise. He was really a millionaire, but they all insisted on assuring him that they would have loved him just as much even if he had been poor. But not even: Christmas can pretend to ignore climate. . Our pioneers> with that loyalty to the land of their birth which was. not the least noble of their qualities, bravely

tried to keep .up.-their English Christinas under clouclnesssides. Boast turkey and piping-hot plum pudding with the temperature at about a hundred was a form of. loyalty barely distinguishable, from lunacy. The younger generation admired but declined to imitate. They horse sense sufficient to see that Christmas festivities would have to .be fashioned anew, The Christmas, notions of fathers were like the laws of. the Medes and Persians "that alter not. But the native-, bom Antipodean has never lacked courage and initiative, and he exercised both in changing Christinas from an indoor to an outdoor institution.

He had common sense on his side, even though the departure from tradition was daring. For roast turkey he substituted fruit salads, for plum puddings he sub-\ stituted ices, and everyone was the better and happier for the dietetic change. In the Old .Country hosts of people are still puzzled esl they gaze at pictures of

people : spending Christmas stretched out full length on the sand by the fringe ci*. the sea, when he doesn't happen to be .swimming in it ; '; or "vigorously fanning himself in some, shady nook of his glori-

ous bush.

Christmas brings its problems and perplexities, as well as its pleasures. Its surf a<ie_ problems are familiar, the choosing of presents'is an annually recurring torture. Gloves or handkerchiefs, boots or manicure sets! Is SJric too old for a box of toys; is Maud too young for a box of powder? " Would a confirmation dress or a cigarette ease most please Ethel? Should it "be golf baOls or. a shaving outfit" for George, who is ap-

proacliing- the stage for making use of bo^hf

It won't matter what ..you decide, you will have the satisfaction when, it is all over; Christmas is really a. season when you conceive things you do not- want, give to others the things they don't, want. And it is a tribute to the influence of Christmas that all of us so "bravely veil with a smile the disappointhaent we so acutely feel. . -

But there are perplexities much deeper rooted than these. Probably there is not \a single set--'of -thoughtful, welK meaning parents who do 401 feel troubled over the telling of the custom-^ ary fictions. Tie problem is old and intricate. Where does Wisdom lie? The ethic of the Santa Claus and Father Christmas deception has long been debated, but never satisfactorily decided. In countless 4 homes during these passing I days the plm subject is being canvassed afresh by young parents willing to be , loyal to truth, yet-reluctant £b rob their children of the ' glad , anticipation and "Tapturous joy which the Christinas fiction unquestionably creates. A generous supply of fairy stories seems absolutely necessary for the normal child; Its imagination feeds on them; there is little else upon which its opening -mind can so- easily fasten.Santa Glaus, however >: is not exactly in the fairy story category. There is usually a tacit understanding that the fairy tale is, like some portions of history, a lie agreed upon. The average, parents reads or tells it without any writhing or consciences . Father Christmas and his doings may

. •..'■■ i ■ "•- ■•' . ■' : • continue to worry the moral philsopher,. but it is safe to say that the,affectionate father." and mother, will continue ta. take some risk for the children's pleasure, cheered by ttte thought that countless millions of children, haye. passed" through the experience without their sense of truthfulness being weakened^, and have grown to be grey-haired men. and women cherishing happy; childhood memories, for which they are entirely indebted to the old-fashioned Ghristma^ myths. ; : ■ ;