The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1914. CHRISTMASTIDE.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 306, 24 December 1914, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1914. CHRISTMASTIDE.

To so many of onr fellow men and women throughout Christendom this Yuletide, Christmas Day, 1914, will be the saddest in memory because of mourning for the brave dead. The appalling loss of life, even in the few short months which have elapsed since the wicked machinations of a Mad Monarch and his deceitful anti-Chris-tian advisers plunged the world in war, is almost beyond conception or belief, and the blow of bereavement has fallen heavily on the homes of the great nations. Not a few, even in thesh distant places of the British Empire, have, suffered loss of kindred, while others wait in brave suspense for tidings or loved ones who have answered duty’s call. To the true man no nobler ctll can come, and with the gallant sons of Russia, France, Belgium and Japan, Britons all have heard it and obeyed. There are signs indeed that the end is coming, and—as wise and thinking men have predicted—it may come with dramatic suddenness. Will it be by the revolution of a deluded people, awakened at last to the iniquity of the lying and vanity and reckless disregard of life of which this self-styled “War Lord” has been guilty? Possibly so, but for his sins they too must suffer. Far from the roar of cannon, in this peaceful and blessed land, we who are doing our duty by remaining at our avocations, can but dimly realise the horrors of the battlefield. We can only watch and pray devoutly for the crushing of tyranny and the speedy ending of the conflict. If Christmas may not be a time of Peace and entire Goodwill, if its full merriment is tempered by the dark clouds which yet hang heavily over the nations, we have yet much to be thankful for—and not least of all that New Zealand forms a part of tiie great British Empire, and that freedom’s flag still flies unsullied.