The Temuka Leader SATURDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1932. The Christmas Spirit

Temuka Leader, Issue 10227, 24 December 1932, Page 4

The Temuka Leader SATURDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1932. The Christmas Spirit

AM the ghost of Christmas Spirit,” said the second -of * Scrooge’s ghostly visitors in “A Christmas Carol.” And there he was, a jolly giant, sitting on a couch with a torch in his hand near a mighty fire, amid holly and mistletoe, and surrounded by a heap of turkeys, geese, mince pies, apples, pears, cakes; and other delights. Of course, he came to visit Scrooge because so many people were going without all those good things and Scrooge could, if he would, help them to a share in them; But he did not. Well, the Spirit of Christmas Future came the second night to show Scrooge what a lost soul ought to feel like. So Scrooge did the right thing after all, and found that he had only just begun to live. The Christmas Spirit is a fine thing. Through twelve months of work and striving in business, there develops in practically every average man an unwillingness to believe that the other fellow is genuinely actuated by cordial and disinterested motives. Uncharitable thoughts have from time immemorial been part of the composition of human nature, and although there are many noble-minded ones who proclaim the doctrine of forgiveness of, and confidence in our fellow-men, the great majority make no sustained effort in their daily lives to banish harsh and unkind thoughts from their minds. Fortunately, there is one week in every year when the faults, unkindness, and the hard feelings of the* other fifty-one are laid aside —a time when the best of us rises above our ordinary everyday natures, and the- message of the first Christmas morn, “Peace on Earth, GOODWILL TO ALL MEN,” is in the hearts and deeds of all. But most valuable of all is the wonderfully softening and Christianising influence which this time of goodwill and charity has upon us; some are conscious of it—the majority are not, but that it is actual theie is no doubt. . Besides being a time of peace, goodwill, charity and joy, it is also a time for memories.. How many are the recollections and sympathies, which lie dormant in us for the past jeai, but which come sweetly before us on' the hallowed Christmas morn, and stay with us until, when we slip back into the work of another year, they, subside once again. How many of our leadeis have been recalling what they “this time last year”? The majority, we feel sure. And when those happenings of a-year ago are recalled, are not the memories happy ones to be cherished? Of course they are, because there is something in us at this time of the year that makes it difficult to think of things that are, or were, harsh or unkind. Let this Christmas-be a time of rejoicin°‘ In many homes, alas, the financial depression thiough which we are passing will make it difficult for parents to provide the plenty which should mark the Christmas period. However, all we can say is, “Go to it! Make the best of what you have, and may your Christmas be a right royal merry one.”