Tuapeka Times AND GOLDFIELDS REPORTER AND ADVERTISER. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1867.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XX, Issue 1415, 24 December 1887, Page 2

Tuapeka Times AND GOLDFIELDS REPORTER AND ADVERTISER. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1867.

MEAStTEES, 2FOT MEN

CHRISTMAS has again coma round, and to those amongst us who have not been bora and bred in the Southern Hemisphere it is as difficult as ever to realise that it really is the festive season, associated in our own recollection and in the literature of our country with winter snows and all the surroundings of snug indoor comfort It- will take several geneiations to create midsummer associations with Christmas, and Christmas summer literature bas yet to be wr fcten. In many respects otherwise the New Zealand Christmas is a modification of the English. The festival is generally remembered and kept, though more as a social than as a religious holy - day ; still, everybody recollects that it is Christmas, presents are madft in families, and probably few who call themselves Christians allow the day to pass without giving a thought of the sacred event it commemorates, as they wish their friends a merry Christmas. It is, indeed, a day [ peculiarly connected with the associations, the pleasures, and the obligations of social and domestic life. It is a day when every plant of bitterness should be rooted out, that there may be " peace on earth and good- will amongst men." It is a day when the peace makes many realise that they are blessed indeed. It is a day that should be enlivened by the free and hearty interchange of the best feelings of families and friends. Ife is the time to enlarge the heart by a gentle sympathy with the sorrowful. It is especially a time to remember the poor. Christmas comes to all, but not to all alike. The contrast between reality and what it should be render the day ta many one of sadness rather than of mirth. Some have no homes to be merry in ; some have no relatives togreet them ; some bave neither homes nor friends, or may be chilled by the cold hand of poverty. But a warm heart, a gentle look, a kind word, and an open hand may do much to alleviate, to cheer evea those who have fallen in the shadow. Christmas, therefore, is a day to develop sympathy, a day by its genial character to draw out man's better nature, and to give warmth and colouring to life. We wiah our many readers one and all

A Merry Chrtstmas !