The Ashburton Guardian. Magna Est Veritas et Prevalebit. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1886. CHRISTMAS 1886.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1440, 24 December 1886, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna Est Veritas et Prevalebit. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1886. CHRISTMAS 1886.

* Once again returns the kindly season at which for the nonce we all, by common consent, endeavour to forget our worries, our troubles, and our anxieties, when in every dime, from north to south, and from east to west, all the world over, all who acknowledge the common faith of Christianity rejoice in the blessings of to-day and in the blessed hope of the future, and when, forgiving and forgetting offences and causes of offence, we seek to be in love and charity with all men. Joyous, blessed season I it is a pity that the feelings which it evokes in nearly every heart do not pervade the world all the year round, but were it only for the gracious thoughts and generous actions of one single day in the three hundred and. sixty-five the world may well cherish its Christmas celebration. Year after year, as Christmas follows Christmas, and the snow that in our boyhood, in'the land whicd is still called “ Home ” by the older generation of colonists, lay beneath our feet is fast being transferred to our heads, memory brings back again long vanished faces and well-remembered scenes, and, while every Christmas adds to the number of those who may exchange Christmas greetings with us no more, we remember with an added tenderness those that gather about inglesides at which the nook that once was ours is ours no longer, but where our names are still lovingly spoken. And as with us in these distant lands, so at the dear old Home every heart beats in unison with the refrain of the angels’ song of long ago, and the air is full of the breathings of peace and good will. Are there no exceptions ? Doubtless there are, but these but prove the rule, and he indeed deserves sympathy who is at enmity with himself or with his fellows on Christmas day. Sorrow may, nay must be, even at this blessed season, an unbidden guest beneath, here and there a rooftree, but even to the mourner Christmas speaks a hope that softens the sling of bereavement. Let us then welcome the return of Christmas day with an anthem of joyous thankfulness, and a spirit of loving kindness, and stretching out the hand of good fellowship one to another wish all and sundry. A Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year.