The Akaroa Mail. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 23. A MERRY CHRISTMAS.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume VI, Issue 568, 23 December 1881, Page 2

The Akaroa Mail. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 23. A MERRY CHRISTMAS.

'Th is happiest season of the year is drawing nigh, and this is tho last opportunity we shall have of wishing our friends and readers " A merry Chr.stmas" before the g.eat Christian festival has passed away. To us th Q . Christmastide is the time of ail others when we wish to be on good terms with all, for it should be a time when injuries are forgotten, when he;n-t should open to heart, and the earth should be as nearly as it ever can be, a place " Where the wicked cease from troubling, .and the weary are. at rest." Cold indeed must, be the heart that iloes not, -warm lit the very word, for to most of us i« brings a flood of recollections from the past, of the time when wp were litth> children, and noc seared by tho weary care=s of life. Those who. can look back into that past far enough u>. .". .-of-in'ocr reading, or hearing read, i "-it I'iv.n'i the master hand, and under th" influence ot the season, those marvr<!uu f . Christmas stories which came froM:-i.ii" >>'i-e.rt warm, heart of (1. i, mi :htv master of Christmas literaiutv who wrot* tho " Christmas Carol " :>.nd ''Tho Cricket on the Hearth," will rr-i.nombor it as one of the chief pleasures of their lives. The good those -)-v..'ks did was incalculable. How many ■ swiii-y jia.n they have solaced ! how :;: a,- .i bad heart Ims softened under iiifltifii.e ! how many thousands <>!' gifts have our poorer brethren re cdved through their kindly teaching ! We cannot- calculate in such a case, but we can be sure that few indeed are the nun : -.id women whose lives have not been made better from reading them. Th'M-e is a halo of repose thrown by the rest am"! peace of bygone ages on tli Chi-i'itmrir-tiole. In those romantic Middiv A_.es when each man, to win rj'D rw.peei of other men, had to go forth as a true " knyghte," in his armour of proof, to do battle in some o!iiu--e or other, the slaying ceased at the holy r-eai;on, aud for twelve clays all Christian lands became a sanctuary. The qoiainc old historian Froissart, of the French wars of his

great master, the third' Edward, a

that idol of Englishmen, the Black Prince, s ys, "And theystoped fyting and met as frendis, because it was Chri'JtmaKtide." Can anything be more eloquent ? The great festival had ever, in these days the power to throw its mantle of peace over the fierce and angry p-issions of men inured from their you ib to scenes of bloodshed and rapine. Who has not read of the gorgeous ceremonies with which, in the times of the stately Tudors, "Old Father Christmas " was ushered on the scene? of the '"wondrous " pageantric," of th" marvellous masques, of the quai t devices dcsigno' in his honor? And thoUL'h time has tdniost swept t.lie>-.<' semi-barb.iric splendours away, there yet lingers in many an English heart a love of the olden glories of the season, nnd in some manor-houses some relies of them are preserved. Who that has read tho tale of that most un-American of Americans, Washington Irving, in which he describes the Christmas festivities at Bracebridge Hall, will not wish that.in many an English home the traditional ceremonies may still be kept up?

Christmas is the time for thinking of absent friends. The grand old custom of members of families, separated by their various avocations, meeting at this season of the year round the one h arth, has not fallen away. At that time those who are far away in new lands across the sea are always thought of. How many a fond father and mother, how many a loving brother and sister, how many a warm-hearted friend, will ca,-t his thoughts across the sea from the dear Old Country of ©ur forefathers to this fair county of Akaroa, where those they love have carved out a new home.

There is a sadness, too, about the time, for it ia the time of thinking of those dear ones with whom we shall spend Christme no more. Many an eye will fill, and many a heart throb, when memory recals the absent faces of those who once shared in the festivities, but are now " gathered unto everlasting rest."

That in these new lands Christmas festivities should cease, we entirety deny. We live in a world of steam and telegraphs, of hurry and mentid conflict, and we need a brief season of thought and repose, as much as the mailed warriors of old. As the weary Sir Galahad doffed his armour, and forgot the struggles of the past and the toils of the future in the season of " peace and good will towards men," so should wo for a time let the battle of life be still, forget the cold worries of everyday life, and

'• Let the cares that oppress the dayFold up their tents like the Arabs, And as silently steal away." We are a small community—almost a big family—and of course, as in all big families, we quarrel a good bit at times. 'This is the season to forgive and forget, to let the old feuds cease, and better feelings take their place. Let the sousun open our hearts towards each other, so that every one can wish as heartily as we do, A Merry Christmas to every one in the county.