A CHRISTMAS SCENE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 4, Issue 190, 8 December 1941, Page 6

A CHRISTMAS SCENE

As tlic Christmas bells began their merry peal, the man looked before him. Everywhere the soft mantle of snow hid the bleakness of the landscape, covering its erstwhile nakedness like some enormous skin of spotless ermine. Icicles hung from the ancient village pump and on one of the gables of the old Elizabethan inn a lone bird perched, waiting until the buxom daughter of the landlord should go away before descending to eat the crumbs she was scattering with lavish hand about the sheltered courtyard. In the distance the Norman tower of the church stood up like a lighthouse of Hope set in a placid sea. A sleigh, the impress of its runners scarcely visible in the sheer whiteness of the -closely-packed snow, moved smoothly along the all but indistinguishable narrow highway, the two , horses that drew it cavorting daintily in the sharp, invigorating air. A big. red sun. only just cleared the low-lying hills. looked down beneficiently, like seme rosy-cheeked potentate surveying his domains, and on a hidden field track a solitary wayfarer plodded without haste toward a rustic stile. Suddenly a clock struck. Slipping into his mackintosh and rubber over shoes, the man adjusted a battered sou'-westcr over his head and, with one last glance at the Christmas card that had enthralled his fancy, he stepped out into the fury of the wind and rain and, wading ankle deep through the icy slush, sloshed thoughtfully towards the warmth and cheer of "The Holly Bush."