SANTA CLAUS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1008, 24 December 1910, Page 15

SANTA CLAUS.

Most "grown-ups" nowadays have at least a sense, of. loss at Christmastide — the sort of sense which Mr. Kipling's pioneer felt, of something "lost behind the mountains"; tho sense of a whisper from the Never-never land, "Come and find me!".(writes Alfred Noyes). "David went to look for donkeys," says Mr. Kipling, with alliterative inaccuracy, "and ho found a kingdom"; and, though it was really Saul who went, according to the Scriptures, the statement may apply figuratively to any of us. Tho most successful searcher for donkeys at tho present day is Mr. Barric. You may take the most obtuse donkey in London bcfpr.o his footlights, and Mr, Barrio will discover you.a kingdom in him, the kingdom of boyhood.' A.view of life so. large, and a touch of satire so gentle that you are - awakened only to the ■ infinite pathos of our small.errors'under the 'everlasting; stars; those aro two of the possessions'of the author of "Peter Pan";-.and his arrival at his astonishingly wide kingdom is an exquisite illustration of a very ancient and beautiful phrase about tho width and height aud wonder of the kingdom of . little children. Now Santa Claus is in a terrible predicament. His tricks are not subtle enough for tho modern ■ child. His w;hito' beard wants renovating; for ' atpresent it is a palpably false one. You ,can see the gum that secures it; and apparently the ( poor old man is about tojoin-the ranks of ! the unemployed. But'what.a delightful curtain-raiser to "Peter Pan" one can imagine if Mr. Barrio would give'us a plea for SantaOlausi after, the manner of his plea for the ancient family of the Clown I Personally,: I believe that Santa Claus is only one of the highly-coloured disguises of Peter Pan. Remove that ragged white beard arid you will find a smooth; faced young messenger from the Nevernever land—the'land from which all pleasant surprises', all happy chances, all ohildish miracles descend. ■ Nay,even if you seemed to disclose only the blushing countenance of an indignant parent, you might be sure that this also was only another disguise of that immortal and Protean youth.