CHRISTMAS.

Dunstan Times, Issue 975, 24 December 1880, Page 3

CHRISTMAS.

(Contributed.) CfianSTMAS, once more we greet thee, and to all onr fi tends we wish it may prove a right merry one. Christinas! Who can withstand the varied emotions the sound of its name evokes? What heart can unresponsive heat to all those memories awakened-.by its advent? In ■an instant time and space are annihilated, and on the smooth pinions of retrospective thought we aie carried back to the days of our youth—back to the snow-covered hills, the frozen lakes, the merry Christmas party, the blazing fire, and the cozy circle around it. How different here 1 the Antipoles, in lee I. The clou Ross bine sky—the warm sunshine—even the gauzy dresses of the fair ones, and the lightlyclad garments of the sterner sex, all serving to remind us of the contrast to the long ago. And so the Antipodean bfa goes on entering into our very amusements, all our pleasures being taken beneath the canopy of Heaven. For at this season our recreative enjoyments consist of pie-nici, races, Ca edoni.au sports, &.o. The firstnamed are truly delightful. They are so jolly! After an infinity of labor, anxiety, and skilful generalship in. forming the party, which has been the subject of conversation tor days past, at the appended hour the party start, or, a' least, a portion, for at the bait moment a vaiiety of causes interfere with the full promise I gathering. One is ba-1 with the toothache, another is in the tantrums of disappointment from the non-arrival of an ex pcete I dress; while another is in the dumps with a threatened execution. However, though shorn of their fair proportions. a start at last is made. It is so j ifly I Amid scrambling, much chattering, slipping and sliding, they arrive at tbp creek, for without a rnnm'ng stream (the poe.ic part as well as thi useful) a pic-nic would be an utter ‘ailure, a delusion and a siure. The party, after recovering their brea' hj and cooling their feet in the sparkling waters, consult as to the mode of enjoyment. By the time conclusions are arrived at it is time to lunch, which really appears to—wh"M have thought it?—the most important event of the -lay. The table cloth is soon spread over thi boul iers, and after the pleasing discovery that the pepper and salt have become lovingly intermingled with the tea, the bott ed porter emancipated from its prison, reducing the head to pulp, and the butter tattoed with the contents of the mustardpot, the party full to because ‘ it is so jolly.” Tired with their .'esthetic exertions, a hnmosvarl march is proclaimed, th; remnants of the feast are left t.i th; Maori lions, What’s loft of the broken crockery and mislaid spoons and knives and forks are gathered together, aud the creek is once more left to babnlo i-.s mnraiurings in solitude. Kina ly, as foot sore and jaded we recline in our bo Is tliatnightunable to sleep from a racking headache, caused by the stin, of course 1 We look forward wUh fond anticipations to such auoher day of unalloyed happiness, because “itis so jollv." If wo incline, however, to the Races or to the Sports, what j illy times we can have of it also—we think the latter preferable. There is a gay abandonment and a furious delightsomeness noticeable in tbo sports that is wanting at the races. No music to distract your attention which can bo Cnlividelly bestowed upon the manly games prepared for your delectation. Fancy with what all absorbing interest one regards the sack race— a lot of human beings enshrouded in sacks fastened round their necks, hopping like that graceful creature the frog, or the elastic kangaroo, bounding step by st«p until ibo go il is reached, or flopping by the wayside never to rise no more unless released from their fotters by some goodly Samaritan hand. Then there’s “ tilting in the ring,” reminding one. of the days’ of chivalry. As wo look, the spi o'acle of the “ Field of the Clo hj of Got 1 ” rises before bur imaginution. To see all those gallant fellows on their prancing steeds, wilh lance in charge, dashing at the rings with the speed of the whirlwind and the clatter of a cavalry charge—it is a scene af Wild excitement— “ it, is so jolly !” The foot races, the greasy p de, the refreshing “swipas,” always at hand—what more can mortal SHAH require. This world is so fair with these manifold attractions, that no wonder ave shrink from death, and fain would dwell here for ever, A.