Manawatu Herald. SATURDAY, DEC. 22, 1894. Christmas.

Manawatu Herald, 22 December 1894, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. SATURDAY, DEC. 22, 1894. Christmas.

To one and all do we. wish a Merry Christinas ami a Happy New Year. " Christmas comes but once a year " Ihe old song ?ays, and ifc revives a ! child i>k( n iefc unstrung in oiu hearts which it m gu;;d for 113 to keep in tun*. Charles Dickens, the homeliest and greatest cf English write i-3 knew better than anyone how to strjk-o t.he sympathy of the people, he felt with them and for them. In "Bleak House" many illustrations oan be culled of use to us at the present time, Instances of hopes raided and unrealised and also of puro love and charity and resignation, inosfc useful ».o* once again bring to light. The colonists with laudable energy have worked and pushed tor victory, they have hoped against hope even, but; now they have to admit themselves, if not beaten, at anyrate, repulsed. Victory goes not always to the strong, but defeat is not of consequence to the stout hearted, it enforoes an admission and compels another trial. This is the view we must take of the present situation. In our own manner we have had the celebrated case of •• Jarndyoe v. Jarndyce " repeated in the colony. We have inherited interests in institutions which appear to have provided the same profit that the liligants got in the above case, the pleasure of anticipation, the anxiety of suspense, the result that all had been swallowed in costs without satisfaction. The wide reaching power of our local Jarndyce v. Jarndyce is not provocative of the fullest enjoyment of the festivities of the season, but tho lesson written by Dickens is that there are purer joys than riches and holier duties than litigation. Let us therefore admit our want of success, determine upon another trial, and enjoy the bounties that are always at hand. Enjoyment can be obtained without expenditure, and pleasure is an antidote needed to the depression that has tempoiarily descended upon us. It is possible that the times have provided more of those who need a helping hand but our colonists are not of those who shirk their duty. There will, no doubt, be many colonial Jo's who " takes it uncommon kind as Mr Snagsby should come so far oufc of his way on accounts of sich as him." Then we have our own family circle, blest with health and strength, growing up to manhood and womanhood, fit replacers of th^ir parents when their race is done. No finer grown lads and lassies can be produced in any part of the world as are now growing

up in New Zealand, a fact which dissipates the fear of the future of this bright colony. Jarndyce v. Jarndyce may be ended, the whole estate may have been nbsorbed in costs, it may ha\e been a monument of the aspirations of our earlier settlers, but it must have nothing to do with marring the pleasures dne "to our children at this season, nor mar the determination to do better for ourselves in the future. Our happiness is in our own keeping, our duty to our neighbour is the standard, and all may, as we earnestly hope they will enjoy A MERRY CHRISTMAS if they act as Dickens makes his most interesting character act in the work we have before alluded to, and say " We are not rich in the bank, but we have always prospered, and we have quite enough. I never walk out with my husband, but I hear the people bless him. I never go into a house of any degree, but I hear his praise?, or see them in grateful eyes. I never lie down at night, but I know that in the course of that day he has alleviated pain, and soothed some fellow creature in time of need. I know that from the beds of those who were past recovery, thanks have often gone up, in the last hour, for his patient minisfcra« tion. Is not this to be rich ?