THE PUTARURU PRESS. Published Every Thursday. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1928. A PERENNIAL CHRISTMAS.

Putaruru Press, Volume I, Issue 10, 20 December 1923, Page 2

THE PUTARURU PRESS.

Published Every Thursday. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1928. A PERENNIAL CHRISTMAS.

Office - - - Main Si s ect Phone 28 - - P.O. Box 44 (Lewis, Fort sis and Dallimore's Buildings.)

THROUGH all the vicissitudes of the year, the clock has ticked its way to another Christmas, and the season of Peace and Goodwill has come round once more. Those \ule-tides oi 19141S when the old. old, salutation of “ Peace on earth; Goodwill towards? men/’ had become 'more or less oi a f.uce are gradually sinking- into Hie limbo of forgotten things. In practice, the world has been a sphere of - pence during the last twelve months, just as, in theory, it has been one of goodwill. But the time has drawn near when we are supposed to put goodwill into practice as well. That kind, pleasant, forgiving, charitable time approaches. Christmas is at . hand. And here in New Zealand—this delectable Dominion — this part of the universe, signalised, since Seddon, by the slogan “ God’s Own Country, it should not be difficult to practice the qualities above referred to. In older lands Christmas comes in the dead of winter, when almost everything is in the sere and yellow leaf, but here “ the air is filled with a magical light; and the landscape lies as if new—created in all the freshness of childhood. Peace seems to reign upon earth, and the restless heart of the ocean is for the moment consoled. All sounds are in harmony blended. Voices of children at play, the crow- ’ ing of cocks in the farmyards, whir of wings in the drowsy air, and the cooing of pigeons, all are subdued and low as the murmurs of love, and the great sun looks with the eye of love through the golden vapours around him.” The Christmas-tide in New Zealand is one of warmth and natural cheerfulness, and one’s heart should readily respond to the call. All the afflictions and convictions. Hie cheerlessness and cruelty of the year, should be forgotten and the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this sun of "Yule. One of the phases of the year just passing- away has been, both here and elsewhere, a remarkable revival of the power of curing by faith. On all hands we have heard of the triumph of mind over matter. In the marvellous forces of will power and mentality, ills have found their cure and wrongs their remedy. So let it be! But sickness is not confined to the few; neither is it confined to the many. In some form or other it is the common lot of all mankind. Because we (or our forbears) did those things we (or them) ought not to have done and left undone those things we (or they) ought not to have done, there is no health in us. , Now, this does not perhaps, at first • sight, seem a very cheerful theme for Christmas. But wait ! Except for accidents arising from causes purely outside, of human control, there is no reason why perfect health in h. iy. in mind and in spirit—should rot be instead of a privilege denied H em, a. blessing enjoyed by every man, woman and child in the community. Now it is possible that the order given above is not the correct one, and that spirit, mind and body is the more logical sequence. For just as a right and proper Christmas spirit i. the first thing that one, at this season, should try to cultivate, so is this true for all time. The spirit of peace, the spirit of goodwill, the pirit of cheerfulness should not be limited merely to a particular seaon, bur should be fostered all the year round. And the cultivation of this same spirit will induce a contented and therefore a more equable frame of mind. As it has been clearly said, the City of Contentment is situated in the State of Mind. If, therefore, between this Yule and next if we determine to take up our residence in that city, or at any sate -tray from its walls as little as pos•Uble, we will be all the better qualified to introduce into our relations > ith our fellows that state of mind which will tend to make it essentially Christmas all the year round. Macaulay in his admirable essay on John Milton, says of him: If ever despondency and asperity could be excused in sAty man, they might have been excused in Milton. But the strength of his mind overcame every calamity. Neither blindness, ror gout, nor age, nor penury, nor domestic difficulties, nor political disappointments, nor abuse, nor proscription, nor neglect, had power to disturb hi? sedate ami majestic pa- . Hence. Kis spirits do not seem to have been high, but they were singularly equable. Hi- temper sofiouy; perhaps stem; but was a temper which no sufferings could redder sullen :>r fretful. Such as i y was when, on the eve of great events, ho returned from his travekrm the

prime <>C health and manly beauty, loaded with literary distinctions, and glowing with patriotic hopes, such it continued to be when, after .having' experienced every calamity which js 'incident to our nature, old, poor, sightless and disgraced, he retired to his hovel to die.” Now, from these inspiring words we learn that it is not necessary to have a sn.ile always on one's lips in order to prove contentment, although the value of a cheerful grin is at times beyond calculation. As an American parodist has it;— “ Laugh,, and the world, laugh:, with Knock and you knock alone; For the cheerful grin will let you in, Where the knocker is never known.” Milton was a man who though if he did generally assume a stern -demeanour, yet must have had cheerfulness in his heart in order to bring about that- content conducive to spirits singularly equable even if not always high. So let us remember on Christmas Day, when, well fed and contented (as we believe all ou> rentiers will be), we feel full of goodwill towards all men, and at peace with the whole, wide world, that if we cultivate that spirit*, as far as is in our power, for a period of twelve moniihs from date, we will cacn several each where. and everywhere, not only make the Christmas of ’twenty-four a merry one indeed, but wo will have* done more to bring about a millenium of merriment, which, after all, is the outcome of true contentment, than all the platitudes that ever poured from pulpit or from press. And, incidentally, wo will prove that Carlyle was correct when he said: “ Wonclevous is the strength of cheerfulness; altogether past calculation its powers of endurance,” and that “ efforts, to be permanently useful, must be uniformly joyous—a spirit of sunshine, graceful from every gladness, beautiful because bright.” And in conclusion, as we wish all our readers, where’er they be, a very Merry Christmas, to be followed by a most Happy New Year, we also ask 'hem to remember these things ar> they ba-k in that sunshine so characteristic of a New Zealand Yule; whether in the bush, at the beach, by some sprightly stream, or perhaps on a balcony cv lawn at home, and to cultivate that perennial spirit of Christmas that will help them and all of us to realise, more and more, that the lines have fallen unto us in pleasant places and that we have indeed a goodly heritage.