THE SAMOA TIMES. "Sworn to no Master, of no Sect am I." SATURDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1878.

Samoa Times and South Sea Gazette, Volume 2, Issue 64, 21 December 1878, Page 2

THE SAMOA TIMES. "Sworn to no Master, of no Sect am I." SATURDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1878.

The anniversary of the time -wbeu the angels descended amongst the shepherds of Bethlehem,and pronounced "On earth peace, good will toward men," is fast approaching for the one thousand eight hundred and seventy-eighth time since the glorious proclamation was made. That day we call Christmas, and ere another issue of the Samoa TIMES is sent forth it will have past, and gone. Christinas is essentially a time of happiness. merriment, and re-union. The politician leaves the nfi'airs of State; the merchant the counting-house und his ledgers ; the schoolboy his books and slates; and the traveller endeavours to return to be with his family and loved friends at this time. Wo in Samoa have little in common at this festive season with those of our fel-low-countrymen in other parts of tincivilised world. There is scarcely one of us who has not got the greater portion of his loved friends iu other and distant parts of the world, therefore, in our isolated position, we have not those happy family re-unions to look forward to, and though we may leave our various place, of business in honour of the day, wo do not experience the same happy relief that our more favoured foUow-countrymen do in other parts, when they turn their backs upon the scene of their "toils for the past year. Everything tends to depress one rather than make him blythsome and gay; We feel a gloom steal over us as we enter our domicile on Christinas Eve, and think of how we used to enjoy ourselves in other days, particularly "in tl arlior days of our life whefl wo rushed from school and shouted - hurrah for Christmas! no more plod-ling at books and slate for a month at least." Perhaps, too, we take up our album to link at the portraits of our friends at home, hut when we think how we enjoyed ourselves when iu their company at Christmas, and how different we should feel if we could only drop into their midst on Wednesday next, we close it again with a sigh. All our

surroundings kelp to make us feel tlio reverse of having good will towards our fellow men, or even ourselves, and we t .ecoine peevish and iliUempcrcd instead of merry and jovial, lint why should this bo so ? Finding that we are unable to enjoy ourselves OS of yore, what is the use of repining ? . Let (U make up our minds to enjoy ourselves as well as we eati, and by putting on a pleasant smile, help those of our unfortunate fellow-men, by our pleosantnes and amiability, to forget that they are away from home. In order to do this we must leave, then, all home associations, tlio recollection of thuM bye-gone hours and scenes to which distance does not lend enchantment to tuu view. U'o must picture alone in our mind's eye the satisfied expression of eountcnauce of those loved ones we have lift ou far off shdres, ami enjoy lie 1 pleasure of the thought thai they lit least are enjoying themselves to their heart's itent while they in ravelling in thej luxuries usually brought upon the festive] board ut this particular season, wo iu J,

-vuniia must content MisdrM by Inxuriiting upon pines, bananuas, and other .Topical fruits. Instead of the amus.inenti "f theconeert hail or the Chris) mas pantomime >*.• will probably be hnahed to our slumbers by bossing nightHies there to partake oj the pleasure* of dreamland, interrupted only by the constant ministi i ,: us ol th i[uito. "Such is life, dearboya we cannot enjoy ourselves as we n uld, let ie. make the beet of our !•>: mine, for on- day in the year ;;: least, i i forget that we are •' Strang its in a strange land." Another feature in the Christinas season is the influence it ■* ems • , have over people to make them charitable. few are the men, though the) ■;: i . I and scrim] during tin- year, hut will !«• foui ■ liberally inclined at this period. Many a long-broken friendship ims been roueweu; many an erring arid « I If son has been re-admitted to the bosom of his family; and many a gaping wound, which has • ■■. by n inadvei • , . from a frit' I, hut . id ruuui jj throu balmy iufim . „ engemlered by (he si uf ■ ■ i v ii toward men." We hope our readers will i xti nd " lil tie of that • bin ity towai il u~ on ai ouut of any sliorteoming they may havo oh i>rvod duri i ; I . for a journalist's life, iu any part of the world, much I< >s iu Samoa, Ls nut an enviable one. ilia lied is not i ;>■.• uf roses, nor his slumbers seldom uninterrupted lie is unlike other men, for his work it

never finished till he "shuffle? off this mortal coil;" for no sooner lias he sunt forth one issu" than he has to prepare fur the next, lie has to i inieut upon passing events, and when he does so the smiles he receives upon the one side are

counterbalanced by the frowns lie meets on the other side, ami so on. This latter phase of a journalist's life more applicable in a place like Samoa, which naturally small, but made even smaller than it really is by being cut up into so many different factions, politically, socially,and nationally. Is it any wonder, then, that our remarks, few though they have been, should have offended some ? Wo would certainly be surpassingly clever were we able to pilot our journal through the very many roeks and shoals of public opinion which continually crop up in our passage during the year, without touching some of them. It would be moi'.j than mortal man could do, and as we do not profess to be anything other than mortal, it is only to be expected that we may have made some mistakes, and if there are any of our readers who have aught against us for our sentiments expressed during the past year, we would say to them thai

"to err is human, to forgive divine." At the same time vvo would remind them that nothing that has emiuated from our pen has been written in malice, but our comments have been what we consfirn-

tionsly believed to be correct. We bin • no malice toward anyone, and we therefore wish each and all of our readers, together with their friends, both here and iu distant lands, A Merry Christmas !