The Sun SATURDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1927. “YULETIDE IN A YOUNGER WORLD”

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 236, 24 December 1927, Page 8

The Sun SATURDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1927. “YULETIDE IN A YOUNGER WORLD ”

ITNDER this caption, in a slender book of new poems, Mr. Thomas Hardy laments the influences that have spun the world like a top in recent years and made it a whirl of discontent and shallow pleasure. Of course, the Grand Old Man of English literature looks at life as possibly Isaiah or perhaps Jeremiah might have seen it. There is the sense of disillusionment in his vision and, in his message, there is something of the wistful wisdom of the seer whose “fervent youth had flown where lost things go.” So : We believed in highdays then, And could glimpse at night On Christmas Eve Imminent oncomings of radiant revel —- Doings of delight: Now we have no such sight. That dirge may be true of England and the Old World, hut it is not yet applicable to Yuletide on this side of the younger world. If there is one thing that the New Zealander believes in with all his ardent heart, it is surely highdays and, holidays. Whatever else he cannot see or appreciate, he at least can glimpse on Christmas Eve the imminent oncomings of radiant revel. And why not? It is midsummer here at Yuletide. Corn is ripening for the sickle ; meadows, bush and glowing gardens are the haunts of singing birds; sky and sea mirror azure beauty and, along alluring coasts, the Christmas tree, the famous pohutukawa, is aflame with the fire of summer. And if there be shadows in the cities and gross blunders in the ways of foolish men, the dominant hope of Yuletide in this younger world is always for a happy New Year.

It may he said, indeed, that New Zealanders have been so eager to glimpse the doings of delight that they could not wait for Christmas Eve. For days, even for weeks, before the arrival of this anniversary of the tranquil night “when the Star stood over the place where the Child was,” the spirit of Christmas has assumed the mien and the methods of a jostling bagman. The elusive, mysterious Santa Claus of tradition and a less precocious childhood has become a grotesque clan, so numerous on tile crowded tracks of commercialism as to appear as wheedling competitors on every main street corner throughout the land. ITow much better it would be for Yuletide in the younger world if “now we had no such sight”! Still, in spite of much that' is a mockery of a sacred festival, the majority of New Zealanders will at least enter the realm of Yuletide joy. They have cause for honest happiness. Though the picture of New Zealand life has been marred with streaks of crude politics and false economics, there is a nobility of purpose on the gaudy canvas. The beauty of Bethlehem remains in all its pristine glory, shining forth with the luminous radiance of immortality. “And this is the sign unto you: ye shall find a Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, and lying in a manger.” Perhaps it is indisputable that peace and goodwill are little more than lovely ideals, but the idealism will gain at least a fleeting reality. The Yuletide carnival is not altogether a scramble for profit and selfish pleasure. Many mean hearts have broken their outer walls of flint and soared temporarily into a radiant zone of generosity. Children and invalids and those on the cold side of prosperity will know something of the kindness that redeems a selfish age and reveals the Redeemer. If Yuletide in the younger world maintain the practice of affection and cheerfulness, the festival of Christmas will remain a beacon of guidance and hope to those who wander in a trackless world. Those who are living a selfish worldly life need not be envied. As has been well said, the Devil gives his best first, and they must make the most of it, for it is the best they will ever have. In the hope of radiant revel for everybody we all may greet our friends and enemies in the right spirit of Yuletide in a younger world.