Page 2 Advertisements Column 2

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 311, 17 December 1936, Page 2 (Supplement)

Keeping Christmas. It is a good thing to observe Chris f mas Day. “But there is a better thing than the observance of Christmas Day, and that is, keeping Christmas. “Are you willing to forget what you have done for other people, and to remember what other people have done for you; to ignore what the world owes you, and to think what you owe the world; to put your rights m the background, and your duties in the middle distance- and your chances to do a little more than your duty in the foreground; to see that your fellow-men are just as real as you are- and try to look behind their faces, to their hearts, hungry for joy; to own that probably the only good reason for your existence is not what you are going to give to life; to close your book ol complaints against the management of the universe, and look around you for a place where you can sow a few seeds of happiness—are you willing to do these things even for a day? Thenyou can keep Christmas.; “Are you willing to stoop down and consider the needs and the desires of little children; to remember the weakness and of people who are growing old; to stop asking how much your friends love you, and ask yourself whether you love them enough; to bear in mind the things that other people have to bear on their hearts; to try to understand what those who live in the same house with you really want, without waiting for them to tell you; to trim your lamp so that it will give more light and less smoke, and to carry it in front so that your shadow will fall behind you; to make a grave for your ugly thoughts and a garden for your kindly feelings, with the gate open—are you willing to do these, things even for a day? Then you can keep Christmas. “And if you keep it for a day, why not always?” -HENRY VAN DYKE.