The Daily News. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1916. CHRISTMAS GREETINGS.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 December 1915, Page 4

The Daily News. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1916. CHRISTMAS GREETINGS.

To the present generation the Christmas of 1915 will doubtless be ' the most memorable of their lives. At this time last year, as is the case row, the war was the dominant event, only then it was in its initial stages, and had not made the immense drain on the manhood of the Empire which has taken place during the last twelve months. To-day there are thousands of homes in New 2ealand where vacant chairs will indicate that the call of the Empire has been obeyed, mostly it is to be hoped to be occupied by returned warriors by the time the festival of Christmas arrives in the coming year, but some must remain empty for- all time, a silent yet pathetic reminder of those who have made the supreme sacrifice for King and Country, and whose names will be inscribed on the roll of honor that will be a cherished nations} heritage. On all sides is heard t'ns opinion that it docs not seem iiko Christmas. There is, apparently, an absence of that spirit of the festival sea■on due to the absence of the flower of our manhood at one or other of the fields of war. Moreover, it seems out of place to indulge in those rejoicings so intimately connected with Ynletide, while disease, death, and buffering are decimating our kitli and kin in the areas or the most horrible war that has ev<!T been known. We are face to face tlx* Christmastide with the two extremes—peace and war—and to many it will be a difficult matter, to reconcile the observance of peace and goodwill associated with the great Christian festival which commemorates the nativity of the Prince of Peace, while we are daily furnished witli news of a world at war on land, on sea, in the air, and under the waters of the deep, with all its horrors and its terrible toll on human life. And yet the time honored wish for a "Happy Christmas" is not only this year not out of place, but is emphatically more appropriate than in normal times of peace. Happiness is not seilleh indulgence. The one great underlying principle on which true happiness is based is altruism—the innate satisfaction which proceeds from being of service to others—and the greater the sacrifices involved in that service, the sweeter and more completely filled will be our cup of happiness. Nor is there any greater difficulty in reconciling this time of warfare with the season of peace and goodwill. The struggle on which the Allies are concentrating their resources has for its object the establishment of a permanent peace, the upholding of the cause of right against the tyranny of might, 1 seeurina the freedom of the amaller

nations from domination by the oppressors of the weak. Sacrifices made in such a glorious cause are especially worthy of remembrance and honor at the present season "Peace and Goodwill." Tlioso in the fighting line, in tho hospitals, in convalescent homes and elsewhere wlio have joined the ranks to help in securing permanent peace are making great sacrifices and performing valiant feats in this noble cause, and for them, as well as for those in the training camps, the hearts of the people are filled with the warmest gratitude and pride coupled with an implicit faith in the success of their mission. Those who have looked for the last time on their sons, husbands, brothers, or other relatives who have laid down their lives on foreign soil, will sorely iniss their loved ones, but the message of the Christmas season should come to them with especial force', inspiring them with the true courage to bear with fortitude the sacrifices made in the cause of humanity, and to fill them with gratitude for having loyally made the greatest sacrifice in their power. While thousands must inevitably spend their Christmas in sadness because of this war sacrifice, the very fact of its having been made should be a healing balm and a source of true happiness. Prosperity, ease and life itself are small things compared with honor, thechampionship of right, and the exercise of the national spirit in its highest form. It is only by extreme fortitude, entailing the negation of self and the conservation of all individual effort on such a cause as that which the Allies have undertaken that the season's good wishes can be fully realised. New Zealand is enjoying unparalleled prosperity, and TaranakS is receiving its full share of the boon. But for the war there would this Christmas be a full measure of rejoicing, and because of the' war there may be some curtailing of the usual pleasures incidental to the season, and a serious impulse given to patriotic activity; yet it may, and should be, a time of happiness, especially by reason of duty done. In the best and highest sense of the words we wish our readers ; v A HAPPY CHRISTMAS. "