UNDER THE MISTLETOE BOUGH.

Taranaki Daily News, 18 December 1920, Page 4 (Supplement)

UNDER THE MISTLETOE BOUGH.

(Specially written for the News by "Tychicus".)

Sixty years ago it was fashionable to think that habitual melancholy made people interesting. When Lord Byron's poetry was popular, it was a mark of distinction to be consumed by hidden grief, and carry a pale face, with a look of unutterable misery. There are still some young people whose health is not good, and whose brain is not sound, who affect this poetic gloom. Of course it is silly. "A merry heart doeth good like medicine," said the wise man of old. To which may be added the lovely Servian proverb, "A joyful heart spins the hemp", and the English saying, "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy". It is certain that some good, deep down laughter, laughter with roots in it, ia an excellent tonic. "A merry heart goes all the way;

Your sad heart tires at a mill." "I live," writes Sterne, "in a constant endeavour to fence against the infirmities of ill-health,, and other ills !>y mirth. I am persuaded that every time a man smiles, but much more when he laughs, he adds something to this fragment of life"; from which it would seem that one of the secrets of a. long life is to cultivate a cheerful frame of mind. As for Christmas; it, is a season rich in mirth-provoking matter. " Tis merry in the hall, Where the beards wag all."

We can picture the scene, when at the supreme moment of the festive season our swarthy-visaged ancestors joined in the fun, their long, grey beards rising and falling, like the undulating waves of the sea. It was no crime then, and it is no crime now, to join the merry-makers. If such jovialities are condemned by the "unco guid", we would recall the Spanish counsel: "He who looks demurely, trust not with your money"; much less with your morals. Some folk aTe painfully punctilious on the subject, as a certain rhymester complained— Some say that kissing's a sin, But I think it's nane ava; For kissing has woun'd in the warld 6ince ever there was twa. Oh, if it wasna lawfu' Lawyers wadna allow it: If it waana' holy Ministers wadna do it. If it was»a' modest, " Maidens wadna tak it; If it wasna plenty, Puir folk wadna get it.

Quaint George Herbert says: "One mouth doth nothing without another." What does the good man mean? He cannot mean the telephone, for it had not been invented in his day. We hazard the guess that it has some reference to what takes place under the mistletoe bough. At least, that is our guess, and it gives the Baying piquancy and flavor. But we are not an authority on the subject, having enjoyed only a strictly limited experience. On "the further difficult and delicate question, "Who shall kiss whom?" we are not competent to speak, and leave it to be settled by experts. As to the line "Ministers wadna do it," there seems no reason why they should not, when it's merry in the hall. Surely the minister may be present, if only as a spectator. Proverbs, however, give "the