The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1908. CHRISTMAS DAY.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2382, 24 December 1908, Page 4

The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1908. CHRISTMAS DAY.

At a period in the world’s history when the broadening effect of scientific investigations and the vast increase in the sum of human knowledge are causing many of the formerly accepted tenets of the Christian religion to be challenged, it is well to emphasise the significance of- such celebrations as Christmas Day. It is, of course, quite true that the bulk of the population will not attend the services which will be held to-morrow j or the purpose of commemorating the historic occasion upon which the Christian Church, as we know it, has been built up. Large numbers ol people will participate in the beautiful and inspiring services which have hallowed the great event of Christendom, but the masses will spend the day in the particular manner that appeals to them, without giving even apassing thought to the intrinsic significance of the day. Yet, notwithsandiug this apparent disregard of the religious aspect of vmristmas, those whose lives are bound up in the success of Christianity need not despair because the people as a whole prefe'f to spend their Christmases in their own homes or in tlio open air, and decline to give even an hour or two from their holiday rejoicings to the observances of Christian worship. For, despite all that may bo said to the contrary, each Christmas as it comes round provides more and more abundant proof that the great lesson of Christ has permeated and still permeates the whole of the civilised race, and year by year is more effective. “Peace on earth, goodwill towards men” is the message of Christ that has rung through the ages, and surely it is apparent in the very atmosphere that humanity has accepted the message, at any rate, in its broadest sense. “A Merry Christmas” is the universal cry, and the most illnatured sceptic must admit that its very utterance betokens some degree of good fellowship towards the person addressed. The home ties are drawn itighter, on this one day of all days in the year, as fond parents devote a goodly portion of their hard earnings to tlie " delectation of their children, and themselves, unbending from the 1 gravity and dignity which the cares of parenthood have imposed, enter whole-heartedly into the fun and gaiety which very properly find so large a place in the little world of their girls and boys. No one who sees the seriousness with which the grand old myth of Santa Claus is humored, how carefully and withal stealthily the lucky stockings are "handled, and notes the intense interest which is displayed in every cut of the massive steaming plum pudding, lest a threepenny bit should suddenly make its appearance, can fail to see itliat on Christmas Day the parents themselves, in sympathy with their children, live again their own childhood's days. Verily, in every home each Christinas Day comes >a glorious resurrection of past joys and a feast of present delights. Then from one home to another the same spirit of closer communion is manifest. Friends of the family who, in the many diverse interests of a workaday world, have become so engrossed in xfieir own special schemes as to almost forget those who have at one timo or another been dear to them, make this the occasion by means of pictorial cards, or mayhap a small present, to show their friends in. other parts that their feelings of love and friendship are in no wise diminished by temporary separation. At this season of the year these small but expressive emblems travel the world over, and from all corners of the earth convey the message that receives universal acceptance. The world, we know, is still far from perfect. So long as millions'of negroes in the United States are treated as an inferior type of people, so long as the multitudes of our fellow-subjects are permitted to starve in India, so long as the sweating dons of London and the slums of Manchester starve tlie bodies and poison the souls of our English brothers and' sisters,, so long as one nation wars against another, so long as the capable, energetic and crafty man uses lids skill to oppress his less fortunate brother, w© must still recognise the milleiiium as a long way off. But the present/ dark as it is, is not as black as was the past, and tlie future provides abundant promise for the optimist. Slowly, but nevertheless surely, the wprld is /growing better, the good is overcoming the" bad. In Gisborne, as in every other

community/ many hard words have been spoken in the twelve months just ending, many, indeed, that the speakers have many times regretted having uttered. Many discreditable deeds have been done, the stress of business and the incessant craze for Vealth have at times produced a callousness and selfishness that are deplorable, but in the same peri&d there has boon many a kind word spoken, many a good deed done; and we believe the latter easily outweigh the former. However this may be, to-day and! to-morrow will find. “A Merry Christmas” the universal greeting, and the glad smile of the man or woman making it will leave no doubt as to the spirit which prompts its utterance. It is indeed good to have Christmas Day, and the time of rejoicing cannot pass by without adding very greatly to the sum of good fellowship throughout the civilised world.