THE Manawatu Times. SATURDAY, DEC. 25, 1880. THE DAY WE CELEBRATE.

Manawatu Times, Volume IV, Issue 102, 25 December 1880, Page 2

THE Manawatu Times.

SATURDAY, DEC. 25, 1880. THE DAY WE CELEBRATE.

" 'Words fire thinss, and a drop of ink falling like dew upon a thought, produces tlmt which makes thousands, perhaps millions think."

Before the jpJr-"with which this article^io-written has become dry, -Gfiristmas, with all its dear, hallowed, and time-honored associations will have been upon us. Christmas, which is the synonym for joy and gratitude ; for peace, plenty, and pleasure. Christmas, which, like a magnet, draws the heart to other days and other scenes m far-off lands, while memory bridges the gulf of years which intervenes between then and now. Here m this land of plenty where the sacred festival takes the shapeof abeauteous maiden wreathed m sunny smiles, and where Old Father Christmas with his snowcapped locks is a memory of the past, we have all the joys and few of the sorrows which m the Old Land greet the Saviour's natal da.y. The time is one of rejoicing for rich and poor alike, and the pleasures of the wealthy are not marred by the thought that while they are feasting, famine Btalks abroad, or Lazarus shivers at the door. How different are matters just now m the Old Country, where riot and wretchedness go hand m hand, and it ueeds but the merest zephyr to fan the breeze into a civil war, aod plunge the kingdom into anarchy and bloodshed. It is true that this colony has had a cloud obscure its sun since last the merry Christmas peals rang forth ; a wave of depression has passed o'er the land leaving not a few saddened hearts m its track, but its effect is but evanescent, and like gold from the crucible, it will only come out the brighter for the purification. If our halls are not decorated with the holly and the ivy, and our hearths do not sparkle with the burning yule log; if the plaintive strains of the muffled waits do not ascend from snow-clad streets, and the robin red breast— emblem of the crucified Saviour — does not tap for protection at our frosted window panes ; if, instead of a mantle of white, our country has put on a garb of green, and King Frost has bowed his head m submission to glorious old Sol. ; if, indeed, we miss many of those timehonored customs which we all associate with Christmas m the Old Land, we must also remember that we have blessings and privileges here that are unknown there. The year's great festival is one m more than name, and although we may not have the clashing and the clanging of cathedral bells to usher m the dawn, and tell u« the glad tidings that a Saviour has been hovn to men, the tinkle from the belfry of the lowliest church touches a tender qhord m every heart, and comes not as a mockery to any. At suoh a time, then, when the sacred day should draw all together m a closer bond of union, and peace and good will should reign m the hearts of all, it is meet and fitting that we should pay our readers the campltmentß of the season, which we do by heartily wishing them one and all A MERRY CHRISTMAS A HAPPY NSW YEAR,