Hope, however, springs eternal, and though the condition of China cannot well be worse, there is something in the human mind that unconsciously clings to hope for better times., It is at this season of the year that friends wish for other that better times may lie immediately ahead. Years ago, it seemed to me, Christmas began 'a day or two before Santa Claus appeared, and by a day or two after Boxing Day we had felt that Christmas had gone, and that we had to wait a day or two for the New Year, Not so to-day. As soon as December appears, we are found already immersed" in the preparation of our gifts, not until January has passed do we drop the respectful "compliments of the season, and throughout this gradual old earth would be if only human beings could sustain throughout the 12 monthe the spirit of peace and good will that' brightens the passing of the old and the coming of the new year, As foreigners now are realizing the glory of the New Year spirit, 80 the Chinese in a week or two will be offering libations to the gods for past favours and also for favours to come, hoping that their new year will not tear their ancient! and as it consistently has been torn in almost every avenue of life since the coming of the Republic in 1911. Let us hope, for the sake of Chinese friends and for China, also for the whole world, that 1927 will bring the minds of men every where into a state of forbearance! and fair play. If only China could void the evil she has done even during this last year, thenew year would be assured of greater peace and success. As the Chinese prepare for their own unique eelebr: tions of the advent of another rung tion vis é vis the Powers, Let them contemplate the need of living in the spirit of their age-old-Golden Rule, and they then would be as-red that the year that is coming: might be made to spell true freedom, whereas, if they pursue their present misguided—machinations against the foreigner, they will live to lament their own wilful undoing.
The Holiday Season in America 'As in Shanghai the holiday set son is becoming extended, so it is—probably more so than' anywhere clse—in the United States, A single gift among the wealthy here would keep a poor family for 'a year. The toys the children receive are costly and extravagant. Parents give their grown children ars. Husbands are literally at a Toss hat to choose on a sulficienthigh Snancial scale for, their Hand in hand with this} spirit of giving goes a lavishness which only a few years ago would have been interpreted, even in Prosperous America, as_gross extravagance, The U.S. Post Office this Christmas will deliver no less than three billion presents, greetings cards and letters, Think of
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.