While these lines are being read on this Christmas morning, millions of men in Europe will be standing to arms as the passing minutes usher in the birthday of the Prince of Peace, and while in other continents happy voices will be singing their glad Noels the diapasons of the artillery will be roaring their homage to Mars. For that evil thing which it hoped twenty odd years ago had been banished from the world has again been inflicted upon it, and the manhood of Europe is again pouring out its oblation of blood at the dictates of a pagan and evil god. Yet it is as well to remember even in times such as these the birth of the Babe, who thus commenced his pilgrimage toward the fatal tree on which the supreme sacrifice of the world was made for the salvation of mankind. It is a tragic thought that, despite the passing of almost two thousand years since He lay in the manger in Bethlehem, bathed in the love of his Virgin Mother, and regarded with the awe-inspired leyes of the Magi, the world has not yet realized the import of the message which He came to bring to humanity. It is not His fault that hatred, malice and all uncharitableness have not yet been eradicated from human characteristics; it may be that zoons must pass before that will be effected. In the meantime mankind must pass through its periods of madness until justice, love and humanity shall prevail in the world, and that millennium for which it so eagerly waits shall at last be conferred upon it. The evil thing, which it was hoped last Christmas would at any rate for the time being be averted, has come upon humanity, and in this season of rejoicing there must be a natural gloom cast by the tragedy which is being enacted in Europe. This is no season in which to seek to abortion blame for what has happened; the main fact is that it has come about and this Christmas, and possibly other Christmases as well, may have to be passed under the shadow, until humanity again recovers its sanity, and discarding enmities seck to work together towards that time when peace shall come and endur It must be remembered that though very definite ideas may be held concerning whose is the responsibility for precipitating this struggle, the issues are not so clean cut that either side can afford to adopt a pharisaical attitude. Each undoubtedly believes in the justice of its own cause, for there would be no war if it did not, and so the fact of war must be accepted casting its horrid shadow over such rejoicings as the world may see fit to indulge in. Hideous as war must be admitted to be there are some aspects about it which are truly magnificent. There is patriotism, courage, endurance, the sinking of self in the presence of adversity, and while there must be enmity there is also love. There are those wide-eyed youths marching valiantly towards the supreme sacrifice for their countries, for their ideals, beautiful in their manhood, sanctified in their beliefs, and the tragedy of it all is that so much good must be sacrificed to the demands of evil. But contrasted with that is all the suffering, all the pain, all the bereavement, and the sobbing of women. There is the destruction of the normal values of life, the imposition of new imperatives, the suspension of much that is also beautiful in life, and the obliteration of the victories of peace. In all corfcience there seems little enough justification for rejoicing. Yet it is good for humanity to turn aside from its woes for a space, to secure a surcease, even if only for a day or so, from the manifold anxieties. with which it is perplexed, to get its head above the surface of the Slough of Despond and scan the horizon for signs of those better times which must come. They will come. That is as certain as that the dawn follows the gloom of night, and it may with justice be argued that to abstain wholly from rejoining would be tantamount to an admission of lack of faith, and if anything is really needed in such times as these it is the faith that in the end the good will prevail, and the knowledge that even now God is fulfilling Himself in many ways, so that mankind shall some day realize the truth of the saying that a little Child shall lead them.
Those millions of men in battle arrayed will observe this day. It will have been made as happy as possible for them in the circumstances, and light-hearted youth will for the moment turn from its grim business, and snatch a moment's happiness. In that youth will not be denied. So there is no reason why there should not be rejoicing elsewhere, but always with a thought for those who walk in daily company with suffering and sudden death, and if the Allied communities in China do observe the day with some gladness it shall not be counted as wrong. But there is just one proviso, one which rests upon the conscience of every one. Can they answer in the affirmative the question whether they have done all they can towards the alleviation of suffering, and the comfort of the men defending them? If they can they will enjoy the day with an easy conscience. There is so much suffering here in Shanghai as over in Europe that no proper minded person can possibly rest easy, if he, or she is not sure that everything possible has been done to share the heavy common burden which has been placed upon his or her shoulders. These may seem strange words in the light of all that the Allied communities have already done and are continuing to do. They need, however, to be written, for this is a time when it is necessary for everyone to be sure that manifest duties have been performed to the utmost, remembering that the service of those who merely stand and wait may in some respects approach the value of the efforts of those more actively engaged. So in extending every good wish to readers of the "North-
China Daily News," what was written on this day twenty-five years ago may be repeated We know that our countrymen, and their comrades in every trench, and fortified camp, and mountain fastness, as in every watchful man-o-war that patrols the sea, will remember the day and contrive some observance of it, even while shells are bursting overhead and the rattle of quickfirers takes the place of Christmas chimes. And although for those at home there are special anxieties from which one hopes the men at the front are spared, we need not hesitate to exchange the good wishes of the season with as much spirit as they.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.