Dickens of a Christmas
A Merry Christmas! or (to those who prefer the milder word) a Happy Christmas! Christmas somehow suggests Dickens, along with sublimer associations. From my Dickens calendar of 1924, with only a leaf or two left, I cull the mottoes for December 23, 24 and 25: "Numerous indeed are the hearts to which Christmas brings a brief season of happiness and enjoyment." — Pickwick Papers. "There seems a magic in the very name of Christmas." — A Christmas Dinner. "I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year." — Christmas Carol. Not remarkable, you may say. Rather trite and commonplace? Yes, perhaps so, but how eternally glorious these annual commonplaces are if we regard them in the right spirit.
— by ‘Wayfarer’
Beaumont not going anywhere
Many seem to think that with the opening of the railway extension Beaumont will sink into obscurity but owing to its prominent and picturesque situation on the banks of the Molyneux River and on the main roadway from Dunedin to Central Otago, and at the doorway of some of the finest shooting and fishing to be had in the dominion it will not lose its popularity.
Peace on Earth
The Christmas season comes as a happy and gracious episode amid the turmoil of every-day life. If its sacred associations are insufficiently observed — if the distinction between holy-day and holiday has lost something of the old significance — the fact remains that the Festival of the Nativity preserves much of its compelling influence over the hearts of men. The celebration of Christmas as a religious festival, though unduly neglected, may not be a quite forgotten observance. Peace — peace on earth among men of good-will — is the prime watchword of Christmas; and in that connection we are reminded that ten years have gone by since the first of the four sad Christmasses of the Great War. "Not peace, but a sword" was the heading we gave to our Christmas articles in those years of tense anxiety. That period is over — and yet the reminder may not be quite untimely. We were fighting for the establishment of peace at that time; to-day we should all be struggling, in our small individual ways, for the maintenance of peace.
— editorial
Sharing cheer
Last Friday’s street sale of special matinee tickets to provide Christmas funds for local orphanages brought in a total of £137 2s 6d. Through the generosity of managers of places of entertainment, the sale continued about the streets yesterday and a number of collecting boxes were also in use. It is hoped to raise altogether at least £200 so that the Christmas season may be celebrated with fitting comfort and good cheer by those that the institutions assist. Proprietors of local picture theatres have very kindly invited all the children from orphanages and homes to be present at the matinees to ge given in their theatres on New Year's Eve.
— ODT, 24.12.1924 (Compiled by Peter Dowden)
