There is no reason why essentially peaceful feelings, even towards the enemy whom we believe to have wronged us, should not find place in our hearts this Christmas.
The world is at war, but there is room for the exercise of the old quiet pieties and all the hallowed associations of household use and wont.
We can still ''do the good that's nearest'', and a chastened, self-sacrificing Christmas (as this should be) may still bear the mark of a not ignoble festivity.
After all, work, especially work for others, is the surest antidote for the pain and perplexity caused by moral problems and apparent contradictions.
To many and many a troubled heart at this season the opportunity of work and service, the service which is perfect freedom, will bring a sense of peace - even the peace that passeth all understanding - an earnest example of the ultimate condition of the nations of a regenerate humanity.
• A Scandinavian myth of great antiquity speaks of a ''service tree'' sprung up from the blood-drenched soil where two lovers had been killed by violence.
At certain nights in the Christmas season mysterious lights were seen flaming in its branches, that no wind could extinguish.
One tale describes Martin Luther as attempting to explain to his wife and children the beauty of a snow-covered forest under the glittering star-besprinkled sky.
Suddenly an idea suggested itself.
He went into the garden, cut off a little fir tree, dragged it into the nursery, put some candles on its branches and lighted them.
It has been explained, says another authority, as being derived from the ancient Egyptian practice at decking houses at the time of the winter solstice with branches of the date palm - the symbol of life triumphant over death, and therefore the perennial life in the renewal of each bounteous year.
The Egyptians regarded the date palm as the emblem not only of immortality, but also of the starlit firmament.
Some of its traditions may have been strongly influenced by the fact that about this time the Jews celebrated their Feast of Chanuckah or Lights, known also as the Feast of Dedication, of which lighted candles are a feature.
In Germany the name for Christmas Eve is Weihnacht, the Night of Dedication, while in Greece at about this season the celebration is called the Feast of Lights.
As a regular institution, however, it can be traced back only to the sixteenth century.
During the Middle Ages it suddenly appears in Strasburg; it maintained itself along the Rhine for 200 years, when suddenly, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, the fashion spread all over Germany, and by 50 years later had conquered Christendom.
• We understand that the Hillside Workshops have received instructions from headquarters to make a start on the construction of 500 iron wagons.
The authorities are now taking out the quantities and sizes of steel plates and rivets necessary to be imported for the building of the wagons. - ODT, 24.12.1914
• COPIES OF PICTURE AVAILABLE FROM ODT FRONT OFFICE, LOWER STUART ST, OR WWW.OTAGOIMAGES.CO.NZ
