Other formats

    TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 4, Issue 8 (December 1, 1929)

The Spring-tide of Yuletide

The Spring-tide of Yuletide.

It is said that he who laughs last laughs best, but methinks that he who laughs most carps less; likewise every dog has his day, but some dog's days are only daze.

But we must not forget, buoyant reader, that Christmas is here and the goose—we hope—has attained that desirable state of obesity entitling it to a place in the menu. Laughter litters the landscape, and the hand of Care is in a sling. The lid has been prised off the gasometer of glee and at any moment there will be an explosion of merriment that will blow a hole clean through the mists of melancholy.

The steel rails are running hot to the pounding of drumming wheels. They are the throbbing threads which draw friend to friend, father to family, children to the old roof-tree; they whisper and sing of the grand things of life—love and laughter, the cup of gaiety; the joy of fine living, of work well done and leisure well earned; of high adventure and romance; of the splendid things that are man's heritage.

Christmas has come, and the spring-tide of Yuletime whispers on the sands of Happiness; peace on earth and goodwill to all men—a laugh, one peal on the bell of human joy, and—why, life is worth the while.

Beat wheels beat, like the giant heart of happiness on the road to Destiny. Whirl us to the foot of the rainbow where is buried the magic talisman of Life, and with the wooden spade of childhood let us disinter it from the mould of almost forgotten things. For this magic token is the spirit of Christmas. Let's grasp it firmly, we human hunters after happiness, and make it the spirit of Every day, lest through our neglect it fade and turn to dull stone.

“A mournful lay.”

“A mournful lay.”