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Show H CHRISTMAS DRAWS NEAR. CHRISTMAS holidays, that best of all season J of the year, when every one's heart seems j permeated with that feeling of "Peace on earth, ! good-will to all men," is rapidly drawing near. H The stores are filled with goods suggestive of B Santa Claus and his annual visit to the little ones. B Less than a month remains before the ushering H in of the beautiful day. Ah, beautiful to us, but H how is it looked upon by the wretched people in H practically all of the European countries? How H do they feel at the approach of this Christmas, H after more than a year of the most sanguinary H warfare the world has ever known ? What is the j condition of these wretched families, even in Eng- H a- land itself, which is perhaps one of the most for- H tunate thus far of the contending nations. Few H are the families which include men of military B - age that have not given of their number one or 9 more valiant sons, father, or brother as an offer- jR ing to the terrible God of War. According to the 3! admissions of England itself, fully 600,000 of Joo these Boldiers have gone to the land from whence 3eot no traveler or warrior returns. Possibly this num- Wn ber greatly under states the facts. This means, Mm then, that probably half a million homes in Eng- Bi land alone there is one or more "vacant chairs" uH - that will remain so permanently, and that many, d -- '" many others of the bread winners, who are ex-H ex-H -.. pected to make the visit of Santa Claus possible H ,. -V -. on such occasions, are absent and that in conse- H 'quonce Santa will have to pass thousands and K ' ' thousands of these houses by without so much as a look down the chimney. Over all, the dark clouds of war hang heavily and the pal of death and destruction is on all the land. And seeing, y in no direction is there a ray of light or hope Sum L'w?."11 content"ng 'nations. In Bel-gium, Bel-gium, Serbia, Germany, Austria, and even Franco MaZtJiT rch vvorse thftn in E ffcn . 7 W WCek8 or months one or more of the smaller neutral nations are sucked into the fhTmor" ?UOtl' and the h0,0CaU8t beco7e.au ikeTwar nrnng' J CCHMy begina to ok like a war oi all nations, such as tho ancient prophets wrote about, and we people out hereto aenrTv,Cr IPPKClate the t blessfngs and privileges which we enjoy. Here notwith standing the strife and turmoH'thft I l'Zd to the earth, we can even feel something of tho true, old fashioned Christmas spirit. |