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Treasures of our Memorial Library Shades of Christmas Past A few days ago, your scribe set out on a search for material of a more-or-less seasonal message. In our corner for unsorted and unregistered material -a veritable mine of literary gold, -1 found a fragile and disintegrating single copy of a small magazine for Canadian troops, entitled, "THE MESSAGE FROM MARS". Under that title came a sub-heading as follows: "Being a Christmas Greeting from the Officers, Non-Commissioned Officers and Men of the 4th Canadian Division (British Expeditionary Force) to friends the wide world over." The date-line read simply, "In The Field, December 1918". The front cover also bore a sketch of a rifleman standing beside a maple leaf which bore these names: "Somme, Vimy, Lens, Passchendaele, Amiens, Arras", and a box square bearing a poem entitled "To Canada, Our Homeland". The "Table of Contents" I found interesting and insightful. It gives no hint of despondency or despair, after those dreadful, long years of war. Among the many listings, here a few characteristic ones: 1- "The Chief of All The Chiefs", by Rudyard Kipling (extracted by permission from one of his books). 2- "Good Laughs on the Western Front". 3- "Canada Always Wins". 4- "One Christmas Day at The Front". 5- "The King's Inspection". 6- "Cheers for the Prime Minister". 7- "Chinese Labour". 8- "Our Little Mud Home in the West". There is one wistful, wishful article entitled, "The Last Phase", but I could find no hint that an armistice was actually under negotiation when this paper went to press, even though it bears the date, "Christmas 1918" -obviously set to print some weeks in advance. Here I find generous appreciation for the "noble work" of Canadian women in support of the war effort. There is a full-page tribute to the "hard-working" Chinese labourers who made invaluable efforts to construct trenches and build essential roads. In this entire publication, coming to press after so many years of bloody sacrifice, there is no hint of self-pity from the vast legions of the casualties -the dead and the wounded. Their losses are lauded in only one article here, entitled "Our Immortal Dead". One reads, "There is a new harvest in these old provinces today, vast acres of wooden crosses. - They are the corner-stones in the everlasting temple of Freedom". A one-page Christmas card is slipped into the paper, with a poignant hint of relief to come - perhaps. Here is the tentative comfort it offers: "There's an echo of victory in the sky this winter. Who knows but we shall be all together next Christmas". Happily the crystal ball was in focus right then, yet this is the only hint of an imminent armistice in the entire text. Ted Hill (Please ask the Reference Department staff if you are interested in this magazine.)