Evening star. [volume], December 25, 1956, Page A-15, Image 14

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
DAVID LAWRENCE
No Break in Western Alliance
Historic and Spiritual Ties Between U. S.,
Britain and France Held Basic and Strong
This is the season for taking
stock of the spirit of our
times. The tragic tendency is
to exaggerate differences and
to ignore areas of agreement
—to emphasize weaknesses
and to overlook sinews of
strength.
Thus, for many weeks now
there has been a reiterated re
ference in the press here and
abroad to the “weakness” of
the Western alliance—mean
ing especially the relations be
tween the United States on
the one hand, and Great Bri
tain and France on the other.
Some observers have called it
a "strain,” and some have
talked about the need for
mending something that has
been “broken.”
But has there ever been a
real break in the "alliance” of
the peoples of these free
countries? There can be and
often has been a difference in
policy pursued by one of the
governments in relations to
the others. The leaders elected
by the people sometimes have
followed a course that is
subsequently found, both in
side and outside a country,
to have been unwise. The
American government has at
times taken action at which
both the French and British
peoples have looked askance.
Our neutrality, for example,
between 1914 and 1917 shocked
Britain and France and caused
much bitterness. Conversely,
there has been sharp disap
proval here recently of Bri
tain and French policies in the
Middle East.
But are these latest dif
ferences so fundamental that
they warrant any such inter
pretation as has been given
them in the talk of a “broken
alliance"?
THOMAS L. STOKES
A Pattern of Foreign Policy
President Seen Seeking to Make U. S.
Moral Leader of the World Again
Perhaps more by force of
events than design, a pattern
of foreign policy for the
United States seems to be
emerging from what has hap
pened in the last several weeks
in the Middle East and Hun
gary. President Eisenhower
has capitalized upon them to
forecast an “Eisenhower
policy.”
For a Christmas season in
so many ways grim and
gloomy in so many parts of
the world, it offers hope and
the promise of developments
in the new year which might
see real progress by the time
another Christmas rolls
around. That is, if our Gov
ernment acts with the com
bination of boldness and cau
tion the situation seems to
require.
The Eisenhower policy as it
appears to be evolving is to
make the United States once
Bgain the moral leader of the
world, in truth and fact, and.
in that role, a mediator. Work
ing through the United Na
tions, we would use our in
fluence to push for settle
ments in that organization
covering the Middle East and
Eastern Europe.
The aim would be. first, to
remove the threat of a new
Arab empire bent on domina
tion in the Middle East, which
is what caused Britain and
France to intervene on their
own. In Eastern Europe, the
purpose would be to grasp the
opportunity offered in the
Hungarian revolt to bring
about a settlement that would
free the satellites from Soviet
subjugation. At the same time,
this would envisage some sort
of guarantee of Russia’s bor
ders, the vulnerability of which
she has used as an excuse for
making outposts of her small
Eastern European neighbors.
Out of such settlements,
either as a part of them or a
consequence thereof, could
come agreements on disarma
ment through the U. N. that
would help to ease tensions
along the Eastern European
Refugees to Mark Yule
In 'Silent Night' Setting
By MARGARET KROHN 1
Horth Amerlemn Nrw»p*p»r Allianco 1 1
OBERNDORF, Austria, Dec. 1
25—The most poignant of the
hundreds of Yule observances be- j
Ing arranged for Hungarian ]
refugees will take place in this i
pine-girt Alpine hamlet, where 1
the world * most beloved Christ
mas carol—" Silent Night"—was
written 138 years ago.
Several hundred Hungarians—
more if transportation and lodg-1
Ing can be arranged—will be '
brought here Christmas eve for
a church service dedicated to'
Hungarian freedom.
In the little chapel where "Si- :
lent Night” first was sung, the
Hungarian refugees will gather;
with villagers to repeat the an
nual ritual of singing the carol
And, as for the last 138 years,
the singing will take place to
the accompaniment of a 150 year
old 12-string peasant guitar.
The instrument belonged to
Franz Xavier Oruber, the school- 1
master composer of -Silent
Night.”
To Repeat Old Tale
Against the backdrop of Hun
gary* heroic and continuing
fight for freedom from Soviet
rule, the story of how "Silent
Night" came to be written be
cause mice ate the bellows of
the church organ, will be told
again to the world.
When Father Josef Mohr, the
Otoerndorf priest, and Mr. Oru-i
Can there really be a
"break” between the Ameri
can people and the brave
people of Britain who in
World War II valiantly fought
alone for two years against
the Nazi planes which were
daily bombing their cities and
towns and villages?
Can there be a “break” with
the people of Great Britain
who for centuries have scru
pulously guarded the liberties
of free men—a record of pro
longed championship unparal
leled in the history of man
kind?
Can there be a “break" with
the people of Great Britain
who lost the flower of their
manhood in two world wars
but managed, nevertheless, to
preserve a free government in
the face of a rising tide of
state socialism in many parts
of the world?
Can there be a “break” with
the people of Britain who,
notwithstanding the taunts of
"imperialism,” have gradually
by grants of autonomy and
self-government built among
their colonial possessions the
foundations for several in
dependent democracies?
Can there be a “break” with
the people of France whose
hearts went out to the Ameri
can colonies in their early
struggle for independence and
who sent the French fleet to
Yorktown to help us win our
own revolution?
Cass there be a “break” with
the heroic people who stood
at the Marne and fought the
battle of the civilized world
against Prussian autocracy in
World War I and then, though
weakened and overrun by Nazi
armies in World War 11, never
surrendered their spirit of
resistance, which helped pave
satellite boundary that has
come to be a sort of Mason
and Dixon line between the
Free World and the Soviet
world. All of this, of course,
cannot happen next week or
the week after, but over a long
period. The beginning is im
portant and the way seems
more open for that now than
at any time since the end of
the Second World War.
An intriguing view of our
present position is found in a
recent editorial in the Man
chester Guardian—which was
very critical of the Eden gov
ernment for its Egyptian ad
venture—in the course of com
ment on the visit of Indian
Prime Minister Nehru with
President Eisenhower, and be
fore the two sat down together
in seclusion. This is it:
“In an extraordinarily short
time, America has passed from
being an epitome of imperial
ism back to its former—and
almost forgotten—role of the
champion of peoples struggling
to be free.”
While there might be some
quarrel in high places here
about the characterization
"epitome of imperialism,” the
Guardian obviously was think
ing of the image of us that
has been in the minds of
others, or created in the
minds of others, particularly
in Asia. That was due to a
large degree to our close al
liance with Britain and France
which still cast imperialistic
shadows in the minds of many
people in Africa, the Middle
East and Asia.
That image, so far as we
are concerned, was dissipated
to a considerable extent when
we joined the U. N. in con
demning Britain and France
for her attack on Egypt. That
attack revived the old familiar
tradition of colonial empires
moving in with gunboats and
troops, and the vividness of
that dramatization due to the
surprise element made our
condemnation of it the more
vivid to the Asian and African
world where it boosted our
,ber entered the chapel two nights
I before Christmas eve. 1818, they
made the distressing discovery.
After vainly seeking ways to;
mend the damage, they had to
leave the church in despair, l
knowing there would be no
Christmas music for the parish
ioners.
The two men trudged home
ward in bitter cold. An all-day
blizzard which had choked the
streets with snow, forcing the
pair to push their way through
drifts.
Suddenly the wind died, the
sky cleared and the village,
almost miraculously, was bathed
in starlight.
Night Dictated Words
As if seized by divine inspira
tion, Father Mohr lifted his eyes
to the stars and quietly Intoned:
“Silent night, holy night.” He
was quiet for a moment and then
added. "All is calm, all is bright.”
The same Inspiration spell fell
over the schoolmaster Gripping
the priest's arm. Mr. Gruber ex
claimed: “That is what we need
in place of the church organ—
a new Christmas hymn ”
The priest and the school-:
master-musician went to the
Gruber home straightaway. They
spent the rest of the night, with
out a break, writing verse and
music. There were few revisions,
and the entire masterpiece was
ready the next morning—in the
same form it is still played today
■i When the villagers crowded
the way for the liberating
armies of America?
Can there be a "break” with
the peoples of Britain and
France whose cultures have
meant so much to the Ameri
can people over decades of
time?
Governments with their
human frailties may come and
go. Statesmen may speak in
petulant and critical voices.
But a count of public opinion,
where nations are free to air
their family differences, is a
far different forum than the
governments of enslaved na
tions are permitted by the
Kremlin to go to with their
grievances.
It is sometimes said care
lessly that Britain and France
are no longer “great powers.”
Does the term merely mean
militarily superior and econo
mically powerful? Or is the
true measure of greatness the
spirit and moral power of a
nsftion? If it's the latter, then
America and Britain and
France stand together as
equals among the truly great
powers of all history in an
alliance of freedom and
liberty.
Such an alliance will never
be broken up by ephemeral
differences in this difficult
era in which the world is
seeking for the principle of
collective security a per
manent place in the lives of
nations. For, though the
methods of attaining the com
mon objective peace may
cause impassioned debate,
there is no weakness in the
political, economic and cul
tural ties that have been built
so strongly between Britain,
France and America. There is
no break or even slight frac
ture in the healthy respect
and esteem which the people
of the free countries long have
had for each other.
(Reporductton Rlthti Reserved)
stock Immediately. The na
tive peoples found us their
allies in the U. N. Though
planned months ago, the visit
of Prime Minister Nehru just
after this episode could not
have been timed better to
emphasize our new standing
in his part of the globe.
The U. N. worked in the
Middle East crisis because
Britain, France and Israel
yielded to it. Not so in Hun
gary. Resolution after resolu
tion from the U. N. demand
ing Soviet withdrawal and,
finally, blunt condemnation,
were like so much paper
snow brushed off by Russia.
This again revealed a weak
ness long recognized in the
U. N. in dealing with Russia
which Pope Pius referred to
in his Christmas message by
saying that certain members
tend to act “only according to
individual interest and power.”
But Soviet Russia’s exhibi
tion of Mongolian brutality in
Hungary which the U. N.
helped to reveal—not only
stigmatized her all over the
world but has shown her in
adequacy in coping with a re
bellious situation which she
may, at any time, And re
peated in other satellites. In
the words of Vice President
Nixon on his return home,
“international communism has
suffered a mortal blow.”
Consequently Soviet Russia
is in a weakened position in ■
which she might be ready to
negotiate for a Eastern Euro
pean settlement. That would
give President Eisenhower an
opportunity to exercise his
leadership. Our path, however,
is one to be trod delicately.
We can not let our new mid
dle-of-the-road course in for
eign policy alienate ourselves
from our longtime staunch
allies in Western Europe who
are, after all. our first line
of defense. Nor can we get
cast in the role of appeasers
with so much of freedom at
stake. Nor, on the other hand,
can we push to the point
where Russia, in her frustra
tion and desperation, might
take a gamble that would lead
to a third world war.
Indeed, the role of com
promiser is a hard one.
into the tiny St. Nikolaus Chapel
on Christmas eve, the priest told
them the bad news about the
organ. Somewhat shyly, he added
that he and the schoolmaster,
instead of organ music, would
lead them in the singing of the
hymn they had composed.
Neither the priest nor the
schoolmaster thought too much
about their composition. They
had intended it solely as some
thing to soften the congrega
tion's disappointment over the
organ.
Spread Quickly
The hymn caught on at once,
however, and became the favor
ite hymn of the devout Catholic
community. In time, it was
picked up by the bargemen and
carried down the Salzach River
to other villages.
The church mice who indi
rectly were responsible for the
writing of “Silent Night” also
were indirectly responsible for
spreading it throughout the
world.
When, in time, a traveling or
gan repairman arrived to mend
the organ bellows, he heard the
hymn. He passed it on to other
churches in Austria, and it thus
was carried to other parts ol
Europe
The hymn became the prop
erty of the world in 1831. That
year it was Included in a concert
at Leipzig. Germany, attended
by church musical figures from
all over Europe.
Now the villagers believe that
the hymn, so miraculously con
ceived. holds a special symbolism
for the Hungarian freedom
fighters.
LOUIE —By Harry Hanan
SSL
POTOMAC FEVER
FLETCHER KNEBEL
\
Things they were thankful for on Christmas:
Ike: That he can pick up the home furnishings section of
a, newspaper without seeing another map of his own plumbing
and heating system.
*. * * *
Senator Kefauver: That he has only one Stevenson to give
to his country.
* * * •
Vice President Nixon: That the Eisenhower team, like the
old West Point team, has a "Mr. Inside” and a “Mr. Outside.”
Ike does the traveling inside the country—while Nixon does it
outside.
•** * ' ,
Senate Democratic Leader Johnson: That the Democratic
Party is the party of all the people—including those who have
oil wells.
* * * •
Treasury Secretary Humphrey: That at last Washington
has a businessman's administration that knows how to account
for every penny the Government wastes.
* • * *
Democratic Chairman Butler: That the election is over,
so the Democrats can get back to the real fun of fighting among
themselves.
* * * * *
Republican Chairman Hall: That he can define what a
"modern Republican" is. It's a New Dealer who makes a brave
effort to pay his bills.
Troops to Ring Shrines
During Nativity Rites
By SOLOMON H. STECKOLL |
North American Newspaper Alllanop I
JERUSALEM, Dec. 25.—Spe
clal prayers for world peace and
the brotherhood of man will be
said in all churches in the Holy
Land during Christmas services
this year, as the tension gripping
the Middle East makes this one
of the most somber Christmases
ever to be celebrated here.
With special security measures
taken to guard worshippers,:
Christmas has lost all flavor of
joy in Jerusalem and Bethlehem
It will be a grim celebration.
' While the Jordanian authori
ties at first announced that they
would not permit pilgrims to
cross into Bethlehem from
Israel, they now agree that those
“whose papers are in order” will
be allowed to cross the border.
They will have permission to
spend 52 hours among the
shrines in Jerusalem’s old city
but will not be allowed to travel
to other parts of the country.
4,000 Asked Permits
Four thousand Israeli Arab
Christians applied for permits to
cross the lines, but after pre
liminary screening only 2.000
names were submitted to the
Jordanian authorities for their
approval. Only half of this num
ber will be allowed to cross the
border and pray at the Church
of Nativity in Bethlehem which
is built on the site of Christ’s
birth.
They will cross the border, at
the Mandlebaum Gate crossing
while their papers are carefully
checked and double-checked,
first by Israeli, and then by
Jordanian, police. Situated in a
I no-man’s-land section of Jeru
salem, the crossing point brings
'into sharp relief results of the
war Jitters presently felt here.
Unrepaired since the 1948
war, a long row of war-battered!
buildings circle the square while
ai|H iifepfy] WEDNESDAY NIGHT IS
family Tiiijltt
; Howard Jon nion’\
|! /
| » SIRVID FROM 5:00 P.M. TO 9:00 P.M. ’
j FEATURED FAMILY DINNERS
Choice of
Fresh Fruit Cocktail with Sherbet
New England Clam Chowder *
Cup of Soup or Chilled Fruit Juice
Choice of
BAKED SUGAR CURED HAM, Raisin Sauce
TENDER BRAISED BEEF, Rich Brown Gravy
GOLDEN FRIED TENDERSWEET CLAMS,
Tartar Sauce—Garden Salad
OVEN BAKED SALISBURY BEEFSTEAK, Onion Gravy
GOLDEN FRIED BREADED VEAL CUTLET,
' Tomato Sauce
s Ch< nee of
< French Fried er Whipped Fetetees
- end
Garden - Fresh Vegetable du Jeer
Snorted Raffs and latter
j Choice ad; Dinner Dessert and later ape
> FOR ADULTS $1.75
£ ' FOR CHILDREN qq
WA \R ACCOMPANIED BY ADULTS—onIy 77 c
—, V f Eating eat is a pleasant Family treat—reyr Howard
' Jahnsaa’s tahas plaasara in mahmg it tetv aa the
, Jft *•"'** budget sa that the mothers and children
P" -j may here the ten of eating eat more often.—
t * HOWARD D. JOHNSON.
J HOWARDJOHIHOn?
I Washington— HOO Feenirl.onio A.e St, 42S
1 t]th St NW, 4971 Indian Head load Eat*
A e»er'. Wisconsin snd Western Arts D C
m Line Alerendr.e -tiS He Washington St
Arbngten— 47oo Lee Higb»e» FeUs Chercfc—
ir>H Corners fe> r *ei Csr let U S Its 50. It
wtk
i barbed wire entanglements and
'concrete dragon’s teeth anti-i
tank traps are seen everywhere.
Permission has also been given !
by Jordan for members of the
diplomatic corps to use the tra
ditional route of pilgrimage to
Bethlehem the route which:
passes Mount Elias and which
was taken by the Three Wise
Men. French and Dutch diplo
mats will not be allowed to cross
and while several British diplo-
Imats in Tel Aviv applied for;
permits, it is not yet known
whether they will be allowed to
enter Bethlehem.
Clear the Mines
Before Christmas, Israeli and
Jordanian troops will clear the
mines on this road and white
tapes will be placed on it so
that the short convoy of cars;
will not drive off onto mine
fields. They will return to the
Israeli section of Jerusalem im-i
mediately after the midnight
mass in the Church of Nativity :
Immediately afterward the
mines will be replaced on the
road.
Jordan will take special se
curity measures to prevent; ais
turbances as the wave of anti-
Western sentiment is still vising
through inflammatory speeches
and newspaper editorials. Armed
guards will be placed outside all!
churches on Christmas Eve and
a heavy guard of Arab Legion
naires will do duty in Manger’s
'Square at the entrance to the
Church of Nativity in Bethle
hem.
They will try to prevent a re
currence of last year’s riots,
when a few days before Christ
mas mobs ran wild, painting
crosses on the houses of all for
eigners, stoning the American
consulate and threatening the
lives of all non-Arabs.
Because of the general un
settled conditions in the Middle
CONSTANTINE BROWN
Why Accept the Bloody Hand?
U. S. Policy of Being Polite to Red Killers
And Flouting Our Friends is Questioned
This is the wonderful sea
son of the year when the
phrase. "Peace on earth, good
will to men,” takes on a special
meaning, a personal expres
sion of an ancient and noble
concept.
Yet there is another, some
what different translation of
that same phrase of the New
Testament, and the difference
in meaning is Startlingly ap
plicable to the world of 1956.
“Peace on earth to men of
good will” is a selective rather
than a general concept of the
meaning of Christmas. Not
“good will to men,” but peace
only “to men of good will.”
The temptation to apply the
second translation to the af
fairs the world is strong.
If we* adopt It as our favorite,
where do the Kadara of Hun
gary, the Khrushchevs and
Molotovs, the Chou En-lais
and Mao Tse-tungs, the
treacherous dictators of Rus
sia's Eastern European satel
lites, fit into the picture of
peace on earth?
We in America have long
been deluded into the belief,
firmly sponsored by our top
policymakers for the last 20
years or thereabouts, that we
must maintain normal diplo
matic relations with our ene
mies as well as with our
friends. As long as we are able
to sit down and talk together,
the argument runs, there will
be continued peace.
Thus \ye are supposed to ex
tend peace on earth to the
wicked, the evil, the treacher
ous plotters, the foes of every
thing we hold dear and deslr
Australian Painting Depicts
Virgin, Child as Aborigines
SYDNEY, Dec. 25 (NANA).— ,
The Virgin Mary and Child will i
be depicted as Australian abo
rigines in a large oil painting in
the New Catholic War Memo- ,
rial Cathedral at Darwin, North- |
ern Territory.
• It is the first aboriginal Ma
donna to be placed in a shrine ■
in a cathedral in Australia. j
The picture of the aboriginal
Madonna was painted by a visit
ing European artist. Karel Kup
ka of the Ecole des Beaux Arts.
Paris.
It is being sent to Sydney from
Darwin for exhibition before be
ing Placed in the Darwin Ca
thedral within a shrine in the
transept.
The painting has been de
scribed as a strikingly original
piece of religious art. The paint
ing, in oils on masonite board,
is 48 inches high and 36 inches
wide. The figures are slightly
larger than life size.
The Virgin Mary, depicted in
torso, has the characteristic fea
tures and skin-color of an abo
riginal woman. Her face is a
composite portrait from many
sketches of different "sitters”
done by the artist on mission
stations in the Northern Terri
tory.
She is garbed in white. The
collar of her dress is red. em
broidered in an aboriginal de
sign. The Holy Child, also o!
typical aboriginal features, and,
garbed in a white smock, edged
with aboriginal designs in red.
is seated on the mother's shoul-
East, the usual pilgrimage has
dwindled this year and, for the
first time, there is no difficulty
in finding hotel accommodation. 1
gjfti isife
... to you and oil your family
from each ond everyone of usf
Uk
*s£• THI NINE HAHN SHOE STORES
Washington Baltimore vTt
-ISISnPI Alexandria Silver Sprinf rfjr
pl3r ijp|gL
h&y iSI Jp?
THE EVENING STAR, Washington. D. C. *
TCTSPAT, jjjgug S*. IMS
able, on the grounds that to
do otherwise would imperil
peace itself.
But we were still talking
to the envoys of Japan that
raw day in December, 1941,
even while the Japanese bombs
and torpedoes were blasting a
large part of our Pacific fleet
into shattered, smoking ruins.
The representatives of Japan
were closeted with our Secre
tary of State at the very mo
ment the attack was in full
swing. Where, then, did talk
preserve the pqpce?
And every time we, or any
other nation of the world,
talked over the council table
with the architects of du
plicity in the Communist
world, we have suffered some
substantial loss. Even if the
loss were a minor one in terms
of strength or position, the
moral defeat was each time
immense, compounded by our
own folly in failing to apply
ordinary standards of right
and wrong. Treating with the
enemy in wartime is treason
to the Nation. Treating with
the enemy in peacetime can
be treason to mankind; it is
always a betrayal of morality.
"Peace on earth to men of
god will.” Let us apply it to
our relations with the Soviet
Union while the Moscow hands
are red with the blood of Hun
gary's martyrs. Does our
search for peace require that
we continue to associate on
polite terms with these butch
ers? Is there any doubt that,
in the framework of normal
human relationships, whether
with relatives, neighbors or
der, in the typical native style ,
of carrying a pickaninny.
The background of the picture,
is an intricate pattern of abstract
aboriginal designs, copied from
bar k-paintings, cave-drawings j 1
and decorations of native arte- i
facts from all the tribes in North ,
and Central Australia.
I Bishop O’Loughlin of Darwin
said: “The work is an inspira- 1
tion. We feel that a cathedral i
which is representative of the i
people of the northern territory i
should have a shrine which can
express the aspirations of the
aborigines to make them feel
that they have a proper part'
and interest in the work and
faith of the church.”
He said the shrine of the
DO-IT-YOURSELF ADVICE OFFERED
ON YULE-GIFT BAROMETERS
In the spirit of Christmas, the Weather Bureau's news
service printed a special note today for weather filberts who
received barometers as gifts.
Over the usually busy wire came these comforting words:
For those who have received barometers as gifts, let us assuro
you that starting to use them is quite simple.
“Most dial barometers have an opening in the back of
the case where a small screwdriver can be used to adjust
the position of the hand.
“To get the barometer set for your location, Just listen
I to the reading given over the air when the weather forecast
is announced with the news. Set your barometer to that
reading which is always called the sea level pressure. That's
all there is to it.”
There was more such as an admonition to treat the in
strument gently. Then as one weather expert to another, the
bureau signed off with “best of luck.”
strangers, any decent man in
any civilized society would in
dignantly refuse to associate
with criminal evil?
What would (be the effect on
the world if we took another
look at our axiomatic policy
that we must continue to have
normal relations with the
gangsters of the world?—if the
United States, today the leader
of the free world, abruptly
broke off relations with Soviet
Russia and with Hungary and
any other rotten Red regime
daily flouting the elementary
rules of civilized behavior?
Recently we have been pat
ting ourselves on the back for
the "high moral tone” and
“enviable moral stature” we
ascribe to our stand on the
British-French-Israeli Invasion
of Nasser’s Egypt. But haven't
we been nobly moral when It
came to the transgressions of
our friends, and something
else when it Involved our
sworn enemies?
If the butchery and ruthless
suppression practiced by the
Reds in Hungary are not rea
sons enough to break off dip
lomatic relations with the
Soviet Union, what are? The
facts are plain. We recognize
them in our official pronounce
ments, in the refugee program
holding out some degree of
hope for those Hungarians
lucky enough to escape their
ravaged and sorrowful home
land. Our President has pub
licly deplored the savagery In
sharp terms.
Why. then, do we continue
to go through the motions of
affable, even cordial, relations
with the perpetrators of these
crimes—and of countless other
crimes before them? Are these
men of good will?
aboriginal Madonna would be a
focal point for natives in the
new cathedral and would also
be a reminder to worshippers
and visitors of European and
other races that the message of
Christianity was universal.
Chiang and Wife Mark
Bth Yule on Formosa
' TAIPEI. Dec. 25
dent Chiang Kai-shek and hia
wife spent their usual quiet
Christmas today, the eighth
since the generalissimo quit the
China mainland for Formosa
on December 10, 1949.
Nationalist China’s first couple,
who are Methodists, attended a
70-minute service Christmas eve
in their own church in a Taipei
suburb. Gen. Chiang began
'Christmas Day with his daily
i period of prayer and meditation.
A-15