‘Christmas in America’: Janet Payne Whitney, from the 19 December issue, 1941

22 Dec 2022 | by Janet Payne Whitney

‘The forces of hate have split the world apart.’

‘The time will be so full there will be little left to brood and none to mope. Yet sadness will be an undercurrent to the gaiety.’ | Photo: Image: Scene from the film Christmas Under Fire (1941)

Even more than we anticipated a week or two ago, our thoughts and our greetings go out this Christmas time to America as a whole and, in particular, to our American Friends and to our English children there. Despite America’s full entry into the war, there will be Christmas celebrations there, and this welcome article by one we can both claim as ‘ours’ – Janet Payne of Hitchin, now Janet Whitney of Westtown, Pennsylvania, author of Elizabeth Fry and Jennifer – will help us to share together in one another’s lives at a season the signifi­cance of which the world conflict makes greater than ever.

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