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i?U?i J^tt^raii?tr ?| ^mit b Callina EDGEFIELD, S. C., WEDNESDAY, DECEMEER 11,1912 NO. 45 WHEN Mistlet< There's a h< For hapl> I may catch hei When Mistletoe bl There's a hopi BEST GAME OF ALL The Fan-You can talk about base ball, football and basketball, but the mistletoe game ls the best of all. Christmas Plum Pudding. The Christmas plum pudding is de scended from the plum porridge and ls a time-honored dish at every Christmas feast To be properly made, each person In all the house hold must 'stir it before it is bolled and thc mistress of the house must add the spices "with her own fair hand," and so she favors fortune for a year. If she is. an American and mixes her pudding in an ancient china bowl, stirring it with as ancient a Bpoon, whose handle is adorned with an old English crest, so much the bet ter, for in the new land she is help ing to keep alive the customs that made ( old England merrie. The pudding should be toiled in a well-floured cloth "six hours upon the day of mixing, six hours upon the day of eating, and the steam should not cease to arise from the pot while the pudding is within it." Mistletoe and the Druids. The custom of decorating strategic points in the household with sprigs of mistletoe at Christmas dates far back to the time of the Druids, who held 'the little plant in great veneration. At the approach of their winter festi val, twigs of it were placed above the doors of their houses to serve as .talia- j mans and signs to the sylvan deities t that shelter and comfort awaited them I -within. ! p Present-day customs relating to mis- ct itletoe represent the evolution of the {Druidical legend? _ ", > ? (ttlpisimafi ffi?jnmriltfgg 306-Diocletian slaughlend 20.000 Christian*. 597-5;. AagMtine baptised 10.000 Saxon? in Kat. 790-OSc. Kag of Mada, in battit oithWelsh. 800-Charlemagne coane J Emperor ty Pope Leo ///. in Rome. 878-Alfred the Creal defeated by Guthmn. the Dane, at Chippenham. 1065- Westminster Abbey consecrated in presence of Queen Edzitha. 1066- William the Conqueror crowned at Westminster. 1171-Henry H. entertained Irish Chieftains at Dublin. 1190-Richard the Lion Heart feasted Crusaders at Sicily. 1417-Slr John Oldcastle burned as Lollard heretic. 1428-Truce al siege of Orleans io observe Christmas. 1492-Columbus's ship, Santa Maria, wrecked at Hayti. 1572-Cardinal Wolsey, insulted by Gary's Inn recels, throws two men into prison. ?620-Pilgrims building first house at Plymouth. 1642-Sir Isaac Newton born. 1644-Christmcs kept as a fast day by English Puritans. 1647-Christmas celebration prohibited by Parliament. 1659-General Court of Massachusetts prohibits celebration on pen alty of fine. 1720-William Collins, poet. bom. 1773-Tea ship in New York tent back to England. 1775- Amold and Montgomery at siege of Quebec. 1776- Washington crossed the Dela ware to attack Trenton. 1777- Washington's army starved at Valley Forge. 1785-Shay's rebellion started in Massachusetts. 1837-Zachary Taylor defeated Semi noles near Big V/alcr Lok* in Florida. 1848-Col. Doniphan and American Volunteers defeated Mexi cans under Gen. Ponce de Leon at Brazito. 1851-Librcry of Congress in ruins from fire. 1860-Coldest Christmas in England. 1864-Union fleet and army attacked Fort Fisher, but withdrew. 1866-Yacht Henriella ended ocean race from New York to Cowes. 1868-President Johnson issued procla mation of genere1, and un conditional amnesty. 1871-Paris in distress wilh German army surrounding city. Just What He Meant. "Your toys are very pretty, but the ?rices are too high," objected the cus omer. "Why, look at that drum for $6.48. rou can't beat it at the price," pro ested the dealer. "I believe that is what I Intimated w^g*^" BS ^u???mm * * * * * * * * * * t f * + 't"!'1!"!? CHRISTIff GREETINGS Within two shori?^jeeks the Yuletide will be upon us, and for thf^Tta time Uty ??wriffiK wishes its hundreds of readers a very merry Christmas. May the good old year 1912 have a happy ending to all. m are low within BO swiftly The Bands that cotait th*i the upper glass, They slip away, these tit^ do they pass; They flit like shadows to md fro the longer we may live Bat, ah, they take no morafcrom us than they may freely give! * They take the song, mayhrp, bat leave the echoes sweet that hum-r The year is dying, but thor* is another year foc?me 'J ? Then why gaze at the'trickling sand with . heavy sigh and frown ? Turn it dawn! Turn it down! There are smiles and laughter watting wkers the other fays coma tram* ZwesfcC dawn! Tarn it < iere focemoV Another year is coming-now its hailing call we hear With golden smiles to pay us for each jewel of a tear, With clover nodding in the rain and dew upon ) the rose, With silver store of moonlight, and with ivory of snows, With lilting laughter for the lips that long time have been dumb- i * \. . The year is dying, but there is another year to come. ( Why hold the glass and watch the sand with gloomy sigh and frown? Turn it down! Turn it down! The melodies of joys to be already throb and itirum Turn it down! Turn it down! There's another year to come* Ii is the twilight of the year-the sands are { ? almost gone; j j Bat turn the glass and wait to see the glory of the dawn, And wait to hear the mellow chord that pubes with each word That will build up the coming song-the song \ you've never heard. Why brood above the days now gone, and seek to find the sum Of bitterness and happiness? Another year's to come. * So turn the glass and start anew the current golden brown Turn it down! Turn it down! There are light and laughter lurking where the other joys came from. Turn it down! Turn it down! There's another year to come. KRIS KRINGLE IF MODEL BY ( ft M%tm% gannett 3oba ?rcenle* Wblttkr fond oecr dd waters, read) oat freu ?a tafe, Oe choro fl totes, ftc clashing of bands* $sg bynoe foat were sm by fte werwnu , Wtb glad iubifcficn* Bring hope to foe nations! OK darli night is ending and dawn has begun* Rise, hope of tin ages, arise, in? fte sun, Jin speed) flow to music, an Deans beat as one! i Blow, bugles of battle, fte tnardKS of peace; Cast, west, north and souft, let fte long quarrel cease: Sing fte song of great joy mt fte angels began, Sing of glory to tied and of good will to man! n?; k, joining in chorus the beavens bend o'er us! Che dark night is ending and dawn has begun; Rise, hope of the ages, arise Bite fte sun, Jill speech flow to music, all hearts beatas one! "AS YE DID UNTO THEM" So he died, and they said unto him: "It is written against you that you heeded not the sorrow and the want of them that were stricken in poverty and suffered In illness and want." And he said: "That is unfair, for ail my life long I noted especially the suffering and want of the poor, and not a Christmas went by that I did not say over and over that I was sorry for them. No one gave them more sympathy than I, no one showed more commiseration for them. Why, lots of times I thought of them on cold winier nights, and said to my friends that it was too bad they had to endure pri vations." ? "That is correct," they said unto bim. "But it is written that you did not materialize your sympathy-you simply sympathized in words, nnd words are not eaten, nor are they worn, nor are they burned in stoves." So he was abashed, and stood silent for a space. Then he said meekly: "Ard I must not come in?" As to that, they did not answer, bat they said again unto him: "All those that you sympathized with are here, and now they will sym? pathlze with you." Wilbur D. Nesbit His Hard Work. Mrs. Wunder-Does anybody ever read those Christmas poems in tha papers? Mr. Wunder-Oh, yes. The editor md the proofreaders have to? 4 COMMON CLAY i. A. BEATY. HRST CHRISTMAS TREE HE conflict ot Christianity with/ heathenism t pro-? duced - no more dramatic Incidents than those, which! have come down) . to na, h?df-?flstory? and halt-myth, ont .of the forest? an?? snows of north ern, Europe, where the croea confronted} and prevailed: t against the ham mer of Thor. Oft en the crisis came at Christmas, which happened to cor respond with the Yuletide festival, Bt the time of the winter solstice. Longfellow has used one of these stories in "King Olaf's Christmas." Another, in which real religious fer vor and moral heroism play a part, is the story of the first Christmas tree. There stands at Altenbergen, lu northern Germany a statue erected in 1811 in honor of Saint Boniface; and the place of the statue is said to be the site of the first Christian church in north Germany. Boniface, who must not be confused with any of the nine popes who bore the name, was a Briton by birth, and his name was Wynfrith. Declining high ecclesiastical honor, he chose to be a missionary to the rude tribes of the German forests. Of these tribes Tacitus tells us; and we know that they were implacable in war and bloody in their worship, but that among their virtues was a markod purity of private life and love of home. Each year these people sacrificed to their gods. One of their holiest shrines was a great oak at Geismar. There they gathered at midnight at the winter solstice, and offered a fair lad as a sacrifice co call back the re treating sun. j Thus they were assembled at the Yuletide in the year 724. As the mid night approached, an old priest raised the hammer to strike down the child, when Boniface interposed a strong arm and an eager word. He told them of a child who was born seven hun dred years before, and how he show ed to men that they need offer no more bloody sacrifices. He told them of the love of God and the beauty of '?is service. Tue stern men heard and believed. Urged by the heroic mis sionary, they hewed down tho dark ".-.under-oak, thc scene of so mauy sacrifices. Thc legend says that when tho tree fell, it left a young fir growing bo 'ween the shattered branches, and un broken by their fall. Boniface told hem to take that tree to their bau* ?neting hall; to serve God with joy 'nd feasting; and to take for their ule tree this one, with roots un stained with blood, and with ever green foliage for a symbol of immor tality. If part of the story is myth, it is not ll myth; and it is surely a beautiful vay of explaining one of the most leautiful of Christmas customs.-i louth's Companion. ._i