Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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i i \ r - « •4 * * Thursday, December 20, 1951 / THE CLINTON CHRONICLE Ir Page Seven A little package ••• ••• HAPPY NEW YEAR ! TO OUR EMPLOYEES ••• and ••• ■+- TO EVERYONE EVERYWHERE ., . xr y- Hallmark * ' Manufacturing Corp. We are grateful for your thoughtfulness and friend ships and trust we may have the pleasure of continuing to serve you in the future. We pledge our best. CERTIFIED DRY GLEANING through the years IT’S LITTLE WONDER that Saint * Nick is especially generous to the American people. History proves that the Americans have done a lot for Saint Nickt They have given him a new name, a new face and figure, and a new means of transportation. The original European version of Saint Nick pictured him as a tall angular man who rode on a bony gray mare. Both the horse and Saint Nick looked as if they hadn't had a good meal in some time. * The early English settlers in this country started giving Saint Nicholas his "New Look." The Eng* lish children adopted the legendary Christmas figure from the Dutch, but the English children ha<L trou ble pronouncing "Saint Nickolous.” Somehow the name changed to “Santa Kalouf,” and finally it was corrupted to "Santa Claus.” - However, this was only the be ginning. In 1809 Washington Irving, in his "Knickerbocker’s History of New York," wrote of the Saint as the guardian of New York City. Irving described Saint Nick as a jolly fellow with a broad-brimmed hat and huge breechea. He taught Saint Nick to smoke ^a long pipe, and, in the etory, replaced his shuffling hay-burner with a trim wagon. A short time later, Saint Nicholas’ transportation was aided by Clement Moore in his famous poem, "The Visit from Saint Nicholas,’’ written in 1882. Moore, a professor of divinity in a New York theolog ical seminary, gave Saint Nick a sleigh, twinkling eyes, cheeks like roses, nose like a cherry, and a round little beUy. Today’s Santa Claus is by no means streamlined, but he is a far cry from the lean, ascetic, som berly dressed fallow who, for cen turies, on Christmas Eve., guided his mare through the streets of Europe. — Cedars of oCehanon M WM Prot.ctJ Cij l^efigion, oCaw On a shelf-like plateau, 600 feet above the ' Mediterranean, the world’s oldest Christmas trees stand where they have stood for centuries. The cedars of Lebanon, 400 of them, are protected by religion and law from harm at the hands of either the Moslems or the Maronite Christians. * The magnificent trees “that sing of the nativity" were venerated as monarchs among trees long before Judah had her first king. Some of them have a girth of 40 feet and a branch circumference of 300. In the days of the conquerors thousands of conscripted Hebrew workers were sent into the Leba- nons to take to Jerusalem “cedar trees without number”; the result of one of the first building contracts, between Hiram of Phoenecia and King Solomon. Today, however, the trees are pro tected by law and the department of agriculture of the government sponsors the planting of seedlings, so that the giant cedars will grow forever. St Francis Made First Crib in Cave St. Francis of Assisi is believed to have originated the custom of displaying the Christ Child in a crib at Christmas time. ” He is reported once to have said to one of his followers: “I wish to celebrate holy Christmas night with you. In the woods near the clois ter you will find a cave where we shall arrange a manger filled with hay. We shall have an ox and an ass just as at Bethlehem. T wish to see how poor and miserable the Infant Saviour became for us. So at midnight, in the small Ital ian village of Garcia, in the year 1200, St. Francis and his followers celebrated mass at the cave and sang hymns in honor of the Christ Child. AM AGE-OLD STOAT BETOUt •.. "She brought forth her flrft- bera Baa, aad wrapped bias La swaddfia^lothu, aad laid hi a maanr." from... \ FIRM Hi, neighbor! Here's just o friendly little message to you at Christmas from <*■ <* a concern that deeply ap preciates your thoughtful consideration in the past. HAMILTON’S, Jewelers A Credit To South Carolina /' MERRY CHRISTMAS C-W-S Guano Company ••‘T • S