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l l J The Chronide Strives To Be A Clean News paper, Complete, Newsy and Reliable fflltnlnn Clfrnnttk If Too Don’t Read The Chrenide You Don’t Get the News Volume LII Clinton; S. C., Thuraday, December 20. 1951 Number 51 Hurry - Last Call For Your Christinas Stopping! Make Clinton Your Shopping Center President Danforth of the Carols Association probably is the oldest ac tive member He is out with a group of singers each Christmas Eve and has been, almost since the prgoram started. His spedal love was sing ing in hospitals, old folks’ homes and other institutions, but the carolers rarely visit these places any more. The reason? Caroling has become so popular that the staffs and in mates of most institutions have formed their own singing groups and do their own Yuletide serenading. Even the nurses in virtually every St. Louis hospital now ring carols to their patients on Christmas Eve. Carol singing actually got its start as a community project in 64. Louis in 1909. In that year, a group of neighbors got together and decided to serenade their friends with the old hymns. By the next year the idea had caught on in other neigh borhoods and the singers were get ting unsolicited donations. The next year, 1911, the carolers organized in formally and decided to turn over all donations to the Children’s Aid So ciety. By 1924, the carol singers had be come so numerous that It was neces sary to form a central organization to direct the project. The St. Louis Christmas Carols Association, a non profit organization with a directorate of civic leaders, was the result. For some years after the Carols Association was formed, St. Louis ans hoped that citizens in other com munities would follow their example and thus start a nationwide revival of the old English custom of ringing the old hymns at Christinas. A few cities did sponsor halfhearted at tempts at city-wide caroling proj ects, but none were successful by St. Louis standards. More than 100 cities from coast- to-coast nerw have started city-wide caroling programs patterned after the St. Louis project. Another 2000 communities have some kind of car ol singing organizations. The goal is to organize large-scale caroling in every city. ST. LOUIS - WHERE THE HERALD ANGELS SING By JACK MAGUIRE in Kiwanis Magazine Caroling Is Important in This City Where 50,000 People Herald the Coming of Christmas by Singing to Their Neighbors. Busi nessmen and Laborers Cooperate to Spread Yuletide Cheer, and Have a Wonderful Time Doing It. An St. Louis this December 24, a nrotley choir of 50,000 street singers again will refute the fable that big cities are cold and heartless places even on Christmas Eve-. '‘The singers are members of the St. Louis Christmas Carols Associa tion, a community project started some of the small-town simplicity of nearly forty years ago to bring back Christmas to America’s -eighth larg est city. This year, 3000 groups of a dozen or so amateur singers will visit every block in St. Louis and its sprawling subuibs to carol greetings to their neighbors. It (will be the na tion’s largest musical observance of Christmas.* Businessmen and housewives join with kindergarten tots and teenagers in the cooperative vocal effort that has made St. Louis the carols capital of America. Not since a group of neighbors decided to revive the old custom of carol singing in 1911 have the a cappella choristers missed a single Christnfu. as Eve. Today, they are a St. Loiua tradition. Carol singing rivals even the famed Veiled Prophet Parade and Ball as the biggest event on St. Louis annual calendar of activities. While the latter brings out carnival- loving thousands for a parade that is reminiscent of Mardi Gras, its pompous splendor doesn't touch the city’s heart like the simple melodies of the carolers. Not only do St. Louisans like car oling for its own sake, but they point to the program as the city’s best ex ample Otf democracy at work. The ringers disregard such things as creed, color and bank account. Mil lionaire William H. Danforth, the eighty-one-year old ‘ martufacturet who has headed the Carols Associa tion for twenty-seven yeers, may sing with a group that include*- a six-year-old youngster from the shuns. Under their peaker hoods and red capes the, carolers ehjoy :ireal equality. They are just a group of neighbors wishing their friends a merry Christmas in song. , . Official notice that the time has come for the singers to begin their appointed rounds is given by Mayor Joseph M. Dent. He opens Christ mas Caroling Week by inviting a group of carolers to his office for a brief serenade. Then the singers - HOUSEHOLD HINTS Use both pumpkin and squash for making pies for dessert. Both of them take to a trimming of whipped cream, a dusitng or shav ing of maple sugar and then a sprinkling of toasted nuts—wal nuts, pecans, or almonds. Make your menus more interest ing with seasonal food*. With them you can have flavor and color ap peal,' variety and economy. . start a volunteer tour of duty that carries the melodic Christmas spirit tc every public spot in St. Louis. * During the week preceding De cember 24, groups of debutantes— each selected for her looks and vocal talents—visit hotel lobbies and res taurants, department store tea rooms and even the sacrosanct main read ing room of the public library. Weary travelers, rushing home for Christmas via the Union Station and the municipal airport, are cheered by the carolers in the interlude be tween trains and planes. But it is on Christmas Eve night that St. Louisans gather their fam ilies early to light the candle in the window that is the traditional invi tation to the carolers to stop. On this night, more than six times as many singers as there are people in the “little town of Bethlehem” which inspired the project, are out in force. From the slums that flank the busi ness district to the fashionable es tates in the wealth .suburb of Ladue, the singing groups stop at every home where a light in the window beckons. Organizing and mapping this mon umental crusade is the task of a soft- spoken, youthful - looking grand- mother, Mrs. Albert H. Toma. As the veteran executive secretary of Car ols Association, it is her job to en list at least 60,000 voices of every age and neighborhood in the city, mold them into well-trained singing groups and see to it that they carry out their assignments. As the “traffic manager for the Christmas spirit”—a title given her by St. Louis newspapers—Mrs. Toma and her stag begin their work in October. (First they induce schools, churches, fraternal groups and clubs tq form singing groups. Then song books containing all of the old car ols are distributed, together with the red hooded capes, the official Car ols Association insignia, a n\ap of the route to be covered and collection cans. The collection cans help make thousands of St. Louis’ handicapped and underprivileged children happy not only on Christmas but through out the year. While the carolers nev er solicit money, they do accept con tributions. This year they expect to pick up more than $25,000 in nick els, dimes and quarters—money that will go to some forty children’s char ities. The more than $360,000 collected since 1924 has bought milk for un dernourished children, braces and crutches for the lame, and dental work and eye glasses for others. It also has provided healthful weeks at summer camp in hudnrads of city boys and girls whoae parents could not afford to send them. With the ringing of the Christinas Bells, the lighting of Christmas Candles and in the glor ious spirit of the season, it is with all sincerity that your city officials extend to you this Christ mas remembrance with the wish that your Hol idays will be filled with happiness, rich in the joys of home and family and the friendships of those about you. To each of you, a V< Christmas and a Happy and Prosperot: I New Year. Ml CITY of CLINTON JOE P. TERRY, Mayor W. B. OWENS, City Clerk St Treasurer MRS. ARTHUR HOWARD, Amtotant BOARD OF ALDERMEN: Hugh C. Ray, S. A. Pitt*, Sr., W. M. McMillan, W. M. Walker, Woodrew L. Wilson, AND ALL CITY EMPLOYEES " •' ~ • \ Gratae