University of South Carolina Libraries
; i THE ORIGIN OF OUR CHRISTMAS CUSTOMS | We are apt, most of mk, 4? ?Lwme the customs aad traditions of *>?<? Yule-tide vUh Um? feeling that they had their birth with the firm of ftbe greatest festivaJs of t'hrifitrncfcftn. The Christmas tree, the -gift giving, fbe candles, the holly and the ntatlmee have become ?0 Identified with onr celebration of Christmas tkeS. they seem an Inherent and peculini to it as the radiant rttmts to the .Star of the Nativity. And yet it is to antiquity and heathen dum that we owe the cub toniH we observe, the stork phrases we uttor and even the mince pie with out which do Christmas dinner is complete. The Germans, the Bean dinavlans, t ti?- .lews (he Romans, the -tioths ;uid the Saxons have all contri buted to make our Christmas festival. "Merry Christmas!" It Ik on our lips from the stroke of twelve that ends the vigil of Christmas eve ontll the laut candle has burned out on CbrlBtmas night. If we think of It at alt we accept "merry" as meaning lively, uprightly and gleesome and wonder n bit perhaps at its preference. As a matter of fact When 'he Knglish first used the old Saxon w< rd In this connection, spelling It "merrie,** it meant simply pleasant und agreeable, but; we cling to ti In spite of its changed character. The day before Christmas we bring into the house a great fir tree that is made the center of the festivities. H 1b an old German legend that has pro vided uk with this pretty custom. Saint 'Vllfrld. the tale runs, was one day cutting down one of the sacred oaks of the Druids. Presently a great wlm. bCt^o? it and it fell, ?|>Ut in four pieces. IJehind it Saint Wilfrid saw a young fir tree standing staunch and unharmed, pointing a green spire to the heavens. He therenpon pro claimed It a holy tree and the tree of the Christ child because it.s leaves pointed heavenward. He a^ked the people to gather about it in their own homes, where it should shelter noth ing but loving gifts. Ou Christmas eve we illuminate the tree with many flickering candles?Uli. less we prefer safety to sentiment, when we make use of the electric lighted devices. . Oue may choose among several 'picturesque accounts Of the^'gln 0f this practice. In me rfjjtfval times when the forests Beemed peopled with none but sacred trees, there was a tradition of particular holiness being invested ia an illuml nated tree. Then the ancient Jews held a FeaKt of Light about Chritffcnias time In which -candles were an impor tant feature, ho that their use may oddly enough have been thus adopted by the Christians. The Huge Yule candle signified the coming of the light into the world. The most beauti ful idea is that our use of candles is derived from the fact that probably when Christ was horn twinkling i lights were burning in every house. The holly and mistletoe Indispens able for holiday decoration were orig inally identified with pa.ian festivals. .There is a tradition that holly the hush in which Jehovah appeared to Moses. The mistletoe was an object of great veneration to the Druids, nl tiiought only when .1 grew ur&r/ uu oak tree I'ho propriety of Rinsing unier the mistletoe is a relic of an old Scandinavian myth. It seems that Holder the At olio of the North, was hated bv one Loki because "every th'ng that springs from flro, air. earth and water" hnu given promise not to hurt the formed n.nndsome gentleman "Whoever it was had thus deereed all things of the earth and sea. had sonie liow neglected to mention the master to the insignificant mistletoe. So I.oki straightway m.ide an arrow of mistletoe, and being an unprincipled chap induced blind Hoder to slioot Haider. Little good it did him. how ever, for the gods restored Haider to life at once and presented the mistle toe to the Goddess of Love to keep. Everyone who passed under it received a kiss to show that it was the emblem of love, and not death. The popularity of mistletoe was unabated for centu ries, but one old writer says: "Mistle toe wan abandoned In the Christmas decking of churches together with kissing at the services, because both were found to set the young ladies and young men to a-reading of the mar riage service." And dear old Santa t'iaus, or Saiat Nicholas, or Kris Kringle, as Jlou 1 fer?what delightful myV?a from an ? ioulty have ^: <**??;.'<.ed him wun hi.s re'ln. mt Ms whisK^rs and p".ck of toys! The Scandinavian legend re lates the coming of Odin, the winter god, who visited earth at the time of the Winter Solstice or Feast. Odin rode a white honse and preceded by wolves and ravens was supposed to lead an army of souls that had died HANTme a rhyme of Christmas ? Sind me a jovial sondrr And tnough it is filled with _ laughter, t Let it be pure and strong Sind of the hearts brimmed over wth the story of the day? Of the echo of childish voices That will not die away.? Of the blare of the tasseled budle, And the timeless clatter and heat Of the drum that throbs to muster Squadrons of scampering feet. But,C),let your voice fall fainter, Till, blent with a minor tone, "?bu temper your song with the beauty Of the pity Christ hath shown, And sind one verse for the voiceless; Andyet, ere the song be done, A verse for nie ears that hear not. And a verse for the sightless one. For though it be time for singing A merry Christmas ?lee. Let a low, sweetvoice or pathos Run through the melody/ JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY. during the year. As Christianity tri umphed it was only over the unbap- j tized that he was thought to have power, and his army came to be com posed only of the souls of children to whom he became a friend. Eventually he was Baid to bring the toys and gifts to the children on earth. We are sat isfied now to tell the children/that he \ copi-'- down the chinanoy tVth his pack of gifts and disappears without being beheld by mortal eye. In a little Mo ravian village in Emaus, Pennsylvania which is the only place in this country where the cu?tom is thus observed. St. Nicholas, or Peltznichel, is yearly impersonated by some villages, and visits every household on Christmas eve to distribute gifts. The mince pie is a survival of the immense pies that the early (Chris tians used to make in the form of a cradle or manger. After several cen turies the pies were mace s nailer in I size, hut were still made to carry out the idea of the manger. P. a sort of coffin shape. Suved i> '?i Awful Dentil. How an appalling calamity in his i family wa.i preve.it?'d is told hy A. I). McDonald, of Fayetteville, N. C. lt. F. D. No. 8, "My sister had consumption," he writes, "she was very thin and pale had no appetite and seemed to grow weaker every day, as all remedies fail ed, till Dr. King's New Discovery was tried, and so completely cured her. that she has not been troubled \.Ith a cough since. Its the best medicine I ever saw or heard of." For coughs, colds, lagrippe, asthma, croup, hem orrhage, all bronlchial troubles. It has no equal, 50c, $1.00. Trial bottle free. Guaranteed by I>aurens Drug Co. and Palmetto Drug Co. 'TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS I ?t?eMtMMUMMHIHHMtlMtMtjitett?e*>IMH8t<i Everybody, so to speak, knows "Twas the night before Christinas, when all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse." Indeed. "The Night Be fore Christinas"?or "A Visit from St. Nicholas," as It was originally known?has become such a part of our literature and tradition that It seldom occurs to peop*..* that it ever had nn author at all. It is a classic which simply began, so to speak, like ! Mother C?oose. it was written, as a matter of fact, by an American gentleman, seventy eight years ago. in a fine old New York mansion, with jttHt Hie sort of wide fireplace which the St. Nicholas of the poem might like to visit. It was written by this gentleman for his own children, and might never have leached the millions of other children who have since enjoyed it had it not been for the habit young ladies had in those days of keeping albums In which they wrote down sentiments which pleased them. Clement Clarke Moore, the author of our poem was the grandson of Major Clarke, his father being the Right Rev. Benjamin Moore, second Bishop of New York. Clement was born at Chelsea. July 1;'., 1781. The1 house in which he was later to write his poem stood on the summit of a high hill, since leveled, south of the present Twenty-third Street and just west of Ninth Avenue. Moore held the chair in Hebrew and Greek at the General Theological Seminary. New York, from IS21 until 1850. was professor emeritus until his death in lstl", and wrote the first Hebrew lexicon published in Americn. When his lectures were over, Moore found his chief delight in composing verses for his children. He had in. stilled in them an unusual fondness for poetry, and they round in their father's poems, written with a keen understanding of their childish likes and dislikes, their great happiness. Sometimes the longer poems had a hidden little moral lesson, but princi pally they were verses rollicking with fun. As a Christmas present tor his chil dren, in the winter of 1822, Moore wrote the poem which was to become one of the happiest possessions of the children of the world, never dream ing that any children but his own would ever see the lines. In the big hoiiHe standing on the hill that slope: to the Hudson there- wero great flt'O places, where stockings were hung on Christmas Eve, and the immens ? lawn, a waste of whito snow, was an appropriate setting for the poem. Among the friends of the Mooroa was the family of Rev. Dr. David Butler, at that time rector of Hi Paul's Church In the city of Troy Shortly after Christmas, while tb ) eldest daughter of Dr. Hutler was vis iting at Chelsea, one of Clemen.'. Moore's little daughters read her th > poem. Miss Butler at once copies the verses In her album. Fhe wm ? so much Impressed with them, how ever, that just before Christmas of the next year, 182:5, she sent a copv to the editor of the Troy "Sentinel ' who published them on December 2??. with mi editorial note and a quo in T woodcut of St. Nick. Other news papers copied the poem. It spread from paper to paper, from city to city, it was reprinted in the magazine:! then in school readers. Special od? - tlons of the poem wero published, ?I lustrated by famous children's a. - tlsts. It was translated into many languages One may hear it recit??,f by German school-children in theii native tongue, and by other children, in other languages. Dr. Moore, although bis name did not appear, was somewhat displeased at the publication of the poem. lc> was extremely modest, and he fel . that the verses had little merit sav? ?s verses for children. It was a Ion, time before he saw that just in th.)*: fact lay its claim to Immortality, H<;t. Hebrew lexicon and other scholar" . writings are known to very few. Tli ? little poem written for his children ?.?? I possessed by all the world whe? 3 Christmas is celebrated. ?From the Christmas Collier's. Wants to Help Come One For thirty years J. F. Boyor, of Fer tile. Mo., needed help and couldn find it. That's why he wants to help some one now. Suffering so long him ? self he feels for all distress fro<u backache, uervousness, loss of appe tite, lassitude and kidney disorde. ' He shows that Electric Bitters work wonders for such troubles. "Five bo? tles," he writes, "wholly cured me an t now I am well and hearty.' It's aln. positively guaranteed for Liver Trou bles. Dyspepsia. Blood Disorders, F-. male Complaints and Malaria. Tp^ them. GOc at Laurens Drug Co. and' Palmetto Drug Co. IP" We have just received at Mountville ONE CAR LOAD OF FINE i ui cc, l uui auu live i cai 3 viu Every single animal is in tip top shape and ready for the farm. Wc expect to sell them all at Mountville within the Next Pew Days, so the earlier you come the better stock you will find. If will pay you to see me before buying or 1 Hiding Mules. N. Simmons .8 6 Mountville, S. C. g; p