The sun. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1937-1972, December 24, 1953, Image 25
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THURSDAY, DEC. 24, 1953
THE NEWBERRY SUN
PAGE SEVEN
Christmas Tree Fires
Should Be Prevented
Clemson—Preventable fire trag
edies take the lives of many
Americans each year during the
Christmas and New Year holiday
season, according to W. J. Bark
er, leader, Clemson Forestry Ex
tension Work.
He points out that one of the
greatest fire hazards during this
period is the ordinary Christmas
tree. “A Christmas tree catches
fire easily from an electric spark,
defective wiring, candles, or a 1
carelessly handled cigarette and
burns very rapidly,” he cautions.
“An average-sized Christmas tree
burns up completely in less than
two minutes,” he adds.
Mr. Barker calls attention to
the following recommendations of
the National Board of Fire Un
derwriters which, if observed,
should help reduce the death toll
and property losses from fires
originating at Christmas trees
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Shealy’s Laundry
1116 Purcell Street
Noel Preparations
Started In Norway
In Middle Of Year
Christmas just couldn’t help
being the event of events in Nor
way when grandmother was a
girl.
Without exaggeration, prepara
tion for Christmas actually began
six months before December 24.
Everything which was used—
food, clothing, household furnish
ings—was prepared in the home.
Even from hides raised on the
homestead.
The cloth for apparel, from the
skin out, was woven on hand
looms. Cobblers came to the house
and made the shoes; dressmakers
and tailors came. Everyone in
the household had to have a new
wardrobe for Christmas and, since
tailors and cobblers and dress
makers couldn’t be at all places
at once, it was necessary to get
an early start.
When the butchering was fin
ished—in October cy November—
the suet was melted and the can
dles were made. The children al
ways had a hand in making the
little ones for use on the Christ
mas tree. And they usually made
one which had three prongs which,
placed at the very top of the tree,
represented the three wise men.
For choosing and installing the
tree, this board suggests:
Choose a small tree instead of
a large one. A small tree can be
just as pretty and it is less of a
hazard.
Don’t set up the tree until just
a few days before Christmas, but
keep it outdoors until ready to
install.
Set up the tree in the coolest
part of the house, away from
radiators, heaters, or fireplaces.
Stand it in water to retard the
drying-out process.
Do not use cotton or paper for
decorating the tree unless the
decorations are flameproof.
Do not place electric trains
around the tree.
For safety in lighting the tree,
the board suggests:
Never use candles. Use electric
lighting sets only. Inspect every
socket and wire to make sure the
set is in good condition. Discard
’V'
HQLIDA Y
tASON
FENNELL’S
1505 Main Street
Newberry
By LYN CONNELLY
N OW THAT King Arthur Godfrey
is back at the helm of his
“Talent Scouts’* program on CBS
Radio, he is forecasting a banner
1953-54 season for the aspiring en
tertainers who find a national show
case in each Moriday night broad
cast . . . The performers on each
program are screened from among
thousands of applicants . . . They
represent the cream of the hope
fuls. and orchestra leader Archie
Bleyer sees to it that their special
musical arrangements are given
the thought and careful rehearsal
worthy of their professional back
grounds.
Winners, in addition to receiving
a cash prize, are presented on the
morning “Arthur Godfrey Time , •
and are introduced to producers of
stage, movies and television . . .
One of the present “little God
freys,’* songstress La Ann Simms,
first stepped into the radio spotlight
on ’Talent Scouts,’* and so did such
other top entertainers as Eddie
Fisher, Vic Damone, Rosemary
Clooney, Jane Valli, Wally Cox,
Denise Lor and a host of others.
P1~ATTER CHATTER
CAPITOL: — Another wonderful
little 45 RPM album-in-two* records
is “Dreamtime** by Axel Stordahl
. . . Sengs include such standard
favorites as “As Time Goes By,**
“That Old Feeling,” “Love Let
ters,” “Imagination,” “Getting
Sentimental,” “Blues Serenade,*'
“Easy to Remember” and others
. And a fine 33% long-playing
slbum-record has been released
featuring the popular Stan Kenton
. . Featured are “You and the
Night and the Music,” ‘Crazy
Rhythm,” “Reverie,” “April in
Paris,” “Autumn in New York,”
“How High the Moon,” etc.
What Is Christmas?
MRS. A. J. VAN EXEM
t
As the Christmas season ap
proaches our opportunity is at
hand to make it the most inspir
ing and beautiful of all, conscious
with a prayful hope for P-E-A-C-E
for all the world and imbued with
charity and good will for all.
Christmas is a thousand things. It
is a winter’s night and an angel
song—a giant star and a tiny
stable—a manger, and straw and
swaddling clothes. Christmas is a
chime, a boy soprano and silent
night, carolers and the first Noel
—the tinkle of a sleigh, of a coin
in a cup. It is Dickens, and
Scrooge and Tiny Tim. Christmas
is cards and ribbon—a trip home,
an open' latch. It’s giblets and
biscuits and cranberries and mince
meat pie. Christmas is cold and
warmth, forgiveness, and a smile,
Joy to the World. Christmas is a
prayer, a renewed plea for an
ancient hope for Peace on Earth,
Good Will toward Men.
sets with frayed wirjng. When
buying new sets, look for the Un
derwriters’ Laboratories, Inc., label
or marker.
Other safety suggestions in
clude:
Use flameproof or fireproof dec
orations of glass or metal to deco
rate your tree.
Remove gift wrappings prompt
ly after gifts have been opened.
Provide a switch some distance
from the tree for turning tree
lights off and on.
Don’t leave lights burning when
no one is in the house. From
time to time, inspect the tree and
see whether any of the needles
near the lights have started to turn
brown and if so change the po
sition of the lights.
When needles start falling, take
the tree down and discard it out
doors.
CHRISTMAS
By LILLIAN MITCHELL
S ANDRA sighed and slipped into
her white fur jacket.
Mabel laughed, her brown eyes
crinkling at the corners. “Oh, well,
maybe it isn’t as much fun going
out for New Year’s Eve with a
crowd of girls, Sandra. But, at
least, come Monday morning, we
shall have something to tell at
the office.”
“I know, I know,” agreed the
grey-eyed Sandra. “Only if I’d
guessed how very few men there
would be here in Emeryton, I’d
have chosen to stay in the City
where I do know men—from school
days. And I’d never in the world
have bought this fur jacket on the
so-called easy term basis.”
Arm in arm they left the board
ing house and hurribd towards the
bus stop where they were to rr*eet
two other girls. The air was fresh
and icy and Sandra pulled the col
lar of the white fur jacket closely
In the darkness, a small dog
crossed the sidewalk, nearly trip
ping them in the dragging leash.
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And best wishes for your happiness
WHITAKER FLOOR COVERING
Paul Whitaker
Melvin Attaway
Annie Caldwell
Helen Whitaker
Robert Bishop
“Come on,” Mabel said. “The
girls are waving that a bus is
coming, Sandra.”
“That must be the doggy in th«
window,” Mabel laughed.
“That doggy must have a good
home,” Sandra chimed in. “What
a coat! The golden fur drags on
the sidewalk, for a fact.”
The golden Pekingese looked up
at her with enormous eyes and
waited. Sandra stopped, looking
closely at the collar that stated,
"I’m Tang. I live at 452 Euclid
Avenue. Please take me home.”
Sandra glanced up at the nearby
house. “Well, Tang, you are homo.
Skip up those steps. Pup.”
“Come on. The girls are waving
that a bus is coming, Sandra,’*
Mabel said.
“I’ll meet you at the corner of
State and Broadway. I’m going to.
ring the bell and tell them their
dog is loose,” Sandra said.
“Oh, the dog will get inside, all
right. Come along!”
But Sandra stooped again,
swooped the tiny dog into her arms
and ran lightly up the greystone
steps. Her ring brought no one to
the door although she could clear
ly hear the soft chime when she
pressed the button. Opening the
door that was unlocked, she called
gently, “Here’s Tang. Anyone at
home?”
“Oh, come in, please,” answered
a silvery voice.
Sandra, still holding little Tang,
moved along the hallway to an
open doorway where a fireplace
glowed and an elderly woman sat
in a wheelchair. “Donny took him
walking, my dear, and Tang must
have got away, somehow.”
“Ah, well, he couldn’t have got
himself lost,” smiled Sandra. “He
was right outside your door.”
“Yes, but he chases cars. We
even had him trained by a pro
fessional training school and they
really trained him in everything
except car-chasing—and with his
leash dragging—” she sighed.
Then the ctoor burst open and a
tall, dark-haired young man rushed
in. “Grandma! Tang—why, you
little yellow rascal! You—”
“He’s not yellow—he’s golden!”
interrupted his grandmother. “And
I’ll wager you took him in that
convertible I got you for Christ
mas—and he jumped out—and this
is the blonde girl who lives down
at 666 on this same street—goes
home every night with the brown
haired girl at sixteen minutes after
five. My grandson, Donny.”
“How do you do,” murmured
Sandra, edging towards the door
way. “How in the world did you
ever guess I lived at 666?”
“The lady who keeps it is a
friend of mine, my dear. Me, I get
to sit in the front window all the
time because I fractured my hip
ten years ago.”
“Oh,” said Sandra. “I am to
meet some girls downtown—”
“How’s for me driving you down,
the busses will all be jammed at
this time—on New Year’s Eve—
and if your brown-haired girl friend
will double date, I’ve a classmate
home from ,the hospital—he’s an
intern where I am this year—”
“That’ll be nice—and maybe I’ll
see the four of you on TV when I
look on at midnight,” said his
grandmother. “Don’t let me keep
you,” she urged. She heard the
front door click and motioned to
the dog to jump into her lap.
“Well, ol’ pup, I never made a
better trip, down that hallway to
the front door—in double quick
time, too. That girl and Donny—
they couldn’t be lighter for each
other, eh?”
Quaint Rehearsal
Of Christ’s Birth
Found In Old Carol
“Auld Lang Syne” has become
such an integral part of our mod
ern New Year’s eve that no cele
bration, however gay, would be
complete without It.
The music sheets for those nos
talgic strains simply say “Robert
Burns—Scotch Air,” and Robert
Burns generally is supposed to
have written it after he had set
tled down on a farm and taken
himself a wife, following the
sweeping success in 1778 of the
second edition of his “Peoms.”
Well and good, but Auld Lang Syne
was not exclusively a Burns’ pro
duct, nor did he claim it to be.
In a letter to George Thomson, a
publisher, Burns explained:
“It is an old song of olden times,
which has never been in print. I
took it down from an old man’s
singing.”
Modern scholarship has discov
ered that Burns was wrong when
he told Thomson “Auld Lang
Syne” never had been in print.
Its refrain, at least, was printed
obscurely long before Burns heard
his “old man singing.”
Father, the orginal song often
has been credited to Sir Robert
Aytoun (1570-1638). Aytoun was
one of the earliest Scots to use
the lowland dialect as a literary
medium. Multitudes of Americans
decended from non-British stock
are perpetually mystified by this
dialect, nor does it seem to make
much sense in the standard Eng
lish translation.
Regardless of its orginal author
and orgin, it was Burns who gave
“Auld Lang Syne” its immortality.
And though the bells now welcome
the New Year with joyous peals,
symbolizing mankind’s hope for a
bright future, the nostalia of
“Auld Lang Syne” summaries an
adherent reluctance to leave the
security and friendship of the past
and embark upon a future which,
however promising, may not be
more pleasant. Thus, it remains a
part of the English speaking herit
age to
“Drink a cup of kindness yet
For Auld Lang Syne.”
MERRY CHRISTMAS
J. & HUTCHNSON GROCERY
Main Street
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There are many thoughts that go through the minds
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of each of us at Christmas ... impressions that remain
with us for days to reflect the happiness that prevails at
the Yuletide Season.
From Christmases past there are remembrances of
associations with loved ones and friends... of tokens of
esteem from those about us ... there have been Christ
mas festivities... family reunions... religious worship
.. . the joy of giving ... and the happiness that comes
from being remembered. These and many others are
- - T • . «
the impressions that make Christmas meaningful and
joyful.
It is the sincere wish of your City officials that you
may enjoy every one of these blessings this Holiday
Season ... that the Christmastide this year may be the
most impressive of them all. ■
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The City of Newberry
J. E. Wiseman P. D. Holloway Forrest Dickert C. A. Dufford
E. H. Layton C. E. Kinard
George W. Martin
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