University of South Carolina Libraries
lfe v THURSDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1959 THE NEWBERRY SUN, NEWBERRY, SOUTH CAROLINA SECTION B—PAGE SEVEN Outdoor Decorations Are Very Popular Decorating outdoor trees and shrubbery with brightly-colored lights is becoming more and more an American tradition, but while outdoor lighting is attractive and colorful, it is also dangerous and may cause damage to trees and greenery. Bulbs of 15 wattage are suffici ent for use in outdoor lighting ar rangements. Electrical fixtures should be of the weatherproof va riety, specally designed for out door use and the lights should always be placed so that they do not touch the needles. Spruce, pines and firs, if they are not too large, are ideal for outdoor Yuletide lighting dsplays, although other varieties such as hemlock, yew, boxwood and abor- vitae are more sensitive to heat and easily scorched if caution is not used. *>>' 5? ROYAL CLEANERS “BEAUTIFUL DRY CLEANING” Porcupine Balls for Christmas Making porcupine balls for Christmas decorating can be ^n. Here’s what you need: bottle corks, 8- to 10-inch lengths of string, a darning needle, pointed cocktail tooth picks, a waxed lunch bag, a half-pint of white paint and artificial snowflakes. First, draw the string through the cork with the nee dle and tie it around the cork, niahing a hook. Then insert the toothpicks into the cork so rhot all sides are covered, giv ing a porcupine effect. Drop M’e hall into a large waxed iuo h bag containing paint and iaat- until the ball is well covered with paint. ^hake the drippings off the h i.’ and remove from the bag. iiCt set for a few minutes be- to-e sprinkling w|th snow or •r. 1107 Caldwell Street Newberry Put the balls in a safe place to dry—allowing at least 18 to ‘M hours. + T / 1 + A * 1 ilL May the magical wonder of AN the first Christmas be renewed in all our hearts! v.v M Newberry County Bank Joe M. Roberts, Executive Vice-President and Cashier NEWBERRY BRANCH JOANNA BRANCH L. D. Long George Rodelsperger Clyde Tindall, Manager Martha Ann Kinard Mollie Dowd Mrs. Dick Vaughan Frances Evans Joan Bobb Science Proved Our Earth Is Centuries Old How old is this earth of ours? Modern researchers, using the principle of radioactivity to “date” wood samples, have prov en it is at least 4,600 years old. Atomic scientists expect to ex tend their measurements beyond 20,000 years, long before the dawn of history. According to Jewish dogma and tradition, the Day of Creation antedated the birth of Christ ap proximately 3,761 years. Thus, the Jewish calendar, which the Jews adopted during the 15th century, reads 5720 in relation to 1959 A. D. Use of the notation A. D. (in the year of our Lord) was inaug urated by Charles in Of Ger many, who affixed the symbolism to the years erf his reign in 879. The system of retroactively dat ing the years prior to the Sav iour’s birth and dedicating the succeeding years to His greater Glory was invented, along with the Christian era, by a monk about 532 A. D. The Christian era begins on January 1 in the mid dle of the fourth year of the 164th Olympiad, the 753rd year of the building of Rome and in 4714 of the Julian Period. The Julian period, invented by Joseph Scaliger, about 1583 A. D., was devised by multiplying the lunar cycle 19, solar cycle 28, and the Roman indiction 15. The Egyptians devised a calen dar about 4,000 B. C. and using the Mundane era of Alexander, estimated the “beginning” to be 5502 B. C. THERE HE IS . . . Many a youngster would like nothing better than to catch Santa Claus coming down the chimney. About Mistletoe One cannot help but wonder how mistletoe came to be the “kissing plant.” The mistletoe is a parasite, or “thief” which attaches to a host tree and under certain circumstances will sap the life out of & healthy, sturdy tree. Mistletoe usually grows on oaks, mostly in the top branch es. The seeds are probably scattered by birds. Who Really Sent That Very First Christmas Card? What is generaDy conceded to ie the first card specifically de signed as a Christmas greeting— •the card designed in England by J. Horsley for Sir Henry Cole (in 1843)—did not meet with an en thusiastic reception. Sent to his personal friends, Cole’s card had side panels which depicted the 'ceding of the hungry and the clothing of the naked. This was veil and good. The objections to ;he card arose from the illustra tion in the central panel—a scene n which a middle-class English family raised their wine glasses to toast an absent friend (obvious- y the recipient of the card). The scene so aroused temperance zea- ,ots that Cole never authored an other card. Still Looking Actually the search for the “first” Christmas card is still go ing on. Although it bore no spe cific greeting, the New York His torical Society, some 30 years be fore the Horsley-Cole card, sent to members and friends of the society a woodcut of St. Nicholas, which bore a Christmas poem in both Dutch and English. In 1932, Carl W. Drepperd dis covered in a Pennsylvania attic a “broadsheet” issued about 1842 by John M. Wolff, Philadelphia print er. The sheet, 10 inches by 15 inches, featured a reproduction of C. C. Moore’s “The Visit of St. Nicholas” and as well carried the greeting, “A Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year.” The first commercial venture into the Christmas card business was made in 1863 when an Eng lish firm hired Punch cartoonist C. H. Bennett to illustrate a se ries of cards which were sold in that year as “Christmas compli mentary stationery.” good in the worla, springs from the great message of love and peace that Christ first spoke. MR. AND MRS. TOM LEWIS AND SON, TOMMY Boundary Street Extn. ri M In the spirit of friendship and good will, we extend sincere washes that your Christmas will be bright with the w r armth of the Holiday Season. MOLLOHON PLANT and OAKLAND PLANT NEWBERRY, SOUTH CAROLINA