The Daily Alaska empire. [volume], December 21, 1930, SECOND SECTION, Page 7, Image 15

About The Daily Alaska empire. [volume] (Juneau, Alaska) 1926-1964

Image provided by: Alaska State Library Historical Collections

                
The Truth about
Saint Nicho
. CALLISEN
I
|
A
For :'^iund: ..'.j of years children
‘everywhere have loved Santa Claus.
And ito wonder, for Santa Claus
' is a real person, as real as Capt.
John 4s>™th, General Grant, or
our oifn George Washington, only
his real name was Saint Nicholas.
Ages ago the Germans called him
#Sankt~.Nic-laus, which their chil
dren tiirned into Sankt Claus—the
Santa fciaus of today.
Saiui. Nicholas, the patron saint
'of chiMren, was a Greek who lived
in Asi$ Minor about sixteen hun
> dred ytars ago, and his life w'as so
;:potlei, and his good works so en
during^that he is even now beloved
in all Jlands. Many churches have
been i^adc for him.
. * The .parents of Saint Nicholas
were rtch and respected and lived
I in a ci|y called Patara at the south
west dhrner of Asia Minor. Long
/they dwelt together, childless, but
at length their prayers were an
». sweredj and the little son, Nicholas,
was sg$t to cheer their loneliness.
It is Said that from the very first
he wap the wonder of all friends
and neighbors, so different was he
from tij)e other children of his age
in the ^neighborhood.
At iwjhool he was one of the
brightest and best scholars, and so
4great was his love for the church.
and so anxious was he to serve
Christ, his master in all things,
that his father and mother will
ingly allowed him to study for the
priesthood. Thus it came that he
was sent to the home of his uncle.
Bi-hop Nicholas of Patara, under
whose loving care he was instruct
ed in all the wisdom of the church
as known in that day.
And now we come to the story of
how Nicholas, from tire kindness
of his heart, first brought gifts to
children while they lay asleep. It
so happened that in the city there
dwelt a very good and learned man
with his three young daughters.
This man had at one time been
very rich, but by taking bad ad
vice from one he thought his
friend, lost all his wealth. Now he
was bitterly poor, and as he was
too proud to beg, the family had
no longer a crust of bread to eat.
Good Nicholas heard of this and
his kind heart was greatly trou
bled. So he filled a purse with
gold and went by night to the poor
man’s house, though he had no
idea how he should deliver his gift
without being seen. The moon was
; shining brightly and by its light he
! saw a trellis which was built
I against the house for a grapevine
l to grow upon. This he climed, and
I peeping through the window saw |
the three hungry children asleep;
on their bed, their cheeks still wet
with tears. It made his heart ache
to see their distress and tears came
into his own eyes. Gently dropping
the purse of gold on the floor he
climbed again to the ground and
went on home.
The next morning the poor man
rejoiced greatly when his daugh
ters brought him the purse of gold,
and for a time the family’s troubles
were at an end.
When the money was at last all
spent. Nicholas again climbed the
trellis by night and dropped a sec
ond purse, and later a third. You
can fancy how astonished the poor
man was at this unexpected help,
and after the second purse he de
termined to watch for the generous
giver. This he did and the third
time caught Nicholas in the very
act. The poor man fell upon his
knees and thanked him with tears
for his act of mercy, but Nicholas
earnestly begged him never to tell
who had befriended him. Through
the children, however, the story be
came known in the town, and as
the kind-hearted Nicholas contin
ued to help the needy in secret,
giving away the entire wealth he
had inherited from his parents,
people soon learned to say when
| ever a gift had been left during
the night: “Saint Nicholas brought
it!”
Nicholas continued as he had be
gun, and devoted his whole life to
. the good of his fellow men. He j
I visited the sick, and helped the
needy both with money and good
advice.
Six hundred years later when j
King Vladimir of Russia came all
the way to Constantinople to be i
baptized, he heard the splendid j
story of Saint Nicholas. And from
the king and his Russian people
the story spread to the Lapps in
i the Far North. •» These simple folk
believed that the good saint lived
I at the North Pole amid the won
derful northern lights and that:
he came to them with gifts in a i
sled drawn by reindeer, the com
mon way of travel in their coun
try. So has the story come down
through the years to the children
of this day.
Yes, Indeed, St. Nicholas or San
ta Claus as he is better known,
was a good real person! A very
good and loving friend to all who
r.eeded him!
THE EVE OF EPIPHANY
The Eve cf Epiphany, or Twelfth
night (January 6). is to the Child
, ren of Rome what Christmas is to
| us.
WOULD NOT WRITE VERSES
_
Tennyson once refused an offer
| of one thousand pounds for a short
I set of verses for Christmas cards.
STMA
ELAND
by MARJORIE
BROOKS SHEPPARD
It was early evening and the air
was frosty in t'-.e forest. The full
moon shed a white light over every
thing and the gay little frost-stars
twinkled on every bush.
Only the trees seemed alive;
they stood sentinel-like, quiet
guardsmen. The huge out-of
ihape spruce on the right seemed
to have the authority. To him the
others all looked for ^wisdom. He
had seen many, many winters come
and go, he had been buffeted by
the great North Wind until he was
twisted and bent, he had felt the
cold strike so deeply into his heart
that he groaned every time a
breeze swayed his branches. But
still he survived, the greatest, most
powerful of the trees there.
Suddenly the winter silence was
broken as a light wind rustled
through the forest and the old
tree shook himself awake. With
! the sound all the other trees bent
I toward him alertly. "Today,’’ said
; the old tree solemnly, "is the first
j day of December.”
The pine trees, both big and
I small, sighed in unison. Neither
December nor any other month
meant anything special to them.
But the half-grown spruces were
attentive at once. They were wise
in the ways of the forest and they
knew that the oldest spruce could
be relied upon to keep in touch
with the seasons. They knew per
fectly well what his announcement
ment and they waved their branch
es about merrily. Only the baby
trees failed to understand and join
in the glee with the others. Even
the very beautiful, perfectly shaped
large trees were moved to delighted
expectancy.
"The first day of Deceihber,” re
peated the very littlest baby spruce,
"What does that mean?”
“Sh,” cautioned the pines and
the other trees nodded warningly.
It did not do to interrupt when the
old spruce spoke.
But the old spruce was kind, he
did not mind a bit. "It means,” he j
said, “that exactly twenty-five days;
from today is Christmas.”
“Christmas?” again queried the
littlest baby spruce, "What is
that?”
Patiently the old spruce replied:
-Listen, and I’ll tell you the story. !
In nearly all the Christian coun
tries of the world, one of the sym
bols of this day called Christmas
| is the Christmastree. Now this
Christmas tree is a plain ever
green tree, just like one of us, and
j on it are hung brightly colored or
’ naments, sparkling garlands and
| gayly wrapped gifts. So much hap
i piness and peace does this tree
bring that to be chosen for this
purpose, whether it be for the rich
est or humblest home, is indeed a
great honor.
"Sometime soon, almost any day
nowr, men will come into the for
est and picking out the best will
take them. Then the adventure
begins. First the chosen ones will
be tightly and very carefully rolled
up and the branches tied to keep
them from getting broken, and then
they will be sent many, many
miles away, probably to a great
city. In that city they will be just
as carefully unrolled and then stood
up so that people may see.
"On Christmas eve they are set
up in the homes of those who have
chosen them and late that night
the loving hands of one who loves
the children will decorate them.’'
The pine trees sighed sorrow
fully. "They never choose^ us," they
said.
“No; nor us," whispered the
birches sadly.
Tire half-grown spruces and firs
drew themselves up proudly. "We
are pretty sure to be taken," said
the most graceful of these. "Look
at us, all our branches are gradu
ated so that they make a nice point
on which to place a star. We all
have straight trunks, too. We’ll be
taken, that’s sure.”
The littlest baby spruce had an
other question to ask the old tree,
one about which he was not very
clear. "Why weren't you ever tak
en?” he said.
"Sh!" warned the tall pines once
more. They were very much afraid
that the feelings of the old tree
| might be hurt.
j "Because," answered the old tree
; sadly, "I wasn't beautiful enough.
I’ve never been straight like the
rest of you and who would want
| a gnarled old thing like me to dress
with bright ornaments? But I don’t
\ mind. I know there are a great
j.n ■■inn i ii ii mi in n mi ii
iiiiiiiiin
I many others to do their share
j toward spreading happiness so I
am content to stay in the forest."
The littlest baby spruce was cl
ient and all of a sudden he look
ed up startled, as the big fir tow
ering above his head began to
speak. "I, too, may go this season,”
ho said with pride, now that com
munity Christmas trees are get
ting so popular; even ones as big
as I am get a chance.”
"Oh, my, eh. my!" wailed the j
littlest baby spruce. "Suppose I'm;
not chosen! Maybe they won’t want
such tiny ones!”
"Come now, never mind, don’t
worry,” soothed the old tree. "The
houses are so small nowadays that
a great many people have to have
table Christmas trees. Perhaps you
will be one of those. But I think
we've talked enough ior now. Let
us all go to sleep, it’s getting
late. Tomorrow they may come to
look us over and we must look our
best.”
So perfect silence once more fell
over Christmas Tree Land. The
full moon, now low on the horizon,
shed a light over everything and
the gay little frost-stars still twin
kled on every bush. Everything was
in readiness and waiting for Christ
mas.
JIM ARRIVES BY PLANE,
IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS
It was Christmas eve. The Gar
ner home radiated the spirit and
happiness of Christmas. Soft lights
filled the rooms; h o 11 y * wreaths
hung in the windows, and a great
fire was blazing on the hearth.
There was a family reunion; the
children were all there now except
Jim, and they were looking for him
at any moment.
Then the telephone rang and
Jim’s voice came over long dis
tance. He had taken a later train
and had missed connections at Chi
cago—there was no way of getting
there tonight. He expressed the
deepest regrets; he had thought
there was plenty of time to pick I
up a few last-minute gifts between
trains.
Why, they just woud be lost with
out Jim, they were all saying pres
ently; sunny, careless Jim, who
always was the life of the crowd.
And he would miss the very best
part of Christmas with them. It
was just too bad this had to hap
pen. But Jim, dear old Jim, always
| would be careless.
1 Then the telephone rang again,
and they found he would be with
them after all. A passenger plane
was leaving Chicago and he would
be home in two hours. The new
mode of travel would bring Jim in
plenty of time to make their
Christmas reunion complete.—
; Katherine Edelman.
i hi i in..... .............. ■ 1111111111
There is no finer harmony
than to he in tune with
one’s fellowman
That is why we take , real
pleasure in wishing all our
friends and customers a
I.* . r
Merry. Merry
Ctifistmas
and a
£ i
Happy Prosperous
New Year
Jf. B. Burford 8 Co.
‘Our doorstep is. worn by
satisfied customers”
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BREETItHB
Let’s All Tune In!
X CHRISTMAS TIME is the time of all the
year where everyone of us should pack up
, the petty worries and rattles of family skele
. tons and lay them away to be forgotten in
celebrating the greatest event in all the his- ,
tory.of struggling humanity.
We hope the full significance of the day
may fill you with all the joy of living and
better enable you to wrest happiness and
prosperity from the future.
PACIFIC COAST COAL CO.
Am
PACIFIC COAST CEMENT CO.
,L J—~air
» wV>«» .i
> We’re glad indeed to be alive this *
* CHRISTMAS SEASON and to 4
know so many good people id '
whom we wish
A
Merry, Merry Christmas
AND
Happy, Prosperous
New Year
THE FIRST NATIONAL BANK
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