The midland journal., December 11, 1931, Image 7

About The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947

Image provided by: University of Maryland, College Park, MD

                
It Christmas is ,rf I
I
By LOUISE M. COMSTOCK
“Merry, Merry Christmas everywhere:
Cheerily It rlngeth on the airl
y > Christmas bells, Christmas trees,
Christmas odours on the breeze. . . ."
j, HEISTMAS is almost here!
m * And once more we find our
gjfigg- ■ selves somehow again doing
,gyfE~ all the things one always
aiSSlff does at this time of year,
with an enthusiasm which
tlfjgSSjwA repetition or business depres
sions fail to dampen.
It is a wonderfuul thing,
this spirit of Christmas, in the name of which
we open hearts and pocketbooks in a stupendous
effort to make joy universal for at least one day
a year. When we stop to analyse it, clearing
away from it the tarnished tinsel and candle
drippings with which many years of sentimental
ity and commercial exploitation have to some
extent covered it, we find it based after all on
the most lasting, worthwhile and certainly the
most pleasurable of human instincts. There will
always, of course, be Scrooges to sneer and
flout the spirit of Christmas, and busy business
men who will send the stenographer out to buy
the wife’s present or else sign a few checks
and be glad it's over, and unhappy mortalß
who give because they have received or expect
to receive or hope to outdo the rest of the girls
in the bridge club. But fundamentally the spir
it of Christmas is sound and true and health
ful, as is probably, right now when depleted
bank accounts and curtailed wages put a new
significance on gift-giving and indulgence in in
nocent merrymaking for the sake of a faith or
a tradition, being demonstrated more convinc
ingly than ever before.
What else but the real spirit of Christmas
makes it possible for us to go into ecstacies
over an off-shade necktie from Cousin Kitty, or
a scrap of silk underwear three times too small
from a school mate who hasn’t seen us since
we were twenty-one and a perfect size six
teen? What else gives us the strength, now that
there are only a “few more shopping days” to
go, to dive into crowded stores, elbow through
~ y ycrowds. and to pay more than we intended for
I } something we are not sure will please.
Gift giving itself is founded upon the noblest
sentiment of them all, the very heart and soul
of Christmas, which is after all merely the an
nual celebration of a great Gift The custom of
exchanging gifts as we today practice it dates
from the first offerings made to the Nordic god
Frey for a fruitful year. Saint Nicholas, the Fifth
century bishop who is said to have inspired our
modern Santa Claus distinguished himself by
his lavish gifts to the poor of Lycia, Asia Minor.
Like Christmas feasting, however, giving reached
extravagant heights during the Fifteenth and
Sixteenth centuries, and Queen Elizabeth is
said to have received almost her entire per
sonal wardrobe as Christmas gifts from her
courtiers, and an unbelievable quantity of prec
ious jewels. Introduced Into this country by the
first Dutch settlers, the custom of filling the
children’s stockings, and heaping presents upon
young and old alike has become one of the most
Important things about Christmas.
Nor is there any indication that there will be
less gifts given this Christmas than In previous
fatter years. When figures showing the total
savings represented by the various Christmas
savings clubs throughout the country were pub
lished recently, they showed the staggering sum
of $593,000,000, 6 per cent less in actual money
than last year, but much more in real purchasing
power due to deflated prices. It has further been
estimated that fully 40 per cent of this total
annual savings is actually used in making Christ
mas purchases, while an additional 3 per cent,
this year probably much more, can always be
counted on for educational and charitable uses.
Certainly there will be no diminution in the
amounts of charity gifts this year. National
unemployment relief programs, local drives by
charitable organizations, and individual gifts,
old clothing, baskets of food, money, toys, wilt
surely be made In greater abundance and In
closer accord with the real spirit of Christmas
than ever before.
One of the most painless methods by which
JJnmjoin in the universal philanthropy demanded
" anijjaally at Christmas time is by the purchase of
Christmas seals. This is the twenty-fifth anni
versary of the Christmas seal in this country.
The Idea was first utilized in financing health
fework In Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1904. A
postal clerk, familiar with the vast numbers
of packages mailed at this time of year, sug
gested it as a means of raising money for a
charity hospital. One of the original Danish
seals, stuck onto a Christmas package, reached
Jacob Itils, social reformer and friend of Theo-
1. “Gee, I hope I get something like that! 1 *
Young America lines up In front of store win
dows to gaze longingly at the fascinating dis
plays therein and to hope that "ol’ Santy Claus"
will bring just what they have been wanting.
2. This highly unusual Christmas tree is noth
ing else than a gigantic prickly cactus being
prepared for the outdoor celebration at Christ
mas at Palm Springs, Calif. The tree's holiday
regalia was supplied by society folk from all
parts of the country who winter there.
3. Mr. W. K. Public does his Christmas shop
ping. Loaded to the guards with packages,
bundles and gifts, the poor fellow sets a good,
If somewhat overloaded, example of buying his
Yuletide gifts early in the season. Friend wife
directs operations, and all he has to do Is to
furnish the funds and transportations.
■— ***
dore Roosevelt, who was so enthusiastic about
the idea that he wrote it up in an article pub
lished In the Outlook. There Miss Emily Bissell,
trying to raise $3,000 for a tuberculosis pavilion
In Wilmington, Delaware, read about it,
borrowed the idea and had the first American
Christmas seals printed and sold in 1907.
Today, under the direction of the National
Tuberculosis association, the work has reached
vast proportions. In one year over 5,000,000,000
of these little stickers were sold. At a penny
apiece their sale supports over 2,000 affiliated
tuberculosis associations and committees
throughout this country. wv
Another way in which we spend a goodly
proportion of our Christmas money is on cards,
which last year cost the American public some
$50,000,000, not counting engraving and post
age. The first Christmas card was sent out In
1846. The idea was that of Sir Henry Cole, Eng
lish gentleman and Bocial reformer; they were
designed and lithographed and hand colored to
his order under the direction of J. C. Horsley,
member of the Royal academy. The cards were
6 by 4 inches large, and bore three panels sepa
rated by a leafy trellis. In the two side panels
were scenes illustrating the charitable acts of
feeding the hungry and clothing the needy;
In the central one was the whole family, grand
parents, parents and children, all holding up
brimming beakers and about to drink to the
recipient “A Merry Christmas and a Happy New ;.
Year.” - 1
Cole ordered and sent out 1,000 of these novel
Christmas greetings, and we may Imagine that
they were received with a great deal of curios
ity, if not of enthusiasm. However, the card be
came really popular only in the 1870 s, when,
along with everything else they were highly
ornamental and senders strove to outdo each
other in original and expensive designs. The
“best people” in this country got the craze about
1873, artists of note found it more profitable to
prepare Christmas scenes for cards than to
paint portraits, and poets of consequence did
not think it beneath them to compose fitting
sentiments for them. !
As the result of our present need for Indi
viduality, the Christmas cards Is no longer a
sheer work of art, but a commercial novelty
and a good racket. This year in addition to
the conventional design of religious theme or
showing snow scenes, carol singers, holly,
wreaths or candles, we have the card decorated
by Scotty, the little terrier who is just now at
the zenith of his popularity, or bearing a mod
ernistic design, which, however incongruous tq
a thing as old fashioned as Christmas, never
theless is always striking and fresh in appear.
ance. Most 1931 cards are interesttdg also be-*' V
*
MIDLAND JOURNAL. RISING SUN. MD.
cause of the paper on which they are printed.
There are a great many stocks with shiny sur
faces, black, gold or silver; bright candy stripes
dash gayly across others, and one very popular
paper Is rough-surfaced and almost spongy In
texture and brings out any printed design of
lettering in clear-cut outline that is most effec
tive.
Time was when Christmas dinner was many
weeks In the making and many hours In the
serving, but that was in the days before the
grocer around the corner was brought even
nearer by the telephone and quick delivery serv
ice, and every nearby restaurant offered a menu
rivaling mother’s own. Today even Christmas
dinner may be procured in cans, and fortunate
ly so. Imagine a modern woman in her neat
white enamel and shiny chronium plate kitchen
ette mixing together this recipe for “shred pie,”
an old English Christmas favorite: “Two bushels
of flour, 20 pounds of butter, 4 geese, 2 turkeys.
3 rabbits, 4 wild ducks, 3 woodcocks, 6 snipe, 4
partridges, 2 neat’s tongues, 3 curlews, 7 black
birds, 6 pigeans!” Or even let her undertake
the day’s cooking with which little Sally Fair
> fax of Virginia, writing in her diary in 1771,
credits her mother: “. .. Mamma made six mince
pies, and seven custards, twelve tarts, one chick
ing pie, and four puddings . . .!”
When Christmas feasting was in its heydey
scarcely a self-respecting menu but included:
“Beefe, mutton and porke,
Shred pies of the best;
Pig, veale, goose and capon.
And turkie well drest.”
The.'e was also the famous boar’s head, lemon
In mouth and ears wreathed around with rose
>• mary; the peacock, roasted, sewn back into its
own skin with every lovely feather in place;
generously garnished and carried in on a golden
platter with due ceremony; haunches of ven
ison, plum porridge, frumenty and the steam
ing hot wassail drink. The shred pie, unlike its
modern descendant the mince pie, was baked
in a long dish, shaped like the cradle, or manger
„ of Bethlehem. However this lavish outlay of
food may, in the reading, make the mouth wa
u ter, there was probably in the tasting another
side to the story. Imagine the fastidious and
vitamine-conscious gourmand of today seated
in some huge smoky baronial hall before a
dinner served up by a nondescript retinue of
servants from mysterious dark cellars and smelly
kitchens and consisting of “. . . . thirty-pound
buttered eggs, pies of carp’s tongues, pheasants
drenched with ambergris, and a single peacock
covered with sauce made from gravy of the
’ bruised carcasses of three fat wethers!”
Nevertheless, it is to this old-time cookery
that we owe many of our favorite Christmas
dishes, and at no other time of year does the
modern kitchen show such a flurry of old-fash
ioned activity as now. The Christmas turkey is,
of course, America’s contribution to the feast;
and is found on almost every American table.
Time was when one of the most important
duties of the last few days before Christmas
was to cut, bring into the house, and set up the
Christmas tree, which had been marked out from
its sisters in the old back woodlot months ago
for this very purpose, and tenderly watched over
ever since. Onto its fresh, fragrant branches
went homemade tapers, fancy paper cut-outs,
strings of popcorn prepared with much ado by
the children themselves.
Its glowing lights, its shining tinsel strings,
Its sparkling colored balls, represent the age
old love man has felt for warmth and light,
for the sheltered companionship of the open
hearth, for the life-giving rays of the sun. In
them the Christmas tree carries on the purpose
of the old heathen festival to which our mod
ern celebration in some ways corresponds, ex
pressing their Joy at the return of the winter
solstice, when the sun once more became friend
ly to men, when days commenced to lengthen,
and spring was not so far away. Our modern
Christmas tree decorations are thus In one sense
merely modern symbols of the sun, descendants
of the burning barrel and the flaming torch with
which the ancients used to worship it. Martin
Luther made the first Christian use of the tree,
when he set up in his home in Germany, for
his own children, a little fir tree, and hnng it
with candles, like the stars, he explained to
them, which lighted the night of the Nativity.
The fir tree is still regarded as the Christ
mas tree par excellence, particularly in the
northeastern and lake states, because of its
long, spreading and springy branches and its
deep green and fragrant foliage which stays
fresh longer than that of almost any other type.
In the western states fir, while abundant, it
is harder to reach and cut, and its place is
largely taken by lodgepole pine and spruce,
while on the Pacific coast white fir is most
popular.
<© by Western N'ewsjxvper Union.) |
Dangerous days
fA H E A D
In midwinter you and your children need reserves of sturdy
resistance to ward off those nasty colds. Scott's Emulsion of
Cod Liver Oil will help you gain this resistance. Its Vitamin
A promotes growth and fortifies against the common cold.
And then there’s a wealth of Vitamin D that helps build
strong bones and teeth. Doctors will tell you how good it
is for run-down adults as well as growing children. And the
pleasant flavor of Scott's Emulsion makes it easy to take.
Scott & Bowne, Bloomfield, N. J. Sales Representatives,
Harold F. Ritchie & Co., Inc.. New York.
Listen to the Scotts Emulsion "Romances of the Sea " every Sunday
and Tuesday at 9.30 P.M. (£, S. T.) over the Columbia Basic Network,
High Honors Accorded
Fourth-Century Hermit
The world laughed tolerantly at
last summer’s “Monkey Marathon,”
when small boys took to trees In en
durance contests; and there could
be no better proof that times have
changed. The Fourth century took
Similar performances more seriously.
Consider Simeon Stylites. He
chained himself to a great rock on
which lie began to erect a column
of smaller stones. Aided by his ad
mirers, who rapidly increased in
numbers, he raised the pile, first to
a height of 0, and finally to 60
feet. In this last and lofty situa
tion, he endured the heat of 30 sum
mers and the cold of as many win
ters.
He sometimes prayed in an erect
attitude with his outstretched arms
in the figure of a cross; but his most
familiar practice was that of bend
ing his meager skeleton from the
forehead to the feet, and a curious
spectator, after numbering 1,244 rep
etitions, at length desisted from the
endless account.
Simeon died, without descending
from Ids pillar, as a result of an ul
cer on his thigh. The ulcer owed Its
I
I RELIEVES HEAP/ CHEST and BACK COLDS
Stainless "Rub In" and inhalant unsurpassed
in preventing and relieving cold congestions
JStSEL McKesson qßobbins
Camels and Locomotives
One of the biggest concrete bridges
in the world is along the new railway
lines being built through Turkey. Al
though only a little over 500 miles
long, the two lines penetrate difficult
country, necessitating the building of
about 2,000 bridges, large and small,
and many tunnels. In Angora an
average of 8,000 blasts of dynamite
a day are used to dislodge the rocky
wastes. More than 18,000 peusants
and shepherds are employed on the
work besides thousands of peasant
women who labor as stone breakers.
An oriental touch is given to the pic
ture by thousands of camels used to
transport supplies as the building
progresses.
Scalp I* Heirloom
The scalp of an Indian chief slain
by her father is among the cherished
possessions of Mrs. Burch Young, of
Fort Worth, Texas. This heirloom
and other trappings taken from the
dead warrior passed into her hands
recently on the death of her mother,
Sirs. Ira Long, widow of the former
Texas ranger captain of frontier
fame. Captain Long died in 1913 at
seventy-one. The Indian chief was
killed by Captain Long in a hand-to
hand encounter in Lost valley in
Jack county, Texas, more than fifty
years ago.
Place for the Amateur
There is a current tendency fos
tered, I regret to say, by many of our
clever writers —to scoff at the “ama
teur” and the “dilettante.” This is
an attitude with which I have very
I Just a shake or two of this fragrant, antiseptic
A powder gives that finishing touch to your
JJ toilet. Pure and delicately medicated, it
J® I Ikjll | WIH absorbs excessive perspiration and cools the
rim* Mg * *
yaho lowa skin.
Price 25c. Sold everywhere. Proprietors:
[IxC-a I <g> Potter Drug & Chemical Corp.. ■
j H Malden,Mass. Vi 1
[fcDH)!nH)tfj]| | B*T~TrythenewCuticura^N llki
[bwocwniKSlll | Shaving
The ,deal
fMr TffiMjjL Vacation Land
SR included ta\ Sunshine AU Winter Ejouq
Splendid roads—towering mountain
nmnSkwaifii ranges—Highest type hot els—dryin
% PKWON/UII vigorating air—clear starlit night.—
/®Qp3r *uch as aerograph. Writm CrM * c „ M „, y
sprinsfi
1 . it _ . . ~ _ CALIFORNIA
It Is universally accepted and used in cotut*,
libraries, school*. 452,000 entries, 32,000
geographical subjects, 12,000 biograpbi- BASEBALL PLAYER
fnl entries. Over 6.000 illustrations. 100 Amateur or semi-professional interested in
mnis**tif fahlM. tryout on Minor League team. Write Sill
vamame raoic Cox. 4138 Meyer-Kiser Bldg.. Miami. Fla.
GET THE BEST-" Tht Supmru Authority"
See it st tny bookstoß or send for FREE AGENTS, KASY MONEY
illustrated oamohlet containing sample Grape bricks, over *35 profit on case. Trial
order *I.OO. 3 for *2.00. A. GORDON 164
pages of the New International. w 227TH ST.. NEW YORK.
\G. fit C. MERRIAM CO. # “—~
“ „„„ B *3O Daily, seiilmr latest auio Horn. Pal-
Dept. rltv M ented, cleverly sings COO-COO. Sells 13.55.
. Springfield, Massachusetts W Agents price 51.35. PACIFIC COAST
PRODUCTS CO.. Dept. 1. Holly wood. Calif.
\
origin to pride. The devil, so the
story goes, assumed nn angelic form
and drew up beside the pillar top
in a fiery chariot. He invited Simeon
to ascend, as liad Elijah, and the
saint was ready. As he lifted his
foot to step in, the devil spanked
him cruelly arfd vanished in a cloud
of sulphurous smoke.
This chastisement to pride won for
the hermit great repute and when, a
few years later, his bones were borne
to Antioch, the patriarch of the city,
the master-general of the East, six
bishops, 21 counts or tribunes and
6,000 soldiers former the guard of
honor. —Cleveland I’lain Dealer.
For Dome*tic Peace
Teacher —Yes, children, one of the
duties of the lord high chamberlain
was to put the king to bed.
Willie (who has observed things)
—And did lie have to think up ex
cuses to tell the king's wife?
If you don't like a man’s opinion
let him alone. He doesn’t want yon
t> set him right.
Swift feet get a man out of lots of
scrapes that his tongue gets him into.
.
little sympathy. We might as well
take our food by sniffing at another
person’s plate as to confine our mu
sical activities to an admission fee at
somebody else’s performance. If we
keep on letting other people do things
for us in that way, nnother century
will find us with nothing of common
interest to say to each other and no
means by which to sny it. Conver
sation is already becoming a lost art.
An evening of talk is a rarity. One
plays bridge.—Harold Bauer, in the
Etude.
Wanted to Know
"John, it says here the government
has a plan to thaw out the frozen
assets of the banks,” remarked Mrs.
Dumbell.
“Well, what of it?” he asked.
“Why, don’t the banks hire plumb
ers to do that?” she inquired.
Can’t Convince Polica
“I saw you arguing with your wife
on the street yesterday.”
“Yes. I was trying to convince her
that the police wouldn’t refuse to tag
the cur merely because she insisted
it was all right to park that near a
fire plug.”
May Be Round the Corner
“Hasn’t he got a rich wife?"
“Yes, but she hasn’t declared any
dividends so far.” —Boston Tran
script.
The people of any nation who want
to be free had better get an educa
tion. You can’t be free unless you
know.