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Joyful Occasion for Child of the St&j(e Christmas day is usually a Joyless holiday for actors, with its two per formances and hurried dinner be tween them, writes Annie Russell. Christmas audiences are always in a happy mood and quickly responsive. Rut the very happiness In the air has a pathetic suggestion for the player who must work while others play. Still, they have their compensation In the mysterious packages brought up by the stage door muu, which one hasn't time to open until after the next scene. Oh, the delight of finish ing that scene and opening the pack age. A present from the family, who are reunited for the holidays In the old home, and who each send a gift and a word of loving greeting to the absent worker. Then the telegrams, the flowers, the unexpected gifts from members of the company, or little offerings from a poor “stage hand," which touches you deeply, because you know how much the dollar and a half meant to him. Rut on this especial Chrlstmds day last year there was an air of great but suppressed excitement in “A Roy al Family." One met the queen In her long court gowu. struggling with h<tr train over one arm and a huge package In the other, groping along a dark passage to the “property room.” Then the cardinal, In his magnifi cent scarlet silk robes, guiltily con- cealing a long box. Others of the royal family were seen aloug the dark passage carrying parcels to the prop erty-room, from which they emerged with Bmfllng, eager faces. As the curtain fell upon the final tableau of the play, with the entire court assembled, there was not the rusual rush for the dressing rooms. Everyone remained on the stage, and the princess, taking the tiny prince by the hand, explained that she had re ceived a letter from Santa Claus to say that he would visit the theater that day. Hardly was the explanation made when on came Santa Claus, imperson ated by the property man, drawing in a most wondrous Christmas tree, load ed with gifts and candles and fairy things. The poor little actor for whom all this joy had been prepared by his grown com rad <* was too stunned to speak. Even after a formal introduc tion to Santa Claus and his assurance to the little boy that all the tree was his, the realization came slowly and he gave faint little squeals of joy as the undreamed of toys were shown to him. Oh, the wonderful wagons that went half way across the stage when they were wound up, and the funny ani mals that jumped about all by them selves. The child’s delight grew and caught the whole company. What a sight It would have been for the audience leaving the theater could they have seen on the other side of the curtain. There was the entire court of Caron —king, queen, prince, princess, cardi nal, courtiers, ambassadors, ladles in waiting—ln all their gorgeous rai ment, playing like children with the toys. Some were on their hands and knees; others running around after a mechanical rabbit. The cardinal and the dowager queen were con vulsed over the antics of tw'o wooden monkeys having a prize fight. Where was the dignity and the art now! Forgotten in the happiness of a moment of return to that nature which makes the whole world kiu to a little child. Early Christmas Music Roth In Germany and in England in olden times the custom prevailed among young choristers of going through the streets in bands early on Christmas morning and singing Christmas hymns and carols for alms before the houses of the rich. A familiar picture is that of Martin Luther when a boy singing In the streets at Christmas dawn. Several of the most familiar German Christmas hymns were harmonized early in the seventeenth century by Jacob Praeto rlous to melodies composed about the middle of the sixteenth century by Luther. One of the greatest masters of German music, Johann Sebastian Bach, when a pupil at the choir and grammar school of St Michael’s, in Luneherg, walked the Btreets early Christmas morning singing these “waits,’’ as they were called in Eng land, with his fellow choristers, be- ffIOGL- tween whom and those o£ another school the musical rivalry was so in tense that the authorities were obliged to map out separate routes for them in order to prevent their meeting and coming to blows. New Year Superstitions With the exception of All-Saints’ Day there is no time in the whole twelvemonth about which so many su perstitions cluster as New Year’s Some form of divination to foretell the future is practiced in almost every land on January 1. This, of course, is practically the case with young peo ple who desire to know whether they will get married during the cornin ' year or soon thereafter. In the coun try districts of England and Germany there is a tea and coffee test which is most satisfactory. A teaspoon is bal anced carefully on the edge of a cup. Then tea or coffee, as the case may be, Is dropped into it, drop by drop. Ev ery drop that the epoon will hold without losing Its balance means an other year before the wedding. One or two large drops will usually upset the spoon, and so this is a very popu lar way of looking into the future. Don’ts For Christmas Don’t forget that a basket of fruit er a box of flowers Is Just as nice a present in many cases as something that will last a good deal longer. Don’t give your husband something he don’t want, Just becau.se you want it yourself or it will look nice In the parlor. This "don’t” works the other way also, though men are not often sinners in this line. Don’t think that yon are too poor to keep Christmas. You can’t be so poor as all that. Don’t spend so much money on Christmas that you can’t get even with the butcher and grocer until March. Don’t give presents that are a pleas ure for 10 minutes and a burden and a worry for ten years; that is, don’t give the dweller in town a beautiful bulldog, even if it did take a prize at the dog show, says the Philadelphia Telegraph. Don’t give a drum to the children of your enemy who works nights. A watchman's rattle Is Just as good, and it is cheaper. • A Scotch Celebration In Scotland there Is a curious super stition to the effect that good or bad fortune is brought to the house by the character of the first caller on New Year’s day. In the eighteenth cen tury this was supposed to take effect after 12 o’clock, and so devoted lovers would station themselves outside of the doors ot the houses where the,r sweethearts dwelt so that they could enter at once upon the striking of the hour. From midnight till morning the streets of Edinburgh were crowded with young men, all making merry in one way or another. Indeed, It is the most important celebration of the year to the Scotch,