o*o*o-::-o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*6s o ! IN NEW AMSTERDAM! o o tie si: ° NEW YEAR S WITH ? 6 THE DUTCH SETTLERS. Q 0 o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o * o o*o * o . JIIKN' our Dutch ancestors de jAf barked from the Half Moon In 11 the harbor of Manhattan, It was the year Kill. And they Tmjught with theui from their native Holland nothing of that spirit of reli gious intolerance which distinguished the New England Puritans who came six years later, says the Utlea Observ er. In fact, they were denounced by their Yankee neighbors as a "godless crew," but it is now plain that they loved their homes and families, they forgave their enemies, and they fanned to flame the spark of national honor which they possessed. When Peter Stuyvesant came to New Amsterdam as governor in 1047, he was quickly dubbed ' Old Silverleg" because he was a veteran who had given a leg to the cause of his country and replaced it with a substantial wooden one bound with silver. Though Governor Stuyvesant was a harsh and cruel man, all accounts agree that he was a good ruler, but in 1004 one day when a British fleet appeared off the coast of New Amsterdam and demand ed its surrender '"Old ,Silvering" was forced to yield, his people refusing to fight. So the British took possession of the island of Manhattan and christen ed it New York, the same being the egg from which is hatched that Greater New York which today stands forth the second city in the world. Knt what did our Dutch ancestors do to distinguish themselves? Well, they kept Christmas and New Year's day, both of which were frowned upon by the Massachusetts Puritans. On New- Year's morning the old Dutch burgher would start forth from his own door and visit his neighbors, collecting all the money due him from the solvent debtors and forgiving the insolvent ones, and, having drunk numberless mugs of punch with the solvent and insolvent alike, he returned to his home a better man, more forgiving in spirit and (whisper this!) more religious minded than his Puritan neighbor who had spent the day precisely as lie spends every other weekday in the year. Why have we forgotten the example of our Dutch ancestors? We all keep the Fourth of July, sacred to liberty. We all keep Thanksgiving day out of respect to the pilgrim fathers perhaps, but more out of gratitude to the Giver of all good things. We all keep Christ inas out of love of him whose birth it commemorates, Why dou't we keep New Yen'''"? Are We l'ecreant sons of our Dutch ancestors who first settled New Amsterdam? THE ROSY NEW YEAR. Ho, you little fellow. With the sparkle in your eyes! Will you wreathe your arms around us. Will you kiss away our sighs, You rosy little fellow. With the sparkle in your eyes? Ho, you little fellow, Like a sunbeam from the skies! Will you set the bells to ringing, 7 \ Will you give us songs for sighs, > T ou rosy little fellow, With the sparkle in your eyes? Ho, you little fellow, Near your dimples sorrow dies; The darkness melts in music, And the glory's in the skies! You rosy little fellow, With the sparkle in your eyes! yt —Atlanta Constitution. A Scottish New Year Custom. In the more primitive Scotch towns poor children go around fantastically dressed, stopping at the different houses to call for a share of the good things made for the coining day. A cu rious old rhyme which they sing on this occasion follows: Get up, good wife, And shake your feathers, And dinna think that We are beggars, i For we are bairns Come out to play; Get up and gie's our Hogmanay. There were many otlu>r picturesque customs in Scotland which have long since died out. The Bella. What shall the New Year bear to **"- * The shadow or the sun, A hope, a beam, A sunshine gleam, Love's long, interrupted dream, Or dark for daylight done? What does the New Year hide for youl A silence or a song, A sigh, a note From joy bird's throat, Or stillness lying long? What may the New Year hold for usf All light and shade are there. Both silence chill And singing, still Old love that ever hath its will Will give each heart its share! —Post Wheeler. CHRISTMAS IN BOSNIA. Queer Vnietlilt* <'UHt»in« of tli<* (Uncle Mountain I'euNiMitN. Lost any should suppose that the peasants of Itostiia and Montenegro and especially those of the "Black mountain' " proper do not earn their Christmas feast it should lie known that for six weeks before the anniver sary of the nativity the people do not put meat of any kind into their mouths, says the Chicago Tribune. Perhaps nowhere else in the world can be found so curious an intermingling of Chris tian and pagan rites at Yuletide. The peasants even mingle relics of ancestor worship with their observance of Christ's birthday. One of their prac tices at this season dates from a time when iron was unknown by their for bears. The night before this eastern people begin their six weeks' fast prior to Christmas day all the meat dishes in every house in the land are put upon the tables. When supper is ready, each member of the family takes a bit of each kind of food and proceeds with it to the roof of the house, where it is placed as a potent charm against witches and uncanny spirits. This cus tom is traceable directly to a practice of extremely ancient times, when food was placed 011 the house tops as an of fering to certain household spirits. At the supper all the meat in the house is eaten, and if this proves to be a physical impossibility at one sitting the members of the household must needs rise in the middle of the night and fin ish the repast. After the meat has dis appeared each partaker must rinse thoroughly his mouth lest a bit of meat adhere to the teeth. The next day 110 one eats anything. If the fast be bro ken, the culprit certainly will be shot with arrows by the spirits. It is tin duty on this day to pick out a pig, a sheep or a goat to be fattened for the Christmas feast. The animal is killed the third day before Christmas, and no more terrible misfortune can happen to a peasant than not to have a "bloody knife" in his house on that day. Rofini (inoNC. For the roast goose choose one with plump, firm breast, soft white fat, yel low feet with tender webbing. The windpipe should crack when pinched. Before drawing it scrub the skin thor oughly with soapy water, which will open tlie pores and soften and extract the oil, removing the strong, oily taste which makes roast goose so objection able to many. Then draw, wash quick ly and wipe dry. Chop an onion line, blanch and drain, brown in a table spoonfnl "112 butter, mix with well sea soned mashed potatoes, add sage if you wish, truss, cover the breast with slices of fat salt pork, let cook for three-quarters of an hour, then pour off till the fat, remove pork, dredge with flour. When it is browned, add a little hot water and baste often, dredging again with flour. Cook about two hours. Scald the giblets in salted water, pour it off and cook slowly until tender. To make gravy pour ofl' fat, put a little pork fat in pan, brown two level table spoonfuls of flour in it and add one eupful of stock. I'our this on a hot platter, lay the goose In it and garnish with apples. A C'IirINt IIIIIN tlnme, A favorite Christmas game in Eng land is snapdragon. A plate of bran dy with raisins in it is placed on the table and the brandy lighted. The rai sins must be plucked from the burning brandy with the bare lingers. Burned fingers are a common complaint in England on Dec. liO. t'lirlHtniii* In the Wliitc House, Christmas at the executive mansion under all administrations lias been es sentially a home festival. It is on New Year's day that the doors of the estab lishment are opened to the public, and everybody who is anybody conies to shake the president's hand. TlinnkN to Mother Eve. Eve had her faults, but in inventing clothes she gave the world the joy of the child's Christinas stocking. l ndianapolis Sentinel. Concerning ChrlNtmas. The best tiling to putin a warm Christmas stocking is a poor child's foot. Jews in most countries keep Christ mas as a season of feasting and mirth and of gift giving. Coptic Christians believe that savage beasts and venomous serpents are harmless on Christmas day and will neither bite nor sting. The Yule log in England is a relic of Druidism and has no religious signifi cance left. It survives merely as an ancient and time honored custom. Christmas is respected by the follow ers of Mohammed, but not observed. With all their hatred of Christians they regard Jesu-ben-Miriam as a mi nor prophet. 'l'he Stnr of nethlcliem. When, marshaled on the nightly plain, The glittering host bestud the sky, One star alone of ull the train Can fix the sinner's wandering eye. Hark, hark, to God the chorus breaks From every host, from every gem! But one alone the Saviour speaks; It is the Star of Bethlehem. Once on the raging seas I rode; The .storm was loud, the night was dark. The ocean yawned, and rudely blowed The wind that tossed my foundering bark. horror then my vitals froze; Death struck, I ceased the tide to stem, When suddenly a star arose; It was the Star of Bethlehem. It was my guide, my light, my all; It bade my dark forebodings cease, And through the storm and danger's thrall It led me to the port of peace. Now safely moored, my perils o'er, I'll sing, first in night's diadem, Forever and forevermore, The Star—the Star of Bethlehem! —Henry K)rke Whitft. CAMERON COUNTY PRESS, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1900. TflrvriiphcrN' <«rfp. "I havo lost my grip." This phra: e is applied by men to nil kinds of failures. One of the technical usages of losing one's grip is in the case of telegraph operators. Many of the most skilled operators suffer at times from a loss of the "grip" and are compelled to give way tempo rarily to a substitute. This "grip" is the hold on the key, and the moment the operator begins to lose the control of tills "grip" he realizes a rest, al though for only a brief time, is due him. Another but unpleasant term applied to this loss of "grip" Is "telegraphers' paralysis." It shows itself In many curious ways, all showing that the muscles brought into play in working the key are badly worn. One of the most skillful operators in Louisville, who is subject to these at tacks, cannot send "P." The Morse manual calls for live dots for this let ter. The operator in question has by some hook or crook lost the power to stop at the fifth dot, and It is a com mon thing for him to warn the taker to look out for his "P's." Recently he asked a fellow operator to watch liini send "P's" and to stop him at the end of the fifth dot. It re sulted that, although lie would be warned at the fourth dot, the fingers, no longer mastered by the brain, would continue dotting beyond the fifth.— Louisville Courier-Journal. gOOK-KEJdPING and SHOKTHANU and all Business Branches. Positions for all graduates. We fill more posi tions than some schools have students. Com plete mail courses; interesting and thorough. Write (err free trial lessons, and catalogue, Williamsport Commercial College, octll-3ra Williamsport, Pa. BM HERE! 1 OYS AND GIRLS. 1 od friends H. A. ZARPS 6c CO., Emporium, at the FAIR STORK. E j I S Never in all my visits to Cameron county have I been loaded with nicer things for the jj good people of Cameron county than I have left with my friend ZARPS. I want'all the j3| father, mothers, brothers and sisters to just step in and see what a I Wonderland Zarps' Presents Are. ffi He has photographed each department in order to wive his customers at a "lance an idea 9 of the magnitude of his, the GREATEST and BEST luie of I HOLIDAY GOODS. Never has this or any other store in this section of Pennsylvania exhibited such an im- Bgj| mense line of everything beautiful, useful and ornamental—in ; China, Glass, Leather, Oelluloid and Wood. J Toys and fancy goods until you can't rest. I H A. ZARPS & CO. [ 1 Pretty QhiSdren "We have three children. Before the birth of the last one my wife used four bot tles of MOTHER'S FRIEND. If you had the pictures of our children, you could see at a glance that the last one Is healthiest, prettiest and £ZT\ finest-looking: of them all. ft > My wife thinks Mother's Friend is the greatest r and grandest ■-JHjß'j world for expect- USB , an t mothers."— Written by a Ken- rV ' tucky Attorney-at \VS ITH'sf * ! rn run prevents nine-tenths of the r Rll suffering: incident to child * birth. The coming: mother's disposition and temper remain unruffled throughout the ordeal, because this relax ing:, penetrating- liniment relieves the usual distress. A good-natured mother is pretty sure to have a good-natured child. The patient is kept in a strong, healthy condition, which the child also inherits. Mother's Friend takes a wife through the crisis quickly and almost painlessly. II assists in her rapid recovery, and wards off the dangers that so often follow de livery. Sold by druggists for $t a bottle. THE BRADPIELD REGULATOR CO ' ATLANTA, OA. J Semi for our free illustrated book writtec I expressly for expectant mothers. ii. 111 YOUNG HEN Do you want style and ginger in your clothes, here's the place to find it. We have no SPECIAL HOBBIES that young men should look like their fathers or like their little brothers but they must be just the thing—like a procession. Some one must lead and our efforts are to be The Leaders in every point in our business. Style, fit and workmanship. Well covered are the heads of the men we sell hats to. We sell till sorts of hats to ail sorts of people. We can sell a good hat for two dollars, but it would be suit able ouly for the man who wants a two dollar hat. It wouldn't do for the man who wants a silk tile. Those who buy here get good honest values and the latest styles whether they buy two dollar hats or whether they want to pay three or five dollars, or any other price. BEDARD, THE TAILOR. J. L. FOBERT, flanager, Parpons' Bazaar, Emporium, Pa. HOLIDAY IN' SWEDEN! CHRISTMAS THE GREATEST OF ALL ITS FESTIVALS. Tlie Old Time XorMemeii Were Heavy Ppnlcm - DaiiKem «>r VinltiiiK a VclKlilior —Children Make Merry \round tlie Tree. f"«-\ <HOM time immemorial Chrlst- I J J mas lias been the greatest of I Ban holidays in Sweden. In liea | (11W then times the midwinter fes , tival was celebrated in honor of the sun, which had retreated more and I more since midsummer and now, after the winter solstice, began to return, i causing darkness to be defeated by light, says the Chicago Record. There ! was then great feasting in the chlef i tains' banqueting halls, where the : bards sung songs in honor of fallen he roes and where eating and drinking ! played an important part. Touching ! the head of the god Frey's boar, ths ! warriors made vows about the valor j ous deeds they would perform next j summer, when the ice which now held their dragon ships fettered near the shore would be melted by the sun. The excessive eating and drinking at the winter festival continued also during the middle ages, when Christmas had taken on a new significance. Many peculiar Christmas customs prevailed until about the middle of this A MERRY RING, century, especially among the rural in habitants. A few of them have been retained to this date, although the ad vance of civilization has almost exter minated superstition and has refined manners. liesides the customs still re tained the Swede had formerly much to keep in mind at Christmas. Nothing that necessitated a rotary motion should lie done on Christmas day. Any body who visited a neighbor on that day ran the risk of getting boiled water thrown in his face. On Christmas eve straw must lie laid on the floor for the children to play in and for the mem bers of the family to sleep on during the night. Christmas day is still the greatest holiday in Sweden. The Swedes of to day are more temperate than those of olden times, but 110 miser is so mean that he does not prepare well for Christmas, and 110 home is so poor that it is not then better provided than usual with the essentials of good liv ing. Especially in the rural home the housewife is for many days busily en gaged in preparations for the great holiday. Bread of different kinds must be baked, Christmas beer brewed, the Christmas pig killed and sausage made, the dried lingfish must be soaked in lye, and everything must be scrubbed and cleaned. On Christmas eve as much animal food is cooked as the house can afford, and in certain homes where old customs are retained the din ner is eaten in the kitchen, and every body dips his bread in the hot broth in which the pork lias been boiled. The day before Christmas is therefore of ten in jest called "the great dipping day." 111 order that all beings shall be happy the farmer gives the cattle and the horses extra food, lets loose the watchdog and places a sheaf of un thraslied oats on a pole for the birds. This last custom prevails even in cities. Fresh spruce trees are placed outside the doors and 011 balconies. After dinner the Christmas tree, a young spruce, is dressed with fruit, paper covered candy, bright colored glass balls and ornaments and paper flags of all nations. On each branch is hung a small candle or a taper. These are lighted in the evening, and the de lighted children are allowed to make a merry ring dance around the tree. Thereafter the members of the family collect around the table, and the Christmas presents are distributed. Masked persons in picturesque cos tumes are seen 011 the streets carrying bundles of presents for friends or rela tives. They greet nearly everybody they meet with the words, "Merry Christmas," and are answered, "Same to you." On and after Christmas day a Swede on meeting an acquaintance will say, "C3ood continuation of the Christinas," until New Year, when the game ceremony begins with the words, "A good New Year," etc. When the present bearers have re turned from their mission, all hands partake of the supper, in which the "lutftsk" (dried lingfish or codfish soak ed in lye and boiled), the Christmas cheese and the rice porridge must not bo lacking. Many families usually have also a pig's head on the table, perhaps in memory of the "god Frey's boar with apple in the mouth." For «lie Stocking-. Us cbiUun needs mo' civil rights; De white folks gotter make some laws. 'Case some ob lis on Christmas nifrhtu Gits clean fohgot by Santa Claus. —Washington Star 9
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers