S*i f\ St HEN Christmas bells are wE® r ' n Sing merrily on Christ mas eve it is pleasant to think that the whole world I s celebrating, and that as * ™ long as the human lamily has been on earth It has made merry at a midwinter feast. The lit tle children in .vour house or mine, fcud the little children across the Street, are just i.'ke other little chil dren in Russia, in Norway, Id France find in Ua:y, or the German Father land who have made ready for their Cfci-latmas trees when the winter's sun has set and the Christina- stars are 6hinlng over head. At th~ time that the Holy Babe lay In the maimer in Bethlehem to be the Christmas Babe for the Christian t.orld the Romans were celebrating their Saturnalia and trimming willow wands, as we trim Christmas trees, of course with a difference. But just the same they were celebrating the mid winter festival. They danced and sang, gave gifts, and hung wreatha while across the Alps to the north the Wild Huntsman was chasing through the woods to be the terror of uil uaughty children. The Christmas tree honored be cause it was evergreen gained fresh honors when adorned with tapers. The evergreen was eternal, and the lights shed glory around. How jolly is the raising of the Christmas tree! How the children love to talk about It before hand and to trim it, or to get the gifts from its overladen boughs. In Germany the whole household goes to church. In many villages the church is left in darkness, and the worshipers carry lighted candles, com ing in one by one, u itil it is a bril liant sight. When the season is over the old hymns are sung. "Es ist der Tag des Herrn," and Christmas greet ings are heard on every side. The Julafred, or of Christmas, is publicly proclaimed in Sweden and Norway. The churches are decorated, and the children are the first to enter in the gray of the early morning No cr.e is forgotten. The poor are re membered with food and clothing, and best of all the little brothers of the sir, the birds, have a tree hung with a sheaf of wheat for Christmas cheer. In Holland feasting prevails as It 4oes everywhere. But the children #et out their wooden shoe 3 for gifts, tnd not one Is forgotten The prac tice of feeding pets and birds is gen eral. In Servla and In Bulgaria no one crosses a strange threshold if It can "And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not least among the prince* of Juda."—Matthew 11, 6. "O, ltttlo town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie"— The song brings bach the silent peace of Christmases gone byi Brings bacK the olden mystery, and sets the heart a-thrill With fancies of the snow-draped firs that nodded on the hill. With memories of ruddy lights that night would find aglow Which from the cottage windows flung their banners on the snow. "Above thy deep and dreamless sleep the silent stars go by"— The stars above the little town were very far and high t They marched triumphantly from lands whfraof fx boy might dream To otlier lands thut bechoned him wtth dawn's enchanting gleam but unc.'or all the silent stars that marched from oast to west • The little town the little town contanted. was ut rest. ' Yet in ;hy darK str<■>«*.» shineth the ever lasti-ig light" The ntuilow bias® of memory still leaps s«i et tely And Ihrovi) i» its wjndreui n« romance th-> barn trees it illumes A I piiiH <«. d wnitu are radiant with Miowy apple blooms Who- e p >taii,, when the winter wind* the lir'inchon sway and lift, rioat dre .mily uway, away, to pile in drift on drift "The hop. % <»r»d fwri at all the years are rii«l In th«Q tonight"— Ar » n.i t In every little town seen In th« Christm »s light, f 1 >*r r»oi ,e t.l us 1 ut muses now, when this el J »'»ng Is sung, Of it | the blotting* that wer** his when head dii l heaii were young. An i, mi >er liKe, h*' counts his sto-u of li :>«tsure«. f«;r of Iheltt Me I lull'is nn«w at Christmas time his "U)'"n of Hethlehem " UJI «.>.'. >, .IW. W U KM be avoided. Friends rejoice together, the little children dance and sing and gifts are exchanged. An ancient cere mony has to be performed by the head ot every household. Before a mouthful of food is eaten early in the morning, corn is placed in a stocking and the chief of the family sprinkles a little before the householder, saying "Christ is born;" to which one of the family replies: "He is born indeed." Then the house-father has to "wish" and, advancing to the burning logs on the hearth, he strikes them until the sparks ily upward, with r, good wish for the horses, another for the cat ties, the calves, and the goats, and so, on through the entire band of stock on the farm, concluding with a special prayer and an extra blow upon the embers of the logs for a plentiful har vest. In this manner the gods of na ture are appeased. Then the ashes containing "the wish" are collected and buried secretly. As for the Yule logs, they are not permitted to burn entirely away, but the lire, being ex tinguished the burnt ends are placed in the clefts of fruit trees so as to ensure a bountiful crop. In out of the way corners of the world, the traveler has met proces sions going about on Christmas eve giving gifts to the earth, to the stream, to fruit trees, and the priest with a censor of incense invoking blessings on the harvests which are to come when the winter is over. The receiving of gifts seems to bo the passing of a later day. At Lyona in France the Foundlings Home hat) a beautiful custom. A handsome era die is placed at the door and the for saken infant laid therein is afterwards treated with great consideration as the gift of the Christ child at the blessed season The more playful customs of put ting hats about for presents as French children do, of baskets which Italian children make, of girt boxes and the tour of St. Nick prevail everywhere. Even in the tropics Christmas is ob served, as if the cold snow lay round about. Mexico has many beautiful customs, and Catholic countries nev er forget the feast of the Babe in the Manger in church. L. M. McCAULEY. THE SOCIETY KID. With tears In her eyes little Polly Hut under a big wreath of holly. When they asked why she cried, "Sunty brought,' she replied, "Not a bow-wow. but only si dolly." CAMERON COUNTY PRESS. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1910. Y * A Ai & 4 dfyristmas <£t>c Christmas eve! And a blustery night— Snow-flurries almost blinding the sight; Eddying winds shift to and fro And toss from the chimneys smoke-' clouds low. On the street Is heard a noisy throng Of pleasure-bent shoppers, hurrying along, Laden with bundles and baskets and toys To gladden the hearts of girls and boys. Let the wintry winds moan on, and sigh Through the forests, and sing their lullaby; , 'Neath holly-wreathed brar> and mistletoe I rest and sleep while * tempests blow. Christmas eve! And the sound of bell, Yuletide harmonies, break and swell. And sing of a Babe in Bethlehem, Born in a manger—Saviour of men! —E. A. Fergerson. ,v , | Christmas in | 1 Odd Corners I Yuletide Recollections of a Traveler pj 1/ 'WF T has been ray lot to spend many of my Christmases in V (flffi) [/ foreign lands. I recall one dismal holiday spent in a filthy post-house on the Great Post Road at Nijni Udinsk, now, in these days of the trans-Siberian railway, a place of some importance. 1 was alone, on my way from Peters burg to Irkutsk. On the previous day 1 had overtaken a convoy of prison ers in chains, and as on the morning of the Russian Christmas day 1 was sitting by the high brick stove, I saw tho Cossacks and their despairing charges arrive. I remember walking and talking with several of them in that wilder ness of newly fallen snow. Most of them were, or said they were, victims of the unscrupulous agents provoca teurs of the government, and all seemed bitter against the czar and his advisers —as Indeed they well might be. Another Christmas of the Greek calendar I spent in Servia —in Bel grade, the capital of that gallant lit tle state, the powder-magazine of the Balkans. It was a cold, bright, sunny day, and an air of festivity was every where. The service i i the cathedral, attended by the king and his cabinet, was a brilliant affair, and after a stroll in the delightful Kaleineg'ian garden, overlooking the Danube, I lunched with my friend the minister of justice and Ills charming American wife. The streets were hung with llags, exchanges of presents and flow ers were universal, and many were the quaint Serb customs. The twenty-fifth of December three years ago I spent wearily in the stuffy restaurant car of the Nord express be tween Paris and Petersburg. Again, 1 was alone and I remember, as we steamed out of Vilna station to the great plain towards Dunaburg, the chef of that celebrated express pro duced his triumph—an English pud ding, with a small piece of holly stuck In the top. My fellow passengers, be ing all foreigners, failed to appreciate it. But I did. Another memorable holiday was that I passed in the reindeer-skin hut of a 1-aplander half way between A lex an drovik and Kandalaksha. I was trav eling by fc*.ed. 1 hud left Klrkenaes, on au arm of the Arctic ocean, a month before and was now working my way south toward Archangel. I produced a bottle of much shakeu port wine. In honor of the occasion, and poured out a glass for my host, lie was very suspicious of It, uud compelled me to swallow mlue first. Then he sipped his, and pulled a wry tare. Ills wife tasted It, and sniffed suspiciously, and afterward the ser vants, but all declared it was some horrid Kngllslt decoction some medi cine. It must be, they said They bud never bclore tasted wine. They had never seen a bunch of grapes, never a rose, and never even a tree One Yuli-tlde dinner I ate at Clro's, at Monte Carlo, where the fooling Mas fust uud furious, and with in) (rieud* I watched "the tables" afterward, SMpplll .11 lllv llol.'l ||. I'.tlU, and receiving a present from the nionsti r true WDllitm l.e Queux .......... .................... J t'HK'STMAS I'KOVUHHS * • . ... •>»<• ............. .4 A prudent quotation on tin hill of fare: "They are slcji that surfeit with tun Hiucli, us they that starve with notnlng' • • • "Th» gaddtag vine" must he of the Christmas variety, fur that splendid t. mlril Is i lueplng through the whole earth The mirror of all s<»trt< sjr" should be polished on Christ uius day • • • "A royal train, believe uts," la the .'•tudeer equipage of good old Ht Nick j How December 25 Was J Chosen . ,i, . How many people know why Christ mas came to fall on December 25? Everybody knows that It is the day celebrated alike by the Catholic. Prot estant and Greek churches as the na tivity of Christ, yet nobody knows If it is the actual date. The uncertainty is due to the preju dice of early Christians against th® celebrations of birthdays. They re garded such a custom as heathenish, and made no exception, even to the Savior's birthday. It was not until Christianity had triumphed, three centuries later, that the prejudice against the observance of birthdays died out, and an investi gation as to the date of Christ's birth day was begun. Julius, pope or bishop of Rome, asked St. Cyril in 38C to ascertain the real anniversary of the nativity. St. Cyril reported the date to be Decem ber 25, to the best of his knowledge, after extensive research, and the date was accepted by Julius and promul gated as the anniversary of Christ's birth. Before the end of the fifth cen tury the date was accepted by all Christendom. January G, April 20, March 20 and March 29 are some of the dates that were serious contenders for the dis tinction before December 25 received the seal of Julius' approval. Even after the date was generally accepted by all Christian nations the holiday had its struggles. The Eng lish roundhead parliament of- 1643 abolished Christmas and for 12 years it was not observed in England. Roy alty gained the ascendency, however, and Christmas was re-established as a national holiday. Governor Bradford of Plymouth, In IG2I, history says, had occasion to re buke some young men who had come over in the ship Fortune, following In the trail of the' Mayflower, because their consciences would not allow them to work on Christmas, with their sterner Puritan brothers. In 1G59 the general court of Massa chusetts passed a law fixing a fine of five shillings against anyone who should by abstinence from labor, feast ing or any other method, obseVve Christmas. CHRISTMAS JIBES All Paid For. "Your wife was telling my wife that you've got all your Christmas presents paid for," remarked the man In the corner of the city train to the lean in dividual sitting by his side. "Yes; paid for the last of them yes terday,"was the reply. "Lucky dog! I haven't even begun to think of the presents I've got to buy." "Oh, neither have we for this year. My wife was speaking of last year's presents." * • • Santa Is Easy. Bobby (on Christmas morning) "Where does Santa Claus get all his things, mamma?" Mamma —"Oh, he buys them." Bobby—"Well, he must be a Jay to let anyone palm off a tin watch on him!" • • • Seasonable Thoughts. At this scasou thoughts uf bo.> s lightly run to Sauta Claus. • • • Where They Come From. Guest (dlulng at merry Christmas party)—" Tommy, where do turkeys cwme from?" 'touimy (pointing to that ou 'lie ta ble) "Dunno; but ma got this one from a tramp for a shilling 'cause he said he stole It. Didn't he, ma?" £ HOLLY SUPEKSTITIONS It 13-1 unloi ky to bring holly or Ivy Into II • bo me before Christinas eve ant unlucky tu tub# It out bt fore Candlemas, or to put any Christmas decorations Into the lire derrick, however, say s that they nhould be burnt, but not until Candleuias eve, awd the Christmas brainl should he que itched and laid by till next year. This KSIIO' b.and Devonshire lolk of ti>day prefer lo burn out. In spite of llerrlek. but Instead of an oak log It Is an ashen faggot a sheuf of ash iwig* hound round with live or tep ■trauds of straw As e;»rli strand hunts through the guests who sit around the health must call for cider and dilttk a 'Merry Christmas and many to follow uDr.Fvrdncyii 112, Christmas I K lb ell e Maniatej^^ OCTOR Fordney came out of ■J/fm tlle department store, BI SB deposited an armful of packages In bis runabout, and then started to pay the last visit on his dally round. It was the afternoon before Christ mas, but the young physician's heart was not filled with the proverbial hol iday cheer. Good will he had toward all men—but not toward all women. One little spot of resentment lurked in fats thoughts of June Leigh. She had accepted his tender devo tion with downcast eyes and an en trancing air of demureness and timid ity combined. Then, suddenly, she had been transformed into the most bewildering of coquettes, openly flirt ing with a man the doctor detested. At speed-limit rate, lie drove his machine into the poorest of the poor precincts of the city and stopped be fore a forlorn-looking little house. He knocked and then opened the door. A pale, anxious-eyed woman came for ward. He held up a cautioning finger and smiled as he deposited his load of toys in a corner. "I see you have the wherewith for a Christmas dinner tomorrow," he said, glancing at a chicken on the table. "A young lady brought us a basket of good things from the Aid society," she replied, smiling happily as she preceded him into the adjoining room. A delicate little face with wan eyes looked up from the pillow. "You are better, little Lou," he as serted, taking the tiny hand in his. "It's the thought of Christmas?" "Yes, and a lovely young lady brought us a Christmas dinner, and there's jelly and pie. She is coming again tomorrow to see if Santa Claus came. I don't think he will, though." "You must have faith in him and believe that he will come," assured the doctor. "You see he makes a mistake once in a while, but he wouldn't miss you twice. 1 feel sure that he will 'one." "On, do you? If I could only see him? Do you think he would care if I remained awake?" asked the quaint little lnv»lid. "WeK, you know he generally cornea when everyone is asleep, but maybe, since you are sick and because he lorgot you iast year, he may come here first, early in the evening, and let you see him." "Oh!" cried the child ecstatically. "Maybe he'll have a Christmas tree here for you," said the doctor, his im agination taking lofty flights. The child's eyea gleamed. "No," she sighad. "That would be too beautiful." The doctor asked a few questions, left some more medicine, and then beckoned the mother to follow him Into the outer room. "I will send a little tree and all the trappings as soon as I get back to the city. You have it all trimmed up and lighted at six o'clock. Then I'll come In and be *3anta Claus." "Oh. you musn't do so much." she protested, looking at the many par cels. "1 have no one In the world to do anything for,"he said earnestly, "so you will be giving me all the Christ mas cheer I shall get by letting me do this. And, more than that, it will do little Lou more good than a load of medicine." He returned to the city for another Bhopping expedition and promptly at nix o'clock he was back at the little home. On the door-step he slipped In- BETWEEN TWO FIRES Jl 1 jfi». ■» , . * 1 { to a trig fur coat, adjusted a beard and the usual Santa Claua make-up. Then he softly opened the door and slipped in. He gave an approving glance at the gaily-decorated, brilliant ly-lighted little tree to which Mrs. El lis was putting the last touches. "That is fine!" he exclaimed. "The young lady came back with a doll for Lou, and when I told her what you had done, she stayed and fixed it for me. She was here all the after noon, stringing cranberries and pop corn, and making candy bags." "I'll slip behind the tree, now, and you bring the little girl out. She won't be afraid of me, will she?" "Oh, no; she loves Santa Claus!" The doctor was more than repaid for his efforts by the cry of delight ! that issued from Lou when her mother brought her from the bed-room and | propped her up in pillows in an old | rocking chair. "I couldn't find you last year," said | Santa Claus in a gruf* but tender | voice, "but I have brought you | enough this year to make up." The tree was nearly stripped before ! Doctor Fordney discovered a tiny blue 1 envelope addressed ie Santa Claus in j a handwriting that made his heart j beats quicken. He opened It and by j the light of a tiny candle read that I which made his Christmas eve an eve J of beauty. "And this Is the last, little Lou," he said, carrying her a picture-book. "Santa Claus, you won't forget Miss Leigh, the young lady who brought us the Christmas dinner?" she pleaded. "Little Lou, I am going there right "I Couldn't Find You Last Year," Said Santa Claus. frotn here. She shall have everything she wants." "And you won't forgtC Doctor Ford j ney?" ! "No; I'll give him the best Christ j nias he ever had." "But, Santa Claus, won't some one give you a present?" "A beautiful lady Is going to give I me the loveliest gift in the whol» world tonight," he said. "Oh, lam so glad! I wish I could do something for you for all the j things you have brought me." "You can, little Lou. In half an hour will you goto bed and shut your eyes tight and try not to think of your presents, or the tree or of mo until morning?" He stooped to rpcelve the Imprint of baby lips and to feel the lingering pressure of soft arms about bis neck. (Copyright. 1910.) The kingdom ot Co/1 ban already come in nature, in the worlds beyond, in everything save the hearts of men. —Rev. I). H. Ogden, Presbyterian, At lanta, Ga.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers