It’s lots of fun, sincerely
done—we mean our holi-
day wishes for you, of
course!
Richard H. Disque
A purr-fect Christmas Day
to you and many, many joy-
ful and merry days ahead
. these are the Yule
‘ witha we: send to you.
Joe's Tn S Shop
Main Street
Dallas
We're ringing in this day
by saying to dll of our
fri en ds “A most Merry
Christmas to you.”
Kuehn's Drug Store
“The Rexall Store”
Main Street
Dallas
May the noble teachings fill
this Christmas and all your
others: with true peace and
. genuine well-being.
FUNERAL SERVICE
Telephone 424-R-13
Like the carolers, we sing
out our Yu'etide wishes for
you, heartily and with glad
cheer.
Kunkle Garage
“The Home of the Thrifty Austin”
Our greeting to you and
yours glitters with best
wishes for the merriest of
Yule festivities.
Ray Chappell’s Service Station
Luzerne-Dallas Highway
Phone 9067-R-T
We’re wishing you a merry
Christmas and hoping your
days be as free of trouble
as this snow is of tracks.
Harold K. Ash
Plumbing - Heating - Bottled Gas
Phone 409-R-7
SSIES
Shavertown, Pa.
May each Christmas in your
life stand above last year’s
and good
A blessed Yule to
in happiness
cheer.
all of our friends.
Donahue’s Restaurant
DANIEL E. MEEKER, owner
Kunkle, Pa
Telephone Dallas 458-R-13
The sweetest thing on
Christmas Day is not the
candy stick, but the greet-
ing true friends send.
Merry Christmas to you.
Purcell Oil Service
THE TEXACO STATION
Main Highway = Phone 9001-R-16 Trucksville
We're popping up to give
you this greeting . . . a sin-
cere wish that you enjoy a
most pleasant a n d merry
Christmas.
Willie's
CONFECTIONERY STORE
Fernbrook Corners Fernbrook
We're hurrying with Santa
to tell you of our greetings
to all our friends. We're
saying, “A very Merry
Christmas to you.”
How Christmas
Cards Started
(Continued from Page One)
cards? Who were the people most
responsible for founding a custom
that brings infinite happiness into
every American home?
The first Christmas card, 1
learned, was discovered by, and is
now on display in, the British Mu-
seum, Holiday celebrations of the
early Victorian period were en-
graved into four scenes. In the
upper-right corner, dancers. doing
the Roger de Coverly suggest that
Victorian England offered a much
gayer life than has since been re-
ported. :
Elsewhere on the first Christmas
card are scenes of a Punch and
Judy show, top-hatted ice skaters,
and a happy dinner party waiting
for—you guessed it—plum pudding!
The title, destined to become the =
most popular Yuletide greeting ever
composed, was -hand-lettered—“A
Merry Christmas & A Happy New
Year To You.”
Commercially, this carefully ‘en-
graved card was a failure. Young
William Egley had neglected to
color it—the one feature that has
been shared by nearly every suc-
cessful Christmas card since then.
Nevertheless, Egley’s error set
the stage for the cheerful Yuletide =
season that we celebrate today.
Charles Dickens, already in a
lover’s quarrel with the straight-
laced Victorian attitude, wrote the
beloved “A Cchistmas Carol” in
1843, giving the Spirit of Scrooge
its death-blow.
In the next few years, artists
and publishers intensified their ef-
forts, and Christmas cards went
through an. experimental or face-
lifting period. Then, in 1866,
Messrs. Marcus Ward and Co. of
Belfast, Ireland, were commissioned
by an English !firm to lithograph a
set of four designs by the artist, C.
H. Bennett. Reproductions from
this set, it seems, were the fore-
runners of the first ‘‘popular’”
Christmas cards. :
Standards for Christmas cards
published by Marcus Ward and Co. ;
were. extremely high. For years this
firm monopolized most of the
better-class trade. The Ward cards =
were conventional, almost always,
and the finished product embodied
gala Christmas scenes, floral de-
vices, and beautiful hand lettering.
Before the 1860’s—the same era
which saw bustles come into fash-
ion—had passed, the exchange of
greeting cards
colorful Yuletide
was one ‘of England's most
cherished ‘customs. As might be ex-
pected ‘between two countries
whose cultural ties are so closely - g
allied, Christmas cards soon mi-
grated to America, Here, the story
of their origin parallels the career
of Louis Prang, a Hthograsher of
many rare talents. 2
On April 6, 1850, Prang Brrived of
in New York City, a political exile =
from his native Germany, and in
poor repair both physically and fi-
nancially. In a brief 25 years, he
was established in Boston as.one
of our most important lithogra-
phers, had published the first
American Christmas
could say of his career:
“It was in 1865 that I inaugur-
ated the chromo. I followed this up
with the chromo business card in
1873, and with the artistic Christ-
mas card in 1874-5, all of which
publications made the tour around
the world, and set more lithogra-
phic presses to work all over
Europe and America than any hE
other special line of publications
ever did before or after.” n
The ‘‘chromos” Prang referred to °
were the product of a printing pro- Le
cess, chromo-lithography, that he
helped to perfect. Their vast range
of colors and shades, simulating
the woven texture of an artist's
canvass, received popular and pro-
fessional acclaim the world over.
Today, Prang’s ‘‘chromos’
luable collector’s items.
In 1880, Prang initiated his an- ne
nual prize awards for the best
Christmas card design by a free-
lance artist. These contests, unique ol
at that time, were instrumental i
improving the artistic foundation 7
of Christmas card designs, and in
attracting national attention to the :
new-born Yuletide custom. 0
Christmas cards from galley 1 ..
Ten years later, with an uncon- i
tested claim to the title “Father !
of the American Christmas card”,
Louis Prang abruptly discontinued
card, and
are. .va-....
publishing Christmas cards. Cheaper
reproductive processes had been
developed, and cheap novelty
cards from Europe were flooding
Bert and Co. Cutrate Store
MAIN STREET
C. Wayne Gordon
Your Farm Bureau Agent
Main Highway Phone 557 Shavertown
MAIN STREET - DALLAS
A few lines tell our story.
The most merry of Christ-
mases to you.
PHONE 9085-R-7
Here’s a hope that the joy
in your life grows as rap-
idly as a snowball rolling
XR I I SPL I RS RE REVERE NS TE
To all, on this glorious day,
whether you are near or
far, we wish the most sin-
cere greetings for a most
the country. Prang decided to with- -
draw from the field, rather than
risk bankruptcy with his ‘more ex
pensive ‘“chromos.”
The modern era of - Christians hy
cards dates from 1900-1910, when
a number of new publishing firms
were first established. But the big
boom came immediately after
World War I. At that time, public
fancy was completely won over by
the symbolic designs—Christmas
trees, holly wreaths, gleaming can-
dles, and church bells—which are
as popular today as they were
then. :
down a snow-covered hill.
= fins In war peace, however, Bs
: wonderful Chr stmas. ¥ Christmas ini with some r
variation of Clement Moore's
mortal poem, “A Visit ‘From i
Nicholas,” have always been pop-
ular. One of the 1951 Christmas
cards, for example, offers this
friendly verse: i
This greeting at Christmas
Is sent to your house
With good wishes for everyone .
Even the mouse! y
Paul Shaver
Electrical Work of All Kinds
Phone Dallas 63
“Phil” Cheney's Service Station
In The Triangle
Youngblood's Groceries
Main Road, Dallas Dallas
Phone Dallas 241-R-3 Penna.