Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 52, Number 300, Decatur, Adams County, 22 December 1954 — Page 13

THURSDAY, DaCEMBJSiAafcHIMA - _ - -

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I-■ •. ’ '«• < X L . - . ’ - ■ ’ ' „ . _ - • . ' ... S? w ■■ ... •• '". !; Thank You! I. .. ■ I BOWER I . | “““ Jewelry Store Jf ” . . . FERRIS BOWER X |J (.RACE BAILEY , .' , JOHN. RICHARD EICHHORN I | ' Many Thanks! »'" • I KAYE’S I SHOESTORE ] • DAVID KAYE JOHN KABLE FLOSSIE BOGNER

1 . 1,1 commercial I|M kJjjjifc. ... G(?41 .J.i4?~fc 7 '.ZSt_7

Every year about this time we hear the same stery: Christmas Is getting too commercial. Last year, in fact, some grownups “rebelled and said because Christmas was getting "so commercial” they Intended to tell their children that there was no Santa Claus. J Like little Virginia O’Hanlon, who wrote the famous “Is there a Santa” letter to the editor of the New York Sun, children are very easily disillusioned. But, like Virginia, they need only reassurance from someone they believe in ;to sustain their wonderful belief. It is entirely wrong for us to shatter their dreams. Christmas IS commercial in some aspects. Thousands of people earn a livelihood working the year around in toy shops or factories which produce Christmas specialties. This, in itself, does not make Christmas “too commercial,** for toymakers have produced Christmas novelties for hundreds and hundreds of years. In

Over three-fourths of the nation’s Christmas trees come from the states bordering Canada.

THE DECATUR DAILY

the same vein, we can not say Christmas is too commercial merely because newspapers, magazines and catalogs are filled with gift advertising as the holiday season approaches. They advertise Spring merchandise. Fall merchandise, etc., so why not Christmas merchandise, when the dominant theme is one of giving? No—“ Too commercial" is an overstatement Christmas is too commercial only in the minds of grown-ups. If we think so, let’s work to see that the “true spirit” of the season abounds about us and not attempt to take away from , children the joy of one of the greatest moments in their young lives t —the time when Santa visits. For— "he exists as certainly as 1 love and generosity and devotion . exist, and you know that they 1 abound and give to your life its t highest beauty and joy. Alas! How . dreary would be the world if there . was no Santa Claus!” -j— Let there be a Santa as long as 1 there are little Virginias.

. v i . dtfethlehem ■ • 1 City Co day ! Jilted With (Poor cdnd JdomeleM As they have done since the ' first Christmas, Christians will this I year follow the Star to the stable- | grotto beneath the Church of the [ Nativity, the traditional birthplace ! of Jesus of Nazareth in Bethlehem. Always small and poor, BethleI hem is even poorer today than j most people would believe. A rej cent visitor said, "Wanderers fill ! the streets—anyone can see why |. Mary and Joseph found no room in [ the inn.” Last Christmas, shepherds j watching their flocks outside Beth- | lehem had to be especially watchful lest the sheep trap themselves ■ in the barbed wire of the narrow I no-man’s land separating Jordan | and Israel. Bethlehem, on the Jor- ’ dan side of the wire, has as well been sorely affected by the hosl tility and the uneasy truce. It is ! crowded with Arab refugees who formerly lived in Israel. The effect of the conflict has I been crippling of Bethlehem’s chief . I industry, the making and selling of objects of piety from olive wood, j Dead Sea stone and mother-of-I pearl. Except at Christmas, pil- ’ II grims are so few that the profit had gone from the business. ‘ On Christmas Eve, however, toe [ dusty city takes on new life. Chiis- . tian diplomats living in divided Jerusalem expect to be escorted ' to the little town over the unused I highway through no-man’s land. Pilgrims from the Israeli side pass through the Mandelbaum Gate. I Pilgrims rich and poor alike, 1 worship together In the fourth century Church of the Nativity. There | is a High Mass, during which the ! image of the Christ Child is carried from the church through a series of underground chapels. The ceremonies come to a cllI fnax before three adjacent shrines. The Altars of the Nativity, the Wise Men and the Manger. Outside, Christians from many lands • will sing, as angels sang nearly 2,000 years ago: "Glory to God In highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” ’ Did You Wonder H Why Santa Drops Gifts Down Chimney? How did it come about that SanI ta drops his gifts down the chimney? — For the answer to this common i I I belief about Santa and Christmas, | welnust go back to Saint Nicholas. J. r^ g P? ns^ le for so.many pt.her. cus- . toms related to Christmas. There's a story about an impoverished nobleman who was unable , to find husbands for his three daughters because he could not afford a dowry for each. He was 1 j about to sell the daughters into , slavery when St. Nicholas heard I about it. Silently, Old Saint Nick 1 . dropped three bags of gold down ■ the chimney. All three daughters 1 soon married and lived happily ever after. _ Thereafter, Saint Nicholas was > often pictured holding three bags ' of gold. It is thought that he died about 343 A.D. and historians say that for 30 days after his death his genial spirit roajned the earth. 1 filling the hearts of mUnkipd with loy,e and generosity. j It could be said that St. Nick and Dr. Clement Moore, who wrote : "A Visit From Saint Nicholas" (now better known as "’Twas the Night Before Christmas" )• tributed most to our present com cent of Santa Claus. ■ ■ ■ Wheeling' — Giant shovels used In the surface mining df coal have I 60-cuhle yard, dippers that can. lx' lifted' 1 to the hefglir’ST’a seven | story building. ■ 1 ■ • ■ ' <1 » ■. ■'

Christmas Scene: St. Francis Set The Stage D<J you over wonder about the origin of the custom of di paying the Christ Child in the crib at Christmas time? These displays hare become increasingly popular, so that this Christmas 'we find manger scenes | in churches, store windows, even in outdoor locations. i - Credited with the idea of the first display is St. Francis of Assisi, who is reported to have said to one of his followers: "I wish to celebrate Holy Christmas night with you. In the woods near the cloister you will find a cave where we shall arrange a manger filled with hay. We shall have an ost arid an ass fust as at Btthlehem. I wish to see how poor and miserable the Infant Saviour became jor us.” —| This was in the small village of Garcia, in Italy, in the year 12(10. St. Francis andhis falloivers celebrated mass at the cave and sang hymns in honor of the Christ Child. *———— l IH ■ Il Chrisitniasjjoy 4 *#i» i. ' *Va ■ M-’v Ji Ik Wkt* yours be a f C I j Holiday Season fireside warmth " and “ old-fashioned '| > jmL good cheer. K KENNY’S 0. K. BARBER SHO? K. of P. Building

- — ■■■ ■■ ~~ .. . ) ( jP' L/ JJ's ffl* ■■ /'a h - m. ■ J- lie spirit of Christmas DV JWy warms every heart, brightens ' ” every eye, every care... AliW - , It moves us to express our de I.p ; f Z*I—*N 1 —*N wW ~ ’ 1 ' appreciation of tlie friendship j ' * faA BB ’ >iir m ZVi- ’ IjsWl antl loyalty ol our customers, . i ’ lan Jto wish for all a ricli aLun- 4 J-ZB 11 IL) j c1 r- . 1 i ■ H w r dance of the Season a happiness J ■ 1 ■ j- "j, j ■ v u 'Ji j / WYLIE E Furniture Company 1. : — —*

| ' 'Vf * “-■ ’ . I I a Hearty wishes for a®* ■ gs -■ W .«.-■ ■■ •/>■s•? |i " F holiday ‘ - || | L’ happiness , - A—if j i *•*< I and good Hfr ' v ,h "'- v I z*' <^jf-s>•'*’ A.' • 'j '- v *'■ ■ r ■ <Ws - iSf ; : ) 'i ’ ■ . :■: ™ ■ - : |> QIZiS». ' ’fc •\ 1- ' HAMMOND FRUIT MKT. X 210 N. 13th St. Open r Days A Week —, ; — ——

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