Jasper County Democrat, Volume 15, Number 72, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 December 1912 — Page 7 Advertisements Column 2 [ADVERTISEMENT]

WHEN THE YULE LOG BURNED Pretty Customs of Former Times That Surrounded That Necessary Feature of Christmas. The Yule log on the fireplace roared. The whole hall was aglow, The great hounds lay before the blaze, Dreaming of stag and boar. One of the prettiest sights of the old-time Christmas must have been that of the Yule log being drawn homeward, surrounded with joyous laughing children, shouting merry greeting to each wayfarer as he, doffed his hat in reverence to the log bo full of good promises whose flames had the power to burn out old wrongs and heartburnings. On the arrival of the log at the “baronial hall” It was customary for each member of the family to greet It In Atting manner either In verse or song. Jn some parts of France there was also the custom of the Christmas log, although there has been a different significance. There the log had suspended from each end the toys, cakes and fruits for the children of the bouse. These were the gifts Petit Maulet or Christmas child was said to have brought. In the mountain districts of Germany the Christmas log was supposed to have the power of wardlhg off dangers from lightning and was kept beneath the bed of the master of the house from one Christmas till the next, when It was used to light the new log. On Christmas eve all lights and fires were extinguished in the house and a piece of the last year's wood was taken to the neighboring church, where It was lighted at the flames of the sanctuary light, signifying the new light that had come Into the world on this night Beaulieu on National Debts. M. Beaulieu declares that the world at the present time Is badly governed; that It Is In the hands of incurable prodigals and Improvident experimenters. As proof of this position he points to the public debts of all countries, which show a decided tendency to multiply, not by reason of stress of extraordinary circumstances, such as war or national disaster, but because the credit of nations Is extended to enterprises which should remain, within the field of private endeavor.