Saturday Evening Mail, Volume 28, Number 25, Terre Haute, Vigo County, 18 December 1897 — Page 8

It is a pleasant thought ht Christmas time that the celebration of the season is almost universal and that its festivities extend in one form or another among most of the nations of the earth. The tree and Santa Claus are an inheritance from pagan times, and so we find them existing among nations that have never known Christianity, but they have become so incorporated into our household life that we scarcely think of questioning their origin. It is comparatively recent, however, that the Christmas celebration has assumed its present character in the United States. The Quakers, regarding on? day as holy as another, treated ft with indifference, and in New England the Puritans frowned upon it, associating the Christmastideand its revelries in old England with the pagan mythologies and the ancient saturnalia and superstitions of the church. In the colonial period, in spite of Quaker and Puritan repression, the popular games and mummings which in England belonged to the season, continued to be more or less observed. It is related that in the middle of the last century, in Boston, maskers came into houses, and entered with a speech. The performance included a prologue, combat, cure and questions. All were in disguse, with swords, etc.

At this time Christmas was not kept. Probably every city in America bad some such usage, Thus in Philadelphia, the Lord of Misrule with his merry crowd, went from house to house in fantastic garb, singing rhymes and asking for "dole." The old English masque of St. George and the Dragon seems to have been pressed into service during the Revolutionary period, and some of its characters, much modified, doubtless long existed among the annual mummers who survive as our "New Year Shooters." Our Christmas mince pie is an inheritance from English Christmas cookery, but the tree is German, and it is to the Pennslyvania Germans that wo are indebted for it and the stockings hung in front of the fireplace. In precisely the same manner the Germans introduced the Christmas tree into England, where its translation is attributed to Prince Albert, who always retained his German tastes and gratified them at the court.

In Northern Germany, children receive their presents by a special messenger called ICuecht Rupert, a legendary personage dressed in buskins, a white robe, a mask and a flowing flax wig. He goes his merry round on Weinachtsabeud, Christmas eve. If he finds the children have been good he gives them toys, but if bad, ho leaves a birch rod for their parents to chastise them. In other parts Knecht Rupert is replaced by Nicholaus, the patron saint of boys, on whose eve, the 6th of December, glided nuts and sweetmeats are distributed to children. We get the name Kriss Kringle, as we commonly call St. Nicholas, from the Dutch, as also Santa Klaus, which is only another form of Nicholas, lvnech Rupert, or Globes, is an old heathen personage, while St. Nicholas represents his Christian substitute. Kriss Kfiugle, "Christ Child," is, of course, the ijli$uojner for the saint that brings him. The main difference between the celebration of Christmas in Protestant and Catholic countries Is that in t.he latter it is a purely religious festival, while in Protestant lands it is mainly social.

Spanish children hide their shoes or slippers In the bushes on Christmas eve

and find them filled with fruit and sugar plums on Christmas morning. For weeks before the festival the windows of the confectioners and pastry cooks are bright with comfits appropriate to the occasion. In Madrid the old Plaasa Mayos is filled with small booths for some days before Christmas. They are licensed to sell Christmas toys, which they display in great variety and of a kind peculiar to the country. This fair is indeed a gay spectacle, rivaling that held earlier in the autumn In the Prado. The chief wares are small terra cottn toys, painted with taste and skill, representing not only the Holy Family and scenes in the life of Jesus, but all the avocations of Spanish life, executed with spirit in painted clay. There are small churches, too, of plaster, with colored windows, behind which lights are placed, and a variety of noise-producing toys, chief of which is an instrument called a xambotnba, made of a tin can covered with gay-colored paper and having a straw fastened to a parchment or paper stretched across one end. When the rosined hand is drawn along the straw a noise is produced that is simply astounding. The shrieks of thexamboma are mingled with the cries of the venders, who shout, "Barato! barato!" (Cheap cheap?) at the top of their lungs, or ring bells to attract attention.

Spanish children have no Christmas trees, but instead, all those who can afford it, are provided with a Naclmiento, or representation of the Nativity. The main feature of this toy, if such it can be called, is the little child Jesus in the cradle, with his father and mother, the animals of the stable and the magi, or the angels, perhaps, made of painted clay. These are usually embowered in a kind of greenery, sometimes made in the form of a mount, and to them are sometimes added the animals of Noah's ark and a wealth of the clay toys that adorn the Christmas fair. The Nacitniento is kept from year to year, receiving additions as time go** by. The University museum possesses a curious example from Peru. It is nearly, if not more than two centuries old. and enclosed in a great box, the lid of which, when uplifted, discloses heaven,

Christmas :in Other Lands.

A Holiday That Is Generally Celebrated Throughout the World.

How the Children Observe This Great Annual Festival In Other Countries Than Our Own—Old "Santa Claus" in Some Form Is Universally Popular.

Some

with angels playing upon musical instru ments of antique fashion. The interior, as usual, represents the manger at Bethlehem, but the front of the box, which can be let down, is intended to suggest the garden of Eden. It is filled with curious anachronisms. Cacti grow fro 19 the rocks, and the scene of the temptation is in close proximity to a field of Indian corn. The Nochebuena, or Christmas eve, is celebrated in Spanish homes by a family party, and a table set with' wine and sweetmeats, while officers and young men assemble in their clubs and cafes.

In France the Christmas tree was quite unknown, but it is now being introduced with other customs, possibly by way of England. Christmas, called Noel, from Neuvelles (tidings), is much less made of than the New Year. For three or four days before, the boulevards of Paris are lined with little wooded booths, which belong to the municipality, and in which all sorts of cheap toys are sold. Large quantities of song birds are exposed for sale, together with little paroquets. As in Spain, a family reunion is customary on La Veille, Christmas eve, and of young men at restaurants. Many go to the midnight mass at the churches, the music at the Madeleine being particularly fine Presents are put on the breakfast table on Christmas morning. In the Catholic churches, as everywhere throughout Christendom, there is a shrine with a cradle and the Holy Family.

In Spanish America the old customs are held tenaciously. In Lima bands of children go about on Christmas eve from house to house, where there is a Nacimiento, singing carols in the old familiar way. Where the Germans predominate, as in Argentine, the Christmas tree is as common as with us.

In Italy the ceppo, as the Christmas tree is called, exists in many scarcely recognizable forms. In Florence we find it as a kind of basket made of straw, to hold the gifts. The plaster toys of the Nativity are here curiously medieval. The Three Kings are accompanied by servants wearing Phrygian caps, and the tints of the robes of Joseph and Mary are those we see in the old pictures. Here, as in Merry England, the Yule log survives, with magical virtues that come down from remote heathen times. In Perugia, the writer was told that in a village nearby long deliberations were held whether to put a lightning rod on the church steeple or a brand from last year's Yule log. The log was finally decided on—and could until, recently have been seen in place on the steeple.

Farmers gb aronnd .their orchards with the brands, which are not only a protection against lightning, but also keep away catterpillars.

A more or less intimate connection seems to exist between the Yule log and the Christmas tree. The latter, with its lights, is analogous to bonfires made by

the Scandinavians in honor of Thor at the winter solstice. Both refer to the revival of the sun, to the renewed light which the new sun brings into the world. In Iceland we read that the service tree is found adorned with burning lights during Christmas night, which lights cannot be extinguished, even by the strongest storms.

But it is in ancient China we find the first record of what has become our Christmas tree. In the records of the Tsin dynasty, which ended 247 B. C., and from which our name of China is derived, we read that a tree with a hundred lamps and flowers was placed at the entrance to the audience hall, Again, it is recorded of the celebrated Princess Yang, the allpowerful favorite of the Emperor Ming Hwang, A. D. 713-755, that she caused a "hundred lamp tree," 80 feet high, to be erected upon a high mountain. It was lighted upon New Year's night aud its shine was seen for hundreds of miles, eclipsing the light of the moon.

Dr. Gustav Schlegel tells how the Christmas tree is no longer lighted in China, being replaced with enormous quantities of lanterns,, which are lighted everywhere. Of course, one must not look for the analogous celebrations to our own Christmas at precisely the same season. Like most of our Christmas customs, they belong properly to the New Year. Thus in Japan, two evergreen trees are placed without the house, just opposite the door. They are tied at the top with a straw rope, and various symbolic objects, lobsters and oranges, are fastened to their branches.

In Southern China, from where our Chinese laborers come, an equivalent for the tree is erected everywhere at the New Year season. A special altar is built, with curious bunches of artificial flowers and paper toys in vases placed on either side. These objects, called golden flowers, are the tree. There is a patron genii of the occasion, too, an old man with a very long egg-shaped head, popularly known as Shau Sing-Rung, or the Starry Longevity Sage. He is represented holding a peach, the emblem of long life, and little boys swarm around him. He is the prototype of cur own jolly saint and is the especial friend and patron of children. We cannot always connect the similar customs and traditions of separated people and weave them into a smooth historical narrative, but these world-wide identities which we find in customs and traditions serve to emphasise the sentiment of the Christmas season. "Peace on earth, good will to men."

It is strictly an America** remedy homemade and without foreign Savor, we refer to Salvation Oil, the greatest cure on earth for pain. 3*1*1 5g"

J4-I«

Most of our Christmas customs come from the German. Kris Kringle is legendary myth whose origin is involved in mnch doubt Formerly in the small villages of Germany the presents made by all the parents were sent to some one person, who, in high buskins, a white robe, a mask and an enormous flax wig, and known as Knecht Rupert, went from house to house. He was re oeived by the parents with great reverence, and, calling for the children, presented the gifts to them according to the accounts of their conduct received from the parents. It appears as highly probable that this custom gave rise to our present innumerable legends about Santa Claus.—Philadelphia Times.

The Considerate Woman.

It was at the busiest hour of the busiest day the store had seen in a long time, and the busiest place in all the store was the lace department. Foui women, four frantically eager women, were waiting. The fifth woman had the only saleswoman at that end of the counter and was looking at lace, real lace. 1 think she must have examined a dozen pieces. The four women seemed on the verge of apoplexy. "Haven't you something wider?" asked the fifth woman.

Certainly,'' answered the tired saleswoman, dragging out another box. "This is $15 a yard."-

The eyes of the fifth woman glistened. "Yes," she said to her companion, "that's like mine. I just wanted to know what he paid for it. That's all."

And she sailed out of the shop. Not one of the four women waiting found a word to say, but the saleswoman gasped weakly, "Well, I never 1"—Washington Post.

jV A Jaundiced View. 1

"I don't see why it should be deemed a disgrace," the youthful bachelor remarked in the course of the conversation, "for a woman to ask a man tc marry her." "It isn't a disgrace, replied the elderly maiden. "Idiocy is a misfortune.' —Cincinnati Enquirer.*

Another Matter.

"Do you think a man has aright tc open his wife's letters?" "Well, he may have the right, but 1 don't see how he could have the cour age. "—Chicago Record.

Garrick tried to abolish prologues and epilogues, but the audiences of his da would not consent. ....

IT IS EASY TO TELL

People who fail to look after their health are like the carpenter who neglects to sharpen his tools. People are not apt to get anxious about their health soon enough. If you are "not quite well" or "half sick" have you ever thought that your kidneys may be the cause of your sickness?

It is easy to tell by setting aside your urine for twenty-four hours a sediment or settling indicates an unhealthy condition, of the kidneys. When urine stains linen it is evidence of kidney trouble. Too frequent desire to urinate, scanty supply, pain or dull ache in the .back is also convincing proof that the kidneys and bladder are out of order.

There is satisfaction in knowing that the great remedy, Dr. Kilmer's Swamp-Root, fulfills every wish in relieving weak or diseased kidneys and all forms of bladder and urinary troubles. Not only does Swamp-Iioot give new life and activity to the kidneys—the cause of trouble, but by treating the kidneys it acts as a tonic for the entire constitution. If you need a medicine take Swamp-Root it cures. Sold by druggists, price fifty cents and one dollar, or by sending your address and the name of this paper to Dr. Kilmer & Co., Binghamton, N. Y., you may have a sample bottle of this great discovery sent to you free by mail.

Grand Raffle at Alex Sandison's, 677 Main street, on next Thursday and Friday evenings, December 23 and 24.

l, IM

To Care Constipation Forever. Take Cascarets Candy Cathartic. 10c or 250. If C. C. C. fail to core, druggists re fund money.

Tel. 428j::

Wilvert, 713 and 1115 Wabash avenue, manufactures the Improved Alegretta Chocolates. Try them^|-|jV

Hot Chocolate,

Ice Cream, in any shape or style. Soda Water all the year at Wilvert's, 7x3 and 1115 Main. Tel. 428.

H«-To-B»c for Fifty C*mt4.

Gtansteed tobacco habit care, makes weak UKastroeg, Uood pare. C0e,|L All druggist*.

TEBRE HAUTE SATURDAY EYENOG MAIL,, DECEMBER 18, 1897.

CHRISTMAS GIVING.

A Custom That Gomes From the Three Wise Hen Who Followed the Star. Of course you need not be told of the origin of presenting gifts at this season of the year. The three wise men who followed the star until it remained stationary over the stable in Bethlehem, and who, entering the hovel when in were the cow and the ass, knelt down before the beautiful Babe in the manger, placed before him presents of myrrh, frankincense and gold. Their example is the example that yon follow today, 1,895 years after the Magi made obeisance to the Child Jesus, and when yon place presents before the little ones who are made in the image of the Divine Babe yon are doing what was done by the eastern kings, bat remember that to carry ont their example to the full the babes in the mangers, the little ones in hovels, must not be forgotten.

CHRIST CHILD .LEGENDS.

Beasta wad Birds Have a Prominent Place In Christmas Lore.

The story of the hunting of the wren Jp the isle of Man every Christmas is well known. She is known as Our Lady's hen, God's chicken, Christ's bird, because she was present at Christ's birth, brought moss and feathers to cover the Holy Babe and made a nest in his cradle.

In France the cuckoo was believed to have flown from a Christmas log. 1 A Latin poem of the middle ages tells that the crossbill hatches her eggs at Christmas and her young birds fly off in their full plumage at Easter.

The Mohammedans have many legends of Isa, or Jesus. One tells that when he was 7 years old he and his companions made birds and beasts of day, and Isa proved his superiority by making his fly and walk as be commanded.

In the Tyrol they say the ravens used to have snow white plumage, but one day Jesus wanted to drink at a stream, and they splashed and

befouled the

water that he could not, so he said, "Ungrateful birds, you are proud of your snow white feathers, but they shall become black and remain so until the judgment day."

A Russian legend tells that the horse flesh is considered unclean because when Christ lay in his manger the horse ate the hay from under his bed, but the ox would not and brought back on his horns to replace what the horse ate.

The Britons believe that the ox and the ass talk together between 11 and 12 o'clock every Christmas eve.

In Germany the cattle kneel in their stalls at that hour. Another version says they stand up.

The ass and the cow are sacred because they breathed upon the Holy Babe in his stall.

The ass is the most sure footed of animals because he carried the holy family to Egypt by night. He has had a cross on his back ever since.

Old women used to sprinkle holy water on the ass and the cow to drive away disease.

Bees are said to buzz in their hives at the exact hour of our Saviour's birth. In north Germany the version of the man in the moon is thus told: One Christmas eve a peasant greatly desired cabbage, but as he had none in his own garden he stole from his neighbor. Just as he filled his basket the Christ Child rode by on his white horse and said, "Because thou has. stolen on Christmas eve thou shalt sit in the moon with thy cabbage basket." And there he still sits.—Philadelphia Ledger.

Nervous people find relief by enriching their blood with Hood's Sarsaparilla, which is the one true blood purifier and nerve tonic.

*1 Christmas Weather.

In a note following some quotations regarding Christmas and winter weather the author of an old London publication says, "These prognostics of weather, etc., I look upon as altogether uncertain, and were they narrowly observed would as often miss as hit." Besides being quoted as above the proverb is varied as follows: "A hot May makes a fat churchyard" and "A green winter makes a fat churchyard." To the latter proverb is added this note, "This proverb was sufficiently confuted in the year 1667, when the winter was very mild, and yet no mortality or epidemical disease ensued the summer or autumn following."—Philadelphia Ledger. .,.

Pure blood, and plenty of "it,5 for nourishing the tissues of the body, is requisite for good health. This is obtained with Dr. Bull's Pills, the best blood-maker and tissue-builder.

Chrutmas*'\

A joyous season still we make, We bring our precious gifts to them, I Even for the dear child Jesus' sake. —Phoebe Gary. Blow, bugles of battle, the marches of peace! East, west, north and south let the long quarrel cease. Sing the song of great joy that the angels began. Sing of glory to God and of good will to man. -Whittiar.

Again at Christmas did we weave II The holly round the Christmas hearth. The silent snow possessed the earth. —Tennyson.

Don't delay always be on tim&,~: for prevention is better than cure. All coughs and colds and such affections of the throat and lungs ah lead to consumption are cured by Dr. Bull's Cough Syrup.

Stop drugging yourself with quack nostrums or "cures." Get a well-known pharmaceutial remedy that will do the work. Catarrh and Cold in the head will not cause suffering if Ely's Cream Balm is used. Druggists supply 10c trial size or 50c. full size, We mail it.

ELY BROS., 56 Warren St., N. Y. City. Rev. John Rcid, Jr., of Great Falls, Mont., recommended Ely's Cream Balm to me. I can emphasise his statement. It is a positive cure for catarrh if used as directed."—Rev. Francis W. Poole, Pastor Central Presbyterian Church, Helena, Mont.

You ought to have your pictures framed at "The Modern," because we know how to do it

New Orleans.

Queen and Crescent Route. 34 hours Cincinnati to New Orleans. Through vestl baled trains.

THE MODERN.

Up-to-Date Photographic Studio, Where Only the Finest Work is Produced. It is not given to many cities of this size to have such a model photographic establishment as the Modern, where George G. Holloway holds forth. Easy of access, handsomely equipped and furnished with all the possible accommodations for the comfort and convenience of its patrons, it has every facility for prompt and efficient work. The gallery is equipped with two skylights, and with Mr. Holloway and Walter Buckingham as the operators, there is no tedious delays for sittings, as is too often the case in other establishments The character of the work produced at the Modern is best evidenced by the fact that Mr. Holloway has carried away substantial prizes at the meetings of the National Photographers' association, as well as at the meetings of the state organization. He is a born photographer—photograph ers are born, not made—and in posing he studies his subjects and brings out the best effects in the most striking manner. There is no more acceptable Christmas present for a friend or relative than a photograph of one's self, and there is no better place in Terre Haute to secure one that is up-to date in every respect than at the Modern. Another feature that is proving quite popular at the Modern is the framing department, which is in personal charge of Chas. W. Merring, whose taste, familiarity with the business and long experience, render it easy for him to please his patrons where others find it difficult. He carries an elegant line cf art goods, which handsomely framed make a suitable present for the holidays.

The Modern is prepared for the holiday trade with an elegant line of Art Goods, Pictures, mounted and unmounted, Frames, etc. The Framing Department has no superior in the city, being under the supervision of Mr. Chas. W. Merring, whose artistic tastes are well displayed in the beautiful work turned out at The Modern.

Wilvert for your Christmas candies. The finest assortment of Box-Bon Bons and Chocolates ever seen in Terre Haute. 713 and 1115 Wabash avenue. Tel. 428.

Buy your Christmas Candies, Groceries and Meats at Will White's, corner of Second and Farrington streets. You will get the very best and save money over uptown prices.

For the best and cheapest Christmas Toys go to A. HOBERG, 675 Main, near Seventh.

-:f'V-V *,

Heap on more wood. The wind Is chill, But, let it whtetle as it will.

We'll keep oar merry Christmaft still. —Walter Scott. Lol, now Is come our Joyfnl'st feast I

Let every man be Jolly. Each room with ivy leaves is drest If* And every post with holly. —Withers. For little children everywhere

FRED"ELLENBERGER

DEADER I*

FINE WINES, LIQUORS and CIGARS

1138 Wabash Avenue

*7 ipx

GOOD PLUMBING

is of vital Importance to health in cities, and. in fact, is a necessity. There is no doabt about onr plumbing being good. Our list of patrons say it is the best.

Freitag, Weinhardt & Go.

lumbers. Gas, Steam and lot Watei ater Fitters,

940 Wabash Avenue

A. R. Uomriaont.

ilifsSlifS

ICHAS. DRCSSLKR.

Honninger 1 Dressier,

Bee Line Exchange

Opposite BIG FOUR DEPOT. We will present a handsome SOCVENIR to all our patrons on Christmas morning.

Grand BAFFLE every evening, commencing this even

ing, S&tcrday, December 19th.

Suits to order, $18 upward. Pants to order, $4 upware. (For twenty days only) Overcoats to order. §18 jijward.

WM. a.

HOLLER

Tailor and Draper

820 Wabash Avenue

Fred K^kler

DEALER IN FINE

None but the Purost and Best Roods handled.

130 South Fourth Street, Opposite City Hall.

ALBERT FIESS

Manufacturer of and Dealer in

Horse Furnishing Goods

HARNESS, SADDLES, ', TRUNKS, VALISES, SACHELS, Etc.

115 South Fourth St

Repairing done at reasonable prices.'

Mt. Vernon Rye

The very best Whiskey that was ever offered to the public, la sold exclusively in this city at

The Little Herman...

HERMAN SCHAUEFLER, Propr.

ART

On Seventh Street, opppslte Grand Opera House. The great "between tho acts" resort. The nicest gloss of Beer In the city. A bell rings Hive minutes before the curtain goes up at the Grand.

North Seventh Street, Opp. Grand Opera House

Store

Artists' Supplies* Flower Material. Picture Framing a Specialty. SOUTH SIXTH. East Side.

Terre Haute, Ind.

C. F. WILLIAMS, D. D. S.

DENTAL PARLORS,

-r.-i Corner Sixth and Main Streets,

ytbtfiJi __ jiitfetf

TEBRE HADTE. IND.

A Handsome Complexion

Is oae of the greatest charms a woman can possess. Ponwi's COSUTJUUOK Fvworn give* it.