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About The news-herald. (Plattsmouth, Neb.) 1909-1911 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 9, 1909)
: rt w 3 11 D NVr-p.iT ')c) Chanoi jp rvT 4-7 Vf I Hill' w m m wfi v urn mm m vim . -" tf e Atjj -vi ' -- , i vvi jir.i i .-raTTi.irt,,. :UVMfi. VAJ -flit,-" i ,1 IE Potomac river Joes not mark th:; boundary be tween tho southern and northern Christmas. Tho spirit of tho holiday si'a son of tin; south makes Itself felt through the District of Co tumbla, through Maryland and well In to Pennsylvania. Hon' li Is still the Christmas of the candlelight and of the blazing log, the ChrlMmas of the distinctive old England cheer. It is probable that there has been 1 Christmas tree In the White House t every holiday season in every ad ministration excepting that of Theo dore Roosevelt. Old residents of Washington say that even the bach elor and the widower presidents had Christmas trees to remind them of their own childhood, or to be used as in attraction for specially invited chil dren guests. President Taft's youngest child. "Charlie," is of Christmas tree age and inclination. Roth the president, and his wife are young in heart, and tho Christmas tree has always had a place in their holiday merrymaking. The president's two older children, Robert and Helen, ar In college, the one at Ynle and the other at P.ryu Mawr. Like all other college students who can make the journey home, the president's older children are with their parents. Christmas in the White House U very much like the Christmas in the homes of all American families. When there are children in the great colon ial mansion stockings are hung up, and the expectation and excitement of Christmas eve are just as great as they are In any of the humbler homes in the land. Christmas i;t a home day for tho president and his family. All business Is given over, and the White House clerks and employes, to say nothing of the cabinet ollicers and the senators and representatives who make daily journeys to the president's office, know that on Christmas day of ell the days in the year the president wishes to throw off the cares of state and to have the same privilege that any other American citizen may have the privilege of enjoying his family and of p'irtakiiig with It undisturbed of the Christmas cheer. It has been said that there was no Christmas trep at the White House in the holiday seasons when Theodore Roosevelt was president. There were six children in the Roosevelt family, all of them of Christmas tree ago when the colonel of Rough Riders be came president. There were always happy times at Christmas In tho Roosevelt household, but the Christ mas tree was barred because the pres ident being a strong advocate of the preservation of the forests, thought that It was little less than a sin to cut down trees and of necessity kill them, in order to use them for merely decorative purposes. It is 6aid that on one occasion thd youngest boy of the household had a tree give nhini, and thinking that in asmuch as it was already cut down he might as well keep it, he put it in the closet off his room and there sur reptlously trimmed it. It is also said that his father discovered the tree, but the historians of the household do know, or at any rate do not say, what pened then, and so the end of one story of a former Christmas tree celebration in the ex ecutive mansion must forever remain unknown. In this Potomac river section where the old time Virginia Christmas spirit still dwells, there Ih an openness about the holiday that is like the openness of the Virginia home. Perhaps but here the ready doubter probably will Inter pose objection it is the transmitted spirit of the old days still Indwelling In the hearts of the inhabitants the spirit ot the cavalier who generally made too free with his means of In ward cheer, but. whh whose "vices" charity al ways kept pace. The war did not kill Christmas in Virginia. It turvived battle and poverty and It is as hap py and lusty today as it was In the seasons when tho slaves brought the oak logs to the filing. It is the great feast of tho south and of tho northern country which lies adjacent to the Mason and Dixon line. Washington Is on the dividing line between most things northern' ami southern, but the Washington Chi 1st mas Is wholly of the south. The markets of the city are fat and dripping. The tnarketmen sell and sell, and yet the stores of Christmas things seemingly never dwindle. It Is the Benson of game. Washington reverses the rule of New York and Chicago, its holi day markets give the quail and the canvas-back the places of honor, while the chicken and the turkey stay In the shadow. It may be, and probably is true, that the wild ducks no Ioniser darken the wuier of the lower Potomac with the close-tlylng Hocks of for mer years; It may be that the quail, the Mr glnla partridge, numbers Its kind by hundreds whore once it numbered it by thousands: It. may be that the Virginia deer, the deer oi the woods cf eastern North America, is fast pass ing: but no evidence of an approaching or on accomplished scarcity Is to be found In the markets of tho south, rn cities or in the homes of southerners who keep Chri.Umns as their lorofatbors Kept it. The Christinas of that part of Virginia which lies close to Washington Is still the Christmas of other days, but warning has come of a change. Northern capital and northern capital. Ists are entering the state ami the cand e light and the blazing lop ro in" w,,v'" ,' "1''' light and stenm heat which arc as a Men to the r,.. i,nmo ns are the liveried ,a;.kies ...111 H.nl'ii'O the in utu v anu the old 'mammy in tne qu.nn it The steel man and th packer arc iuhbnrs of the P- &r.CASc-sr zrzsissy I Vl 'A not hap- soil vading ii n w ho ... .i. . .i ... . r the hrst Lee. The change, mayhap, will not be congenial to the invader, and so, possibly, Mr ginlu will not be sorry if this specific kind of northerner recrosses the Potomac. Virginia, the District of Columbia and Mary land have the holly habit. The holly has grown here in profusion from the day that no man knows, but it will not continue to grow unless i here is a reform in habit und in law. The negroes bring to Washington great branches of the holly, hacked from the parent stem with daiky disregard for saving anything. Tho hol ly trees are among the chief benuties of the Potomac hills. They are going the way of oth er trees of the Appalachian range, and before long it will be necessary for the lawmakers to follow the lend of the Massachusetts legislat ure which was compelled to intervene to save the trailing arbutus, the mayllower, from the hand of the vandal. No part of the country perhaps can claim a monopoly of the natural beauties of the sea son, but there is a glow about Christmas In i his semi-southern country that is not found in the colder north. It mny bo the glow of ex ternals only, but it appeals to the eye and to the sympathy. Out-of-doors there are contrasts in the Potomac regions that are not to be found farther north except in sections where the evergreens abound. The mountains aro white topped, and below them in the valleys are the dark greens of the holly, the laurel and the wild honeysuckle, and the dark browns of the oaks whose leaves do not fall before the spring conies. Scattered through the country south of Washington are old plantation homes still oc cupied by the families who have held them since the days of the colonies. There seems to be a general belief in the north that most of these old places are forsaken and desolnte, but there are many, more than the city dwell er knows, still remaining prosperous and show luc scarcely a trace of change as the result of as0- It was su!d the other day by an old south erner In Washington that no home-loving Vlf. ginian ever would move "until after tho next Christmas." The next Christmas comes and goes, but there Is still another to come, and the moving Is put off, and will be put off until the holiday spirit has gone from the south a si li lt that 'lll go when the south goes. Arlington, the old home of tho Custlses and of Robot t I-:. Lee, Is standing as It has stood for a century, it Is situated Just across tho Poto mac river from Washington, and it la typical of the cM mansion homes of Virginia. Tho grounds ef Arlington to-day aro a national cem etery, but their beauty is characteristic of that of all the old es tates of the wood ed country. Arlington now in a sad enough place, and the Christmas feasting in the house where Rob ert Ii. Lee married Mary Custis is but a memory. Onu does not have to travel far, however, through the state of the Carters, the Hoyds, the Pen clletons and the Randolphs, to find in this hol iday season the scenes of cheer that ouco gladdened Ariingion. Washington makes the most of Christmas. In its feasting nnd thanksgiving It is a thor oughly southern city at. the holiday season. It has its cheer and its charity In full meas ure and these things together make "A Merry Christmas." a 44 GIFT' pin An&$Wt Susionj When the universal Christmas hold-up con fronts you, don't explode. Refuse, if you want to; but don't dwell In your thoughts, upon the Increasing depravity of the human race; don't exalt, the rugged In dependence of our forefathers. You may not yield cheerfully to the spirit of the season when the time comes to rpinembiT the office boy, the bootblack, the hotel wait ers, the restaurant force, the ashman, the gar bage man, the messenger service, the news boys nnd others. Somehow you picture tho Christmas "hold ups" of bygone days, when n daring highwayman barred the progress of thu lumbering stage coach and coolly took his toll. Christmas largesse Is almost as old as Christmas. In the Bouth, If you happen to bo In any sec tion that preserves even a modicum of the old time ntmoBphero, you aro liable to encounter everywhere, on Christmas morning, from such negroes as have somo claim to knowing you, tho familiar phrase: "Chria'mas gif':" It means, as one of tho class favored by for tune, from you tho less lurky aro free to ask Christmas largesse, and that w ith no sinking of independence, with no sacrifice of self-respect. The custom docj abtumo tho superiority of a giver does, indeed, assume It not very far from tin? level of overlord and serf. Hut that Is because It has passed ihrough the slough of slavery, which was serfdom, in literal fact. At any rate.Mhe custom goes back at bast to the sweetest, and most touching of Yule-tide) doings in ling land, the Christmas carol. That, too came first into being, when seldom was lingland s common law, when the lord of castle? and of keep was seren aded by his dependents, and, In his munificent, turn, gave them lordly lar gesse to drink his noble health, Hut the beginning was not then Farther and farther back we must go, enrol and of the song or Knglnnd even back to days of the wandering singers the Jongleurs and the in in streh', who came! from Normandy with conquering Wllllnm. ami were gentle men adventurers as Independent ns you please;, and very feroe lous fight ers in tho bnrgnin. So the "Christmas gift." In the course of the nges has had Its tips am downs, ranging from the lordly accept ance by a titled minstrel of plain yet royal wages to the humble appeal of i he dependent serf, whose welfare was at his overlord's will and pleasure. Tho spirit In which, at various periods, it has been given and received was really what determined Its social nig VOW" nlflcanee; und there have been times .-.nr-Af ien t nit snirit was precisely mo CfiVfSvF snirit of the most polite highwayman ii-V who ever bade startled traveler stand and deliver. The Christmas waits of Kngland. with their Coil rest you, merry gentlemen; let nothing you dismay." soon established the precedent that, wherever they chose to Intone their car ols before a door, that eioor must open to them hospitably, and a table must be furnished forthwith with good things of the season for their prompt refreshment. Hut there were curmudgeons iniiong them them as thire are now. Persons who happened to have other pleasures on their hands, nnd realizing keenly that tho Jovial waits came un invited, could not perceive why anyone should play reluctant host. The curmudgeons unques tionably had the right of it, but tho carol sing ers, many a time, burst In doors and wrecked house furnishings In their wrath at tho re fusal. There was a Christmas hold-up In grim reality. "Christmas gift" isn't altogether bad, as It Isn't altogether new. it Is only a recrudescence of an old, old custom by a humanity whose nu ture, in the mass, changes slowly. And when It is all sifted down to its es sence, you are getting a rather sincere compli ment the same compliment his Jongleurs paid bold William tho Conqueror, and his fellow cit izens paid Dkk Whlttlngton, who became lord mayor of London. I uumI to think Itj wuuM tin Ki'i'at To KI'IW up to t)8 !i i slili nt A ml Kiir.lv hold th 1 l llll Cf HtlltH No liuilli-r Imw tho iM B 111 p rnt. f ns"l to think It, woiil.l h Ii no Homih tiny to flit tl nt honored' rhulr Hut the dliti'Rtlori, that Is rnlnn Cn n't ein wltnt 'twould tie calleij, to ln-iir. j V h n prpHlilrnts'i wore not re- uulri'd To out nil folks; eould broil or hull". To vow tlioy novori could jrowi tll-.-d ; Of possum, Vooni and Johnnye'iike.; Of iilllgntor, croio-1 illle. Of ostrich eCRs: nnd nil tho rest,1 Why, then tli" Job wiis worth onti's whlla And for It ono inleht do hl best. ut tiowiuhiys n president Is nlwiivs idi-hnliiir off his plnt Which Is hf-mird hluh to represent The tuincer of n eertnln Htntc, And thiMixh the dish tln-y M-rvej to bltn May hi u line one, 1 suppose He nnmt ri'tli rt Willi dotihtlng Krlm That utter all nnuoily knows. 1 should not cine to K soinewhero To ellne, nnd throimli tho tnhlo chat 1'i'iplexi'dly imiHii If the faro We're eiiKlo, e-rocoillle or rat. I should not like to luivs thrin Rnze Until I choked It down my throat, KnowliiK that any douhts I'd raise Would Inlhiuiice the next yeur a vote. limed to think it would be Rrniul To urow up to ho president And rule, my elcnr nnd iintlvn html, Hot that umliltlon has been spent. eould not love my fellow men If every now ami the-ii they d wish To K lutcli something In Its ilen And muke me eat their fav'rlto dibit. The Apotheosis of Hank Edem, In glancing over the account of the) laying of the corner-stone of tho tem ple of pence In Holland, wo observei that litis inscription lias been carved upon the stone: "Pad Justl tin Fir- nuinelao llnnc Aedeni Andreao Car negle Munlflcentla Decavlt." It had been many years slnco wo saw Jlaiik I-.Ueni. lie was a stonei mason then, nnd a good one, and after he passed from our dally view wej heard from time to time that he had become a contractor and was putting up great buildings nnd bridges and monuments und things ot that sort Hut at that ho was the samo old Hank. We know that ho built a good many Carnegie libraries, but wo did not know that Hank tins become so great that he would bo called In to erect tho temple wherein peaco like a river is to be damned by all the delegates un til they cun decide whether breakfast foods, shoes, dynamite!, floor varnish and arsenic are contraband of war, or whether or not it is conductive to tho success of hostilities to ' shoot soft nosed bullets Into your enemies' stom achs. Alas! Hank could not stand pros perity. In the old days ho was con tent and proud to be known as plain Hank Kelem. In those days ho thought a manicure wns some sort of a medical school, and he did not know whether or not water was used in a Turkish bnth. Here he Is mingling with the effete and the haute nionele and getting hoarding schoollsh about his name. Now he spe-lls It llano, Aedem." We are sorry. Ramescs Is Just being exposed, after four or five thousand years. Hank should- have waited. Mr. Carnegie, of course, can spell his name any way he pleases he advocates that but when Hank Edem becomes I lane Aedem" another boyhood Idol Is busted all to flinders, llanc Illau lackrymne. .M.J". 3f Unmanageable. "This." gasps the first man. "Is what tho poets call the 'driven snow.' " ''Yes." wheezes the second man, en denvorlng in pick a handful of It out his ear. w hile about a peck of It slides down his back. "And It acts as If a woman wero driving It." OLD CURE FOR COLDS A library could bo made of tho various cures that have been recommended for colds. The old English cure, discovered more than 100 years ago by Dr. J. B. Williams, called tho "dry cur,'' has lately been revived after decades oi disuse. It conbist8 simply in abstaining from all liquids for 48 hours or so, starting with the very lit st moment the cold declares Itself. Dread, ilsh, vegetables, "white" meat and pudding may bo eaten, but no soup. If there is great thirst a spoonful of lea or ccffoe may bo tukm in the morning und a small glass of wlno and water during the day. Somo modern uuthoi'Klca conbidor this cure very e&iclcn:. Joyous Vegetarian. Wlmt do I cure how high the On tho ThnnksclvlHK forage? That turkeys Iliwr on tie ho l-'or four years in e old stor.iise? Mv tutkey shall he Kurnered from The K.irden nnd the (jairel -Of rnlxln. hickory nut and crumb And of the lici.lt ti fill tuirot! price Hardened. "Pardon me," says the interviewer to th lady who is being starred as a combination Salome. Lady Codiva and living picture, "but may I ask how you bocmno accustomed to appearing In public In er in such a lack of even scanty garb?" "It was easy," she laughs. "Half a dozen trips across thu ocean, with the usual customs Inspections at .New York." have teen loros oi mo enji c nil" '. vi