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,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
