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About The Plattsmouth journal. (Plattsmouth, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 22, 1949)
ft 2 0 f0 m TOBE IPD.AWlMl(D)aJTI JJ(D)GJTOM. UNITED PRESS AND XWNS SERVICE SECTION TWO CASS COUNTY'S NEWSpaper l ! T hit SPEAKING OF CHRISTMAS . viiiuuiius la itnuiuicii la i-uiiuiiiciijf iu iJiai-e a ugmea canaie in tne window . . . The legend is that candles originally were set out to light the Christ child's way as he made his visits through the childen . . . One inl. a it ; en,., o rvor trnfpriv in Virginia Citv. with a terrific round of festivity . . J embarked on a perilous promenaue uvn iun a muiiwpa . . , n ro'-iceman, mistaking them for burglars, drew his revolver and prepared to shoot but a passerby stopped him . . Had he fired and the bullets found the mark, the world would have been deprived of two great humorists Artemus Ward (Charles Farrar Browne) and Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) . . . Mince pies, so long a part of our Clvnstmas tradition, originally had a deeply symbolic significance . . . The first mince pies were patterned in oblong shape, after the manger in which Christ was born . . . The crust rep resented the gold brought by the Three Wise Men; the many spices, the frankincense and myrrh ... On May ll. 1639, the general court of Massachusetts Bay outlawed Christ mas . . . Anyone celebrating, stop ping work, serving holiday fare or deviating from normal daily life would be fined five shillings . . . The righteous Puritans were sure they were acting wisely for how could good Christians condone the pagan a holidav encourage excess in eating be.'ore that law was repealed. Leopard Joins Party . PHILADELPHIA U.P When Vrank Palumbo. resiaurateur and philantheopist, threw a re cent party at the Philadelphia zoo for 1.000 under-privileged children, he had a spotted leo pard as a surprise gift for thm: The leopard is quite. tame, hav ing been raised by the natives In the Sierra Leone reion of West Africa. Conscience Eased OKLAHOMA CITY, OJ.RJThe Etate highway department awards the palm for civic righteousness to a Panhandle farmer whose tractor tore a hole ypp Plattsmoiith Creamery Th Home Throughout the worltf wherever explanation of the custom of hang ing stockings on. Christmas Be recalls the baronial halls of England where huge fireplaces were con stantly in use . . . Each Christmas a special , log, the Yule "log, was thrown on the fire . . This log turned steadily as long as the feast- , ing and celebrating continued. Nat urally, it. burned with a pungent odor and stockings were hung over 'the fireplace to absorb some of this odor and to protect the owners from 'eviLsoirits , . . Christmas Eve. 1863. Nevada . . . Two friends celebrated . Just as dawn was breaking, they I 4Ua. .ft..,.-.. ' (-tr.T-.r A ' origin of Christmas? Did not such I and drinking? . . It was 22 years J i in a highway. The farmer drove 12 miles to highway de lartment headquarters to inform j officials and pay for the dam 'age. Bonds Are Safer FORT WAYNE, Ind. (UP) George Kayser - walked . away from the bank with $850he had I received from cashing in some, i war bonds. A few minutes later after getting off a crowded ele j vator he felt in "his pocket and i the money was gone. U. S. Presidents Wilson, Tyler i and Cleveland married while in ! office. . Season's Greetings To All We wish for a moment that we were back in the days when towncriers proclaimed, the news. Then -we'd stop off at the houses of all the folks we know, and personally wish each one of you a joyous and bountiful Christmas followed by a year filled with contentment. of Butter There Will Always Be Christmas Trees WASHINGTON, D. C. (Spe cial) Fifty years ago a Presi dent of the United States banned the use of Christmas trees in the White House be cause he thought the practice of cutting young evergreens was wasteful. That order, issued by Theodore Roosevelt, went unchallenged un til two of his young sons were caught in the act of smuggling a Christmas tree into the Executive Mansion. To escape their father's presidential wrath they appealed to America's first professional for ester and Theodore Roosevelt's good friend, Gifford Pinchot, to in tercede for them. Pinchot did, pointing out that proper cutting of small evergreens for Christmas use is not harmful and frequently actually helps a forest. That advice, good enough 50 years ago to lift a White House ban and convince a strong-minded president, is echoed this year by no less an authority than the American Forest Products Indus tries. "Don't worry about the plight of the poor Christmas tree," says this wood-industry sponsored or ganization, "it's as replaceable as the Thanksgiving turkey and just as indispensable to the American scene." Nearly half of the 21 million evergreens that make up Ameri ca's 1949 Christmas tree harvest were farm produced. Nearly nine tenths of the entire crop was cut on privately owned timberland. To augment this domestic Christmas tree harvest, about five million evergreens are imported annually, mot of them from Canada. Besides bringing a fragrant freshness of the forest into two out of every three American homes this December, the three month Christmas tree harvest pours an estimated 50 million dol lars into the Nation's economic bloodstream. Most American Christmas trees are thinned from natural growth forests. An original stand of from five to ten thousand trees per acre will actually mature only a few hundred sawlog-size trees. Most of the small evergreens, selectively cut for Christmas sale, would sooner or later have been elim inated by Nature in the life and death struggle for forest space. When it comes to selecting a Christmas tree, most Americans have as many individual likes and dislikes as they have in motor cart or hats. Color, limb strength, shape, compactness, fragrance, an SHELBY. Miss., u.R The Rev. L. S. Gresory, 81-year-old re tired minister, came out of re tirement one afternoon to per form two wedding ceremonies. In both cases he had married the bride's parents. Hi J "V ft These fpntce trees from Sorthern Minnesota's second growth forests vill bring Christmas cheer into homes all over America. This scene typi fies the holiday forest harvest just completed, (llalvorson Trees, Photo) ability to retain needles and, of course, price are factors. Best seller on the Christmas tree market today is the balsam fir, a product of New England and Northeastern United States. About six and one-half million of these are sold in an average year. Douglas firs, products of the Pacific Coast, are the second most popular. Black spruce, red cedar and white spruce follow in that order. Together these make up 83 percent of all Christmas trees sold in the United States. Scotch pine, Southern pine, red spruce, Vir ginia pine, white fir, Norway spruce, hemlock, cypress, juniper and Engleman spruce also are marketed in commercial quanti ties. Historians disagree over how and when this Christmas tree busi ness started in America. Home sick Hessian soldiers, brought over from Germany by the British to fight George Washington's Continental Army, probably in troduced the custom. Christmas carols express better than anything else, probably, the true spirit of Christmas. , The word "carol" itself signifies joy and was originally used to ac company a dance. William Wallace Fyfe concludes that the term carol "signifies a song of joy or exulta tion." Another definition states: "A carol is a hymn of praise especial ly such as is sung at Christmas in the open air." In England, which gave America most of its carols, they were some times gay and sometimes convivial until the time of the Puritans, who tried to suppress the Christmas spirit. ; After the Restoration, the re ligious nature of the day was for a time almost forgotten in the reaction from Puritanism, and the carol was temporarily lost in the songs There are many quaint customs associated with the early carolers that might be used today to break the monotony of going from house to house singing Christmas hymns. It was about the 16th century that caroling became a Christmas custom, and is supposed to have been brought to England from Italy by . the traveling clergy. The first real Christmas carol is attributed to St. Francis of Assisi who made a model of the Bethlehem manger to help him tell his people the Christmas story. ' The idea of caroling fitted ad mirably into the English con ception of Christmas as a com bination of religious celebration Ski Lift Versatile ? JAUK.5UIM,. Wyo. (Vf) The ; Jackson Hole Winter Sports As sociation found a money -making summertime operation for its ski lift. This summer the lift wjis used to carry tourists over the western Wyoming mountains on sightseeing rides. Thief Fools Himself KENDALL VILLE, Ind. (UP) Tony Clyde Jones pleaded guilty to stealing a money bag from his apartment mate but he said he had burned almost $1,000 in it by mistake. Jones said he was' Another German, the sixteenth century religious leader Martin Luther, generally is credited with originating the custom of decorat ing Christmas trees with lights. Noting how snowflakes on the boughs of evergreen trees reflect ed moonlight, Martin Luther de termined to capture the same effect in his home by placing lighted candles' on the tree. The idea spread through the centuries. This Christmas eve, just as they have since 1923, people will gather around an evergreen tree on the White House lawn to participate in a tree lighting ceremony dedi cated by the President and broad cast tiationally. Forestry-wise the United States has traveled a full circle since Theodore Roosevelt's day. Christ mas trees, like sawlogs and pulp wood, have become a crop in America. This country's forests, if protected and wisely managed, can produae both wood , and Christmas trees in quantities suf ficient to meet present as well as future needs. . ? " and a great home day with : neighborly feeling, so it grew and flourished in that country. Little bands and groups of singers which sprang up in the towns and villages came to be known as "Waits." A natural explanation of the name seems to be that it refers to watching and waiting, for Christ mas Eve is called the Vigil of Christmas. As early as December 21. which is the day dedicated to St. Thomas, mummers and carolers would begin going from door to door, announc ing Ihe great feast at hand. It was natural for the householders to offer hospitality to these Christmas troubadours, and gradually in many places the custom' of giving alms and presents of various kinds was established. - : , This benign custom threat ened at one Bmc in England to become a profession and to lose its original simple charm. For a period beginning just when no one knows and ending in 1820, there were in London and West minster companies of 'Waits" whose leaders held office by pub lic appointment and who obtained an exclusive right-to solicit con tributions from the public. The carolers were often accom panied by entertainers who gave a spirit of revelry to the occasions. The mummers often interrupted the singing to give their interpretation of "St. George and the Dragon." Tumblers, dressed in bright red. would perform their arts of skill to entertain the oolookers. trying to destroy the evidence and thought the bag contained nothing, but receipts. Store at Your Door SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (UP) Gerald D. Michelman has found one way to beat high rentals. He fixed up a truck as a cloth ing store and travels around tn his customers. The slogan for his enterprise is: "Store at Your Door, Why Pay More?". Holes in Swiss cheese are formed by gases that result from fermentation. EVOLUTION Christmas has rolled around once again and Santa Claus with round j red cheeks, jolly smile and chunky , figure looks the same as he did J nearly 90 years ago. j His creator was Thomas Nast, 1 one of America's greatest cartoon- ists. During the early lS60's he was! asked to illustrate Clement Clark Moore's poem, A Visit to St. j Nicholas, better known to us as " 'Twas The Night Eefore Christ-j mas." The result was Santa Claus . as we know him.- J Santa's creator was born in I Bavaria in 1810. son of a musi cian in a Bavarian army band. When he was a fat little boy of six. Thomas' father left Ger many to enlist in the I'nited States navy. and Thomas mother brought the boy to Xew York to live. Along about the time stocky Tom my was 15 he landed his first job as an illustrator for Leslie's Weekly at ' $4 a week. By the time he was 20 he was sent to England by the New j York Illustrated News to sketch j the Heenan-Sayers fight, an out- j standing sports event of the day i In 1862 he joined the staff oi J Harper's Weekly and began the se ries of emblematic drawings which j continued throughout the Civil War. , From those he created certain i trademarks that have been the in- j spiration of cartoonists down to the j present notably the Republican elephant and the Democrat donkey. ! Famous as the pol.'ical symbols j are today, Nast's Santa Claus prob- j ably holds first place in the hearts j of Americans. Before Nast's day. j a few artists had drawn Santa on one occasion or another, but could : not seem to agree on how the old gentleman should look. i Nast changed all that. j He located Santa's home at '. the North Pole and gave him a sleigh drawn by reindeer. He drew the familiar, fat, merry old fellow with red cheeks and j white beard, dressed in red, wearing a cap and boots, carry ing a pack of toys and smoking 1 a short pipe. - Use Journal Want Ads. ' H. A. Schneider C J. Schneider E. W. Burdic Frank A. Cloidt S AS O NS- wis ! THE PLATTSMOUTH, NEBRASKA, SEMI -WEEKLY JOURNAt ( Thursday, December 22, 104D PAGE ONI$ Three U. S. presidents died on ! vard graduate to become U. S. ; July 4 John Adams. Thomas president. ; ; Jefferson and James Madison. ! Warren G. Harding was .the Prince Albert introduced the first U. S. president to speaU Christmas tree into .England, 'over the radio. j It' s hlMlll 0 Fob: Me! v m ma & HOMOGENIZED OS Enriched With Vitamin ) 7Ae arrival o f another Christmas season brings with it the joy ous recollections of many pleasant and friendly associations with those whom it has been our pleasure to serve in this community. &gcA year we find our selves eagerly awaiting 'the Christmas season because in it we find the oppor tunity to express again our apprecia tion for your thoughtfulness and con sideration. as we extend our thanks, we hasten to add our best wishes to you for the Holiday Season. May it be one of manifold blessings . . . a time of merriment and thanks giving. May this Christmas be your happiest The Plattsmouth State Bank Orville V. Nielsen Arthur Warga Naomi Day Betty Gerbeling And For Sis' Our whole family g? for Alamito Milk! Si.-? and I like it at meals and with a sandwich after school. Mom likes the sturdy Alamito no drip carton because it's so easy to pour and takes less space in our Refrigerator. o PERFECTLY PASTEURIZED O ALWAYS DELICIOUS Darlene Rhoden Norma Spidell Geraldine Mayle Bernese Keil