The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, December 18, 1932, Page 15

time dad has ever had time really to enjoy the party because you took |all the responsibility off his shou- ders, and when he asked you to make the presentation speeches for the little girls, I was so embar rassed for a minute. You e perfectly wonderful—just as if you took ‘shape. So ¢l evetrseh cmf t Certainly Rodney Lee was not| bashful and yet three days had Passed since he had made up his mind to propose to Helen James, and he hadn't even intimated to her the fact that he was smit- ten. He had met her at a danee the Monday ‘before Christmas, played cards with her Tuesday,| skated with her Wednesday, danc- | €d again with her Thursday. Then | came the Christmas Eve dance, When he had fully intended to tell | her he loved her, and the dance| Wwas over and he hadn't even be- | T"Want to. Drive Back Wita X ou it. One popular tale pictures This was supposed to have gun his preliminaries. | wid elen. itale seeks to explain the origin ]:g::e to be a relic of this old cu ¢ with all these vague tradi- | e ‘er]n c§ use l.hc ax:lf'lclal Two days after Christmas Rod- |had known these Babylon people |of both tree and candles. One| " ti blended together we have | me? “"-,‘ the greens. % Fine flex- Ley's vacation would be over and your life. Dad says yowll just oI the most popular German en-| The French nave an interesting o, o final result the permanent ible wire is best for fastening the The origin of the Christmas tree | |is much disputed and there are| many popular legends concerning | tmn Luther as attempting to de- scribe the beauty of the snow- ed forest under the wintry| Suddenly the idea suggested He hurried to the garden, | a little fir tree, dragged it into the nursery, put some candles on the branches and lighted them. pened on Christmas eve and the tree and d where it ng in the path cept a the seeming miracle, St. Winii- fred decreed that the fir tree be known as the Ho! of the Christ Chil Still another aut the tree co over death and an emblem of Mar- | “The Feast of Lights” and Chinese festival of a correspon h images of Bacchus, hap- | he would be on his way back to|have to come back next Christ- gravings represents Luther and the big city hundreds of miles | mas—" | bis family grouped about the tree.|tury a huge tree was found, away. ‘1l come back every Christmas, | Another older German legend It took some maneuve ney to get a chance on Chr ney. “I wanted to see you to-|of the idea. One day while moérning to telephone to Helen U8t to—to tell you that I love rounded by crowds of converts,|top appeared a vision of a child j; institution. When the Ger- keep the wreath symetri when he would not be overheard |YOU. ‘After seeing you as I saw|the Saint was having a giant oak | with a halo around its head. When, , tonight I know I'm not worthy |sawed down for use in Druidic!asked to explain this extraordinary by any of his numerous cousins, | Rod- |1f youll let me, Helen,” said Rod- |says St. Winifred is the originator sur- {and some upside down. On Suddenly a great wind I sent small fir tree. Because of Tree, the tree ority declares es from the ancient Egyptian custom of decking houses at the time of the winter solstice with branches of the date palm— ) |the symbol of life triumphant starlit firmament. At the same |time the Egyptians were decking houses with date palm branches, the Jews were celébrating the Peast |of Channuckah. in which lighted candles were a feature. A Greek | festival at about this time is called | | period 1s called “The Feast of Lan- “The terns.” During the old Roman It Was Explained twine and to this attach the short al, pine trees were decorated | sprays of pine, hemlock or spru W the Christmas tree is believed by[!ime to bring happiness and goo legend. In the Thirteenth oD estaplishment of the Christmas|SPFays in place branches were covered with €an-i{.. with gifts. Not until the time | formation of window wreath: dles, some of which stod erect > pope exclaimed: 'Thr',- bresents mankind; the child | mg and the candles are Guide.) indicate the good and - e iman beings.” Thereafter, to this myth, the Chr vith many ot stoms. — (Indiana FY de- ex- '| Wreaths, Garlands Gay Shout “Merry Christmas!” What a jo t is to come into home scent with pine and hemlock, so sugge Yu tide that each room fairly shouts “N y Christma: And what a {real pleasure, 00, to gather the greens and dispose them so that they express all the Kindliness of fl | the blessed season, intensifying the delights of the “friendliest” period of the year! As garlands, the various types of greens may decorate windows 1or they may be massed on man- tles or tables. To make a flexible rope of green- Tree Represents Mankind,” | ory supply a foundation of heavy the TO ALL OUR FRIENDS |- AND CUSTOMERS the 3 |mas tree was used at Christmas and | T Interspersed | ters of laurel; or for a more dec- regularly with clus- FROM THE SIGN MAN LU LISTON w %ok SIGNS O THE TIMES the t1cc. Germany first decorated the| Another use for greens is in the | range the small sprays on a heavy wire foundation, taking care to 1. Small emigrated to America, they |groups of red berries, regularly ight the Christmas tree with |Placed, give character to such a the marriage of Queen Victoria he tree become a regular Eng- the | whost mother he was visiting. “I|cveR to suggest what I wanted to|— W5 T w568 am leaving the 27th,” Rodney told ‘il you." | Helen hurriedly. “I really must Mr. Johns was waiting for Helen | % se¢ you again before I go. My |When she and Rodney arrived fif-| aunt has made plans for tomor-|leen minutes after the Johns' cars. | how morning and afternoon. May““"v Johns held his hand out to I come in the evening?” greet Rodney and he know from “Id love to have you” Helen the way the young man took h_is answered quite impersonally “but|and that he would see him again you see we are giving the big | Babylon. party out in Babylon that night. Ry T Td love to have you come if you First Christmas Trees (et P i e think you'd care to. So perhaps Originated in Germany; I'l Appreciatio'l you'd better drive over here and trail us out there.” on 1 A5 Mekthibod Helen, heavily swathed in furs| ke Wild - satdy; Hewinleod, | is 1da met Rodney at the door next even- |0f the North German plain the | This “0]“"‘.\ ing. She shook hands hurriedly | dark-leafed fir trecs have flour- | and pointed to two hampers stand- |ished for many centuries. It is| us the opport ing in the hall and asked him if [P0t strange, therefore that the | ? he could take them in his car.| ‘Christmas Tree” should have its | Happiness to “There are two baskets of dishes|Origin here. It dates back prior in the dining room you can take|t0 the days of Christianity. The Patrons and y Egyptians used to employ besides, if you have room. Wc“" N X are all ready to start.” |decorated trees in their {festive tion for Rodney could see two cars ahead |Season celebrations. It is a fact of him and he could vaguely dis- | well known by aTl botanists that and tinguish the figures of Mr. and |the palm trree puts forth a shoot Mrs. Johns and others whom he|€ach month, and at the time of | took to be be maids from the|the Winter solstice, a spray of palm, D R Johns' household, also Helen's{bezrlng twelve shoots, was employ- | r. . yeunger sister and brother, all|€d in the temple of Osiris to mark | carrying baskets or hampers as they piled into the cars. iously enough England did not Finally when the cars ahead 2¢OPt Christmas trees until the stopped at the end of a frozen |middle of the last century. The dirt road in a bleak stretch of |Prince consort shortly after his farmland, Rodney saw what seem,‘nmrrjage to Queen Victoria intro- | ec to be a small schoollbuse with duced them into Great Britain. | yellow lights streaming through small windows. Bewildered Rod- ney got from his car and seemg‘ that the Johnses were -carrying their baskets and hampers into the, schoolhouse he proceeded to car- | 1y his cargo in also. “Now please get the battery out of your car,” Helen told Rodney', as she slipped out of her furs, 1evealing a simple little sports/ frock underneath. “Our chauffeur | * will help you if you don’t know | how. He's out taking them out of | our cars. We need them for the| Christmas tree lights. (Candles | sre so dangerous.” ! “So this is Babylon,” he said to | Helen as he returned and laid | the heavy battery at Helen's side as she directed. | Helen laughed. “Didn’t you| know about Babylon?” she asked surprised. “Babylon is father's| pet diversion. You see, all there | is' to Babylon .is this one-horse | district school—and about twenty- | five scattered farm houses—poor, struggling people who used to try to get up some sort of Christmas entertainment for their children ‘here. Somehow father heard of it—and for five “years now we| have been giving the Christmas party for them.” 1t was midnight when the lights | were finally turned out in the| liftle Babylon schoolhouse and Rod- rey had got his battery back into | Lis car, and waved farewell to the | Johns family and was ready to| “trail them back to town again.| /And then as he took his place before the wheel he noticed that ‘Helen was at his side. “I want to drive back with you,” she said. “I want to tell you how wonderful you have been. You worked harder than all the rest of us put together. It is the first | Office in A ; -+ WITH APPRECIATI Make Christmas Burden, . Be Unhappy Rest of Year It is so customary, nowadays to hear disparagement of Christmas as a season of vanity, selfish dis- play, greed and covetousness that we like to point out the other side. Some of our cynics declare that Christmas gifts are themselves dictated by self-interest—that they are meanly offered in the hope of a return—with interest—or are an exhibition of vanity. And yet, who would dare to say this of a mother, who deprives herself to give happiness to her children, or if the girl who willingly foregoes some little vanity for the pleasure of her parents? People who make Ohristmas a burden and a tax show the same attitude throughout the year—their own false stand- ards of living are to blame, and not this holy festival—(Rural New Yorker.) 1000 R g Season again affords unity to wish Joy and all our Friends and express our apprecia- their friendships associations. E. Southwell “.he completion of the year. Cur- | OPTON'ETRI\T Valentine Building 000 Merry Xmas Good 3 ON TO ALL OF OUR MANY AND EVER INCREASING CUSTOMERS £ i and we Americans borrowed |decoration. | ottt et e =t = < T T A B T T A Merry, Merry Christmas It is a day to celebrate and make merry. So, in the same conscientious way in which we = serve you we extend the Greetings of the = Season to You and Yours. - llllllllllIIllllflfllll!lllllmllllllhlllllllllllllllllll_llIIII|I|I||IlIIIIIHfllflfllllIlmlllmIIIIlm_lllmlfllflmlHHH!lIIIIIIl!HIHlHHuIHIIIIIIH Juneau Cold Storage Company OO Sulvagk