The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, December 23, 1944, Page 15

) 7 ' “What did you say?” < SATURDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1944 s — I give you my word, I was never . more flabbergasted in my life than the afternoon I found Jennie Mul- drow locking through Bill's closet. Bill is my husband. I must have made a sound—gasped, maybe—for she turned around with a jerk, If I Y ,saw guilt on a human counte- mnce it was on hers. Then sud- v« enly I had an inspiration. I laughed reakly. “You gave mée a start, Jen- iwe e Isaid “I didn't know anyone was in here. Were you looking for % +) your coat?” “Yes. I—I was,” she stammered. Perhaps it would be better if I be- gan at the beginning. You see, the bridge club was meeting at my house. Just the usual crowd, two ~ « tables. Jennie Muldrow, only a few minutes earlier, had invited us all to §+' a dinner party at her home the week before Christmas. ) M That night Mildred Carr phoned me, “Mary,” she said, “did you see | determined Mildred became, the less | I wanted to humiliate Jennie. So finally I said, “Girls, you can all {do what you like, but I'm going.” | The upshot was that all of us ap- peared except Mildred and her hus- band. | Jennie gave us the surprise of our lives. She had a small, beautifully trimmed tree, with attractive look- ing packages nestling in the branch- | es. We simply gasped. “Jennie! | You shouldn’t have done this!” | she laughed. “Really, it wasn't ' much trouble. In fact, I hada lot of | fun.” | After dinner the presents were dis- | tributed. One by one the missing ar- ticles came to light. Kitty's face, as she lifted her Appenzell hand- | kerchief out of a dainty velvet case, | was the funniest thing I've ever| seen! Raymond Fox unwrapped a | § tie holder from which a tie was| hangir, and Bill did 'the same. Ev- erybody was laughing uproariously by this time, yet looking decidedly sheepish, too. nation at my present—pictures of my children. Just to make it unanimous, she said, there was a gift for John Mul- drow. “I've been looking high and low for that thing,” I heard him say. — ‘SPECIAL FAVOR A Reminder of the Nativity THE DAILY ALASKA EMPIRE—JUNEAU, ALASKA | (From “The Spirit of Christmas.”) | make a grave for your ugly thoughts and a garden for your kindly feel- KEEP'“G SPIR"I . |ings, with the gate open—are you | willing to do these things even for a day? Then you can keep Christ- | mas. Are you willing to believe that love is the strongest thing in the world —stronger than hate, stronger than evil, stronger than death-—and that It is a good thing to observe | the blessed life which began in | HENRY VAN DYKE | Christmas day. The mere marking | Bethlehem 1900 years ago is the im- | |of times and seasons, when men |age and brightness of the Eternal | i agree to stop work and make merry | Love? Then you can keep Christ- | together, is a wise and wholesome | mas. | dustom. It helps one to feel the su- | And if you keep it for a day, why. premacy of the common life over the | not always? | individual life. It reminds a man| But you can never keep it alone. to set his own little watch, now and A, | then, by the great clock of humanity i which runs on sun time. (HRISI‘MAS F A But there is'a better thing than (] " the observance of Christmas day, and that is, keeping Christmas. The, only post office in the United States named “Christmas” is in 1 was gazing in fasci- | | | \ Shining brightly as a reminder of the glory of the Nativity, some 1,944 years ago, this is but one of the many outdoor mangers established |than your duty in the foreground; during the Christmas season throughout the country. Like the animals that clustered around the holy manger on the first Christmas, a dog | can be seen on the left, wonderingly viewing the scene. i Are you willing to forget what you have done for other people, and | to remember what other people have | done for you; to ignore what the OF CHRISTMAS 4 ' a pair of brown pigskin gloves any- | where? I thought they were in my | purse but I can’t find them.” \ The next day I told Mildred Il couldn’t find the gloves. “Just as I thought,” she answered. | There is a very special flavor about Christmas which has nothing “Mary, I hate to say this, but I'm to do with the giving and getting of terribly afraid we have a thief in presents, and which depends only Jur midst.” jen the spirit which the presents Immediately I recalled Jennie'represent. The adult who can keep Muldrow in Bill's closet, but I didn't this spirit and not let himself be mention it. “Why, Mildred!” I ex- |worn out and exasperated by the claimed, “What makes you say material aspects of the season has that?” |kept a part of his childhood alive “Well, Betty Hicks lost a compact ung can still fsel the thrill which yesterday. Idon't mean she dropped the season holds for children. it somewhere. She had it at your| Hulw]\"“‘ e, v | The child who has experienced |the finest essence of Christmas will |always lock upon the season with |joy and anticipation. His senses |l vill always be stirred by the smell {of evergreen, the crackle of holly |end the picture of people loaded ENRICHES LIFE house. But when she got home it was gone.” o “And that isn’ all. Kifty put a lovely Appenzell handkerchief in her bag when she left home, but this morning it wasn't there.” v Istarted to speak Hut Mildred said quickly, “Now don't say she was Jjust mistaken, Mary Ellsworth, be- cause that isn’t all. Guess what Mar- tha Fox told me!” This was just rhetorical, so I didn’t answer, Evi- dently Mildred had had a busy morning. “Jennie was visiting Mar- s+ tha last night and, when Martha was called to the phone and her back + was turned, Jennie pocketed a tie of Raymond’s! Martha was facing a #« mirror but Jennie didn’t notice.” Well! T felt weak. ~* 9 “What do you think? Could Jennie be a—a kleptomaniac?” “I don’t know,” I answered. I said nothing about seeing Jennie in Bill's closet. I never did tell anyone but Bill. . He was inclined to pooh- ~ pooh the whole business. ‘The burning question was: Should * we go to the Christmas parfy or ) a not? There was a difference of opin- ion about what to do. Martha want- ed each one to make up a water- N tight excuse and stay at'home. Mil- f . F e To our friends Y of this community o e o 035 o 2. g5 # "> - ARRIERERRE dred Carr said ruthlessly, “No, that won’t solve anything. Jennie must resign from the club. We can’t have a criminal in it. She must under- stand she isn't wanted.” The more !down with mysterious parcels. To get the full flavor there must be secrets,” hidden packages, whis- |perings and private consultations. There must be also increased ten- sion Antil Christmas Eve with the frantic efforts to sleep, that the time may pass more quickly, or the de- termination to lie awake and peep for a sight of the unexpected. When Christmas has become too elaborate and is a burden instead of & joy, when everyone decides not | to celebrate Christmas this year, the children have been robbed of one 1of the high spots of childhood. Life is enriched and quickened by on occasional break in the proced- Lure of everyday existence; and the ceason which offers the greatest | possibilities for such a break is the {feast of the winter solstice, when fthe harvest is over and the spring not yet at hand—the feast of Christ- mas. — . KING FOR A NIGHT AT WASSAILING TREE FETE “Here’s to thee Old Apple tree! Whence thou mayst bud, Any whence thou mayst blow, And whence thou mayst beat Apples enow; Hats full, Caps full, Bushels, bushels, sacks full, And my pockets full too! Huzza! Huzza!” The rendering of this doggerel rhyme, followed by the passing of | of Christmas during the middle 19th century at Devonshire. This completeg, the male members of the party discharged guns into a selected apple tree—said to result in bumper apple crops. kind of roast in the oven. The one who guessed correctly was king for the night. SRR, g2 0 0 4 0 0.0 o o o 2.4 0 0 0 0 0 @ 10575 & v » o 0|° 0 51 - A5 SEASON'S GREETINGS SIS AR TR R RN RRRRRAN AN We have just a friendly word to say in appreciation 9 of your indulgence to our efforts to be of service. o o 2 HUTCHINGS ECONOMY MARKET GIFT o 4 2 the cider jug, was a popular feature | The men would then knock at the | farm house door, guess as to the | e 2 A B e R At e o S S P OO P OO NN NN NN NN 'Quaint British Customs Survive During Entire Christmas Season | Many quaint Christmas customs have survived in England, especially in country districts. In some sections Christmas still lasts the 12 days of old, winding up on the Twelfth Night Shakespeare wrote about. During that season, | villagers turn mummer to act out | centuries-old plays and to frolic in the streets. . | In Cornwall fisherfolk in coastal | villages ‘‘guise dance’ on street cor- ners to the music of concertina and | drum. The boys usually dress as girls and the girls as boys. Some- times they assume historical charac- ters, sometime merely go in black- face. In Hampshire ordinarily serious farm laborers strangely array them- selves in pseudo-Norman helmets and coats of mail, titeir faces con- cealed by strips of wallpaper. That is the prescribéd costume in which the workers re-enact the ancient muramers’ play about St. George and the Dragon. When New Year's night falls on | Allendale two dozen quaintly-garbed men with pans of blazing tar bal- anced on their heads, parade behind the village band to the market place where they touch off a bonfire. At Burghead they “burn the Cla- vie,” the Clavie being a tar barrel PElel e e e e T e e e RRRRRRRARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRS, P T T T T T D T T o T O O P P PP P P PP R R R R R R R AR R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R N A R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R ARG AR R R R R R R R R AR R AR AR AR AR AR AR AR R AR RRRARR: N0t % A JOYOUS . YULETIDE As we express the Season’s Gre;rings at this happy Christmastime, we pledge to strive to maintain this same spirit of thougnrrul service throughout all the days of the coming year. Our sincere thanks for your patron- age and our o:su&nce that it is our purpose to merit its continuance. Butler-Mauro Drug Co. filled with wood. It is demolished while still aflame and there is a mad rush for the glowing embers, | which are’supposed to bring good luck. Luck also is the underlying theme | of wassailing in Carhampton, Som-| erset. Pans full of cider are car-| ried into the orchards. Then each! man dips his mug in and after drain- ing part of his mug, throws the rest of the cider at the trees while he| shouts to scare away any evil spirits| which may be lurking in the| branches: i At Hax in Lincolnshire, men from | five rival hamlets gather there to! play a 600-year-old game called| “throwing the hood.” Something of | the game's ruggedness is indicatedi in the preliminary warning chant of the “Lord’—the referee: | “Hoos again hoos, toon again toon, | If a man meet a man knock & | man doon —But don’t hurt him!” The hood, a tightly rolled piece of sacking, is then tossed into the air and each player tries to get it and run for home. As a finale, the men lock in a scrimmage and try to push each other down hill. Lady luck is supposed to favor the winners dur- ing the ensuing year. s NN N NN N ooty NN <8 world owes you, and to think what you owe the world: to put your rights in the background, and your duties in the middle distance, and |your chances to do a little more te see that your fellowmen gre jus' a8 real as you are, and to try ro look behind their faces to Lthl'l hearts, hungry for joy; to own that probably the only good reason for your existence is not what you are going to get out of life, but what you are going to give to life; to close your book of complaints against the management of the universe, and look around you for a place whers you can sow a few seeds of happi- ness—are you willing to do thera | things even for a day? Then you can keep Christmas. Are you willing to stoop down and consider the needs and the desires of little children; to remember the weakness and loneliness of people who are growing old; to stop asking how much your friends love you, and ask yourself whether you love them enough; to bear in mind the things that other people have to | béar in their hearts; to try to un-| derstand what those who live in the | same house with you really want, | without waiting for them to tell you; E(o trim your lamp so that it will| give more light and less smoke, snd] | than a cenfury ago, come packages, Florida. Each year to this small town of 200, which was settled more letters and cards from all over the world for remailing with the official markings “Greetings from Christ- mas, Fla.” More than 70,000 pieces of mail have beeh canceled in one Christmas season at that post of- | fice. | There is a post office in Indiana named Santa Claus and one in Maine named Christmas Cove. PAGE THREE ARE ALWAYS TREASURED! But we can’t remember each of you with @ present . . . - So, we'll just say MERRY CHRISTMAS IDEAL SHOP This is the season for ‘good v;/il|| ) : and good cheer, to be shared byl 3 'new friends and old. Our best, *wishes for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year go forth to | e all on this gay occasion, 7 * CITYFLOATLIQUOR STORE to carry it in front so that your shadow will fall behind you; to RoNoYotoVo oo VooV voNo Vo it VOO crease gladly R A R R R R R R AR R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R AR R AR R R AR AR R AR AR R RRR AR NN F. M. KARDANOF always| best itoo. Be add that whatever we can do to in- HARRY HALOFF An old fashioned Christmas is the best kind after alll and friends you love, you can have the Surrounded by family very best timel ' And the old fashioned greeting is To each-and every one, our sincerest wishes for a Merry Christmas, and:for a New Year that will be rich in'its store of happy- hours, reunited with'loved ones. lieve in our sincerity, when we your season'’s cheer — we shall dol! .