The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, December 23, 1950, Page 11

F"" THE DAILY ALASKA EMPIRE—JUNEAU, ALASKA o ] SATURDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1950 * GREETINGS -y v 7 7 "Ghank You” is the most sincere expression we know of to convey our apprecia- tion for the friendships which have been so important to our mutual benefit during the past twelve months, May we extend to you and yours our best wishes for a joy- ous Christmas Season. | § ! | i | | | | { | Lemon Creek Sand & Gravel Co. W. J. Manthey SESTTUSITIISSINSSPISSULSS PP SSBUUUUUN CHRISTMAS CAMELIA; A FLOWER By John Scott Douglas Stenographers hoverea around as | Marta Manning unwrapped the | package that had just reached tne; law offices. There were startied | gasps of admiration when the paper | tell away, revealing a potted cam- elia. Large and pure white, except for crimson-touched petals, its heart was filled with delicate gold- en stamens. “Oh, how beautiful!” Tessie gasp- ed. “Who sent it, Marta?” | “My boy friend,” Marta said, her |tone warm with happiness. | “I didn’t know camelias bloomed |in time for Christmas,” said Bess. “The Dai Kaugura does,” said Marta. “But it's all crimson. This |must be a new hybrid that Colby | Blake stocked for the Christmas trade.” Could Colby have developed himself? she wendered. Sh2 re. membered the day. when he had be showing her around his nir- sery, that she started to enter a small, new lath house at the back “Don’t go in there Marta!” And then he'd been embarrassed as only a big 1eaded cutdoor man can be emk v his own rude- Forgive me’ for speaking so rling. Youwll understand, it two years since then, he'd never explained his strange words. It was but one of the things that had marred a more perfect under- standing. The many broken dates were another. [Engagements he could not keep because a truckload of plants must suddenly be deliv- cred, or a customer must be seen about the laying out of a new gar- den. “For you, Marta,” said the switchboard girl. The girls dis- persed as'she picked up the phone, She heard Colby's voice. “I feel terribly to beg off on another date, darling. But Roberts sprained his back lifting a tubbed tree, and had to go home. About twenty customers are coming in to pick up Christmas plants this eve- ning, and someone must be here. | Let me explain, about that cam- elia—" | Sick with disappointment, sk | sald, “Never mind,” and hung up. {'Tears pricked her eyes. Wasn't | she ever as important as a cus- tomer? “Garral Ladd wants you to take « 8 lefter,” said the switchboard girl. Any of the other girls would have ST RS TLT chance to refuse him, not once but | quite real. dictated: “To do the town on Christmas Eve with a lovely young | my most wonderful Christmas. Will you say, ‘Yes'? Devotedly, Garral Ladd.” “To whom shall I address it?” asked Marta. “To Miss Marta Manning.” Her cheeks grew warm. On the | point of refusal, she remembered | the broken date. “I'd be glad to, | Mr. Ladd.” | That evening, on her way home to dress, she stopped at a nursery to buy a small tree for her apart- ment. The tree, she recalled with a pang of disappointment, that Colky had promised to bring when he called. A woman loaded with bundles was leaving the nursery with a plant identical to the one FNE WA SN W N W S W Sax t t blonde like you would make this | Woman left. | turned back to her car, thinking, F t I a date. Only Marta had had the | Marta had received that morning. Isn't it lovely?” the woman many times. For to her, he wasnt ' asked, noticing Marta’s glance, “ It's he new hybrid developed by the Now, with a confident smile, he Blake nursery.” And she told Mar- a Its name. Marta the she stunned when Then, abruptly, stood ‘T can call Garral Ladd later.” She found Colby wrapping red baper around a pot holding one of he new Christmas camelias. “an you forgive me Colby?” asked humbly. “I'll help wait customers so we can be to- Christmas Eve. You've made proud and happy.” was the only name + so beautiiul, d a She felt a tonen o1 awe ed at the camelia he was wrap- How like Colby to express ing his love by naming it the Marta Manning! WANT AvS BRING RESULTS lfieflerisi fo ;'Sanla (laus” Come from {All Over World | Postoffice officials in Santa Claus, Ind, are accustomed to overloaded sacks of mail during the pre. Christmas rush. Senders want their cards and gifts stamped with the famous Santa Claus postmark, plus thousands of wistful letters | addressed in childish wl to “‘Sanm Claus, Santa Claus, Ind.” | And then there is the al crop of “Santa Claus” letters writ- ten by youngsters in far-away places who haven't heard about | santa’s permanent address in In- diana, U.&A. At least o dozen | versions of the time honored note- in-the-bottle story find their way | into metropolitan newspapers every | year. The notes, sealed .in small bot. S R B CRE N ENE TS O T tles and securely tied to Christmas trees, are discovered by Christmas tree dealers, housewives; and even enlisted men at naval centers and places like Renous, a village in New Brunswick, Canada, boasting a total population of 85 inhabitants. The notes range from the wistful to the desperate, requesting such things as a mamma doll, a sled, a sweater or a pair of overshoes. REALLY SANTA CLAUS to imply a German |term of endearment for Santa | Claus. Just what motivates this idea is not at all clear, since Kris | Kringle is really a modification of Christkind who, although endowed by German legend as a gift-giver, Popular that Kris notion* seems Kringle s e fa- T military barracks: they come from | AL | PAGE THREH resemoles Santa Claus not in thQ least, Santa Claus, as we know him in America, never really caught on i Germany. St. Nicholas comes | around on his liturgical feast day —December 6— with his pockets | bulging with candy and nuts and trinkets. Well and good, but Gers | man parents maintain, as did their predecessors of the Reformatiof era, that the central idea of Christ- mas, the birth of Jesus, should dominate the observances. Nor is Christkind depicted as the; Infant Jesus himselt, but rather his messenger and gift-bearer w% | comes to earth at Christmastimg | to bring happiness to good chilsf dren. The Christkind is usu | represented as a child dressed ig white robes, wearing a goldems crown and having big, golden| wings. ~ The first Christmas card was de« signed in 1845, We would like to put into words the very nice things we're wishing you this Christmas. Yet, it is not so much the phras- ing of a Christmas greeting but the thought that pmades. it that counts. And so we send to all our friends the very old yet always new Greeting— A M.erry Christmas and a .Happy New Year to all oy Jheing P sy