Evening Star Newspaper, December 25, 1927, Page 42

Sam Houston, “Homeric Giant,” Was Bri EDITOR'S NOTE: The fol- lowing article f= the fifth in a series of historical chara iers whose adventures helpéd to shape the destinies of the United States. The author ie noted as a writer for magazines and as an author of books, He was chair- man of the President’s Commit. ‘tee on Public Information dur- ing the World War. arlier articles have dealt with Andrew Jackson, Stephen Decatur, Daniel Boone and Her- nando de Soto. BY GEORGE CREEL. VERY now and then, asif w with the sameness of her p tern, Nature creates a human being compounded entirely of color, fire and fierce revolts, sending him into the world to blaze like a comet through the dullness of | uniformity. | Such a_man was Sam Houston: tre- | mendous, Homeric—sinking from a sovernorship to the squalors of an Indian wigwam. rising again to the residency of a republie—a Colossus | in buckskin breeches and red blanket, | a mountain peak in the plain; ab-; Sord in his naive theatricalisms, ma- Sestie with his high heart and eye of fame, 5K At 13 we find him fleeing civiliza- tion for the wild life of the Cherokees —his one possession a dog-eared copy of Congress will. learn to keep a civil tongue in their heads.” ¢ Vainly he begged Houston to quit his savage life, but the “proseribed man” refused favors, knowing the attacks that would follow. one commission he accepted: to compose some ugly differences with the Co- manches in Texas. Riding over the rolling plains, Houston entered a land as vast and heroic as his own vague aspiratio 1t was in 1820 that Spain, hopeful n grants to Stephen, the son, hundred families, gaunt. indomitable men and women driving oxcarts | jled high with children, plows und ehold goods: more grants wer given, the deadly rifles of the settl heat back the sav and slowiy the desert blossomed into fields and hards. Moses came with th independence, lapsed into despotism by 1830. Ty- rannical laws crushed the Texans and ground them into the dust, hul as they despaired Antonin Lopez de Santa Anna sprang forward in re- winning of the Iliad—roaring the full-mouthed challenges of Hector and Achilles as he tracked the deer or d | about his campfire. ! At 21 he is a private in the Creck campaign. following and adoring An- ew Juckson. a soul as bold and un-| tamable as himself. At Tohopeka, whers Chief Weatherford made his last stand, a barbed arrow bit deep into Houston's thigh. Forcing & com- rade to pull it out, careless of the sush of blood. he led a second charge, only to receive two leaden slugs that shattered arm and shoulder. Left on the field for dead, his giant frame threw off its burts; well again, he proved a power in pacifying the savazes; and there is record that he deeply angered punctilious Calhoun by appearinz at the War Department in full Indian dress. Picturesque, dramatie, as colorful in erstory as any organ-voiced prophet of the tribes, the people took him to their hearts, and after two terms in| Congress the governorship of Tenn e came to him in 1527 almost by clamation. Just 34, the idol of his State and beloved by Andrew Jackson. even the presidency Was not bevond ~Sam Jouston’s hcpes, yet April of 1829 saw him resign his office, quit his Lride of three months and walk the | way to exile. No word ever escaped those tight- locked lips, but in time it became known that his wife had been forced | into the marriage hy hér -parents, \d loved another. To one of Hous- tow's intense, dramatic temperament the situation called for a gesture ot magnitude, and he made it with superb completeness that shames our shabby modern compromises. * ¥ % ¥ | ROPPING his honors from him, he journeyed to Arkansas Terri- tory, where the Cherokees had gone, »d begged sanctuary from cld Oole- | e friend of his boyhood. -“'Pl»l comed tenderly, he drew a blanket about hig mighty shoulders, and with an eagle feather in his hair joined the cirgle at the council fire. and | was Co-lon-neh the Rover. If an actor, at least he never stepped out | of his part, for regret Wwrung no| whines from him. Only, as the days | passed, he fell into drunkenness. A year slipped by, and- then the plight of the wretched Indians stirred him from his melancholy. Robbed | and oppressed by contractors and | agents, the Cherokees were staryinj and Houston went to Washingtoron | an errand of protest. Many rascals were kicked from office, but the system remained, and two years later | he made the journey again in be- | half of his adopted people. This time it was that Stanberry ©of Ohlo impugned his honor in a| congressional debate, for which ! Houston snatched away the coward's pisiol and eaned him within an inch of his lite. Congress screamed in defense of its t 10 blackguurd citizens with im- | , but President Jackson was delighted. | this | A~ few more examples of he chuckled, “and members | | render of Cos and 1,300 soldiers. bellion. demanding justice. de- mocracy and a return to the Con- stitution. The Texans answered the call in gladness, won their battles gloriously and when 1833 saw Sants supreme power, the hopes of colonists mounted to the heavens. 1t in this high mood that Hous. ton found them. Many had known him in Tennessce, all were familiar with his romantic history, and the Texans hegged him to become one of them and share in the brilliant promise of their future. Santa Anna had promised to lift the burden of unjust laws and make Toxas a separate state in the Mexican Union, and mw:t a clond darkened their sky. Yet when Austin went to the City of Mexico to claim the redemp- tion of these pledges, he was thrown into a dungeon, and loaded with the irons of a felon. ! Santa Anna had lost no time in establishipg 1 dictatorship more crue) than that he overthrew. He scourged his wretched people until they rose in sheer desperation, whereupon the homicidal charlatan announced that “perfidious Texans" were in_revolt, aided by the “Colossus of the North,™ and called upon all true patriots to put domestic differences to one side, and join him in defense of the be- loved fatherland. As Texas was entirely peaceful, the colonists afraid to stir for fear of costing Aus his life, Gen. Cos was sent to the Rio ande to force an uprising. ching Coahulia, Cos arrested the civil authorities, set up a military des. potism, and made it known that Santa | Anna and the main army were follow- | ing to expel all settlers of Anglo-Saxon blood. the unhappy Texans milled like restless cattle, a decision was | made for them even as Lexington de- cided for the American colonists. A detachment of Mexican troops tried to seize a small cannon belong- ! ing to the town of Gonzales, and the citizens whipped them back. Five hundred men rushed to the scene at once, and after winning two small| battles, the impromptu army marched | against San Antonio, stormed fts | walls, and after four days and nights | of furious fighting, forced the sur- * % % a2 N November 1, 1833, In the mldn11 of these excitements, a len'rll‘ consultation was held at San Felipe de Austin, and after naming Henry Smith to head a provisional govern ment, made Sam Houston commander: inchief. - o John Quincy Adams, Heary Clay,| Daniel Webster and others have| charges that Houston resigned as| Governor of Tennessce to enter Texas s Andrew Jackson's agent in pro-| { moting rebellion as a part of a South- | ern plot “to steal from ‘a8 weaker neighbor a fine slice of land suitable for slave labor.” | Lies without foundation! FEven if| Houxton's unhappy years with the| Cherokees did not afford sufficient | advénture, were naturally open to any | that Santa Anna marched fast to LA 8 s THE SUNDAY AS THE ME STAR, LEAPED FORWARD, HOUSTON CRIED IN WASHINGTON, D. 0. HIS GREAT, ROARI! DECEMBER 25; “REMEMBER THE ALAMO!” HAD THE INSPIRATION OF A THOUSAND BUGLES 1927—~PART 5. D THAT CRY answer, his course in the consultation | offers additional refutation. Many_ hotheads favored an immedi- | ate declaration of independence, but | Houston pointed out their weakness. showed the necessity of gaining the | aid of Mexican liberals, and forced the | adoption of a preamble thgt the colonists were taking a “against the encroachment of military despots, | and in defense of the republican | prineiples of the constitution of 1824." | Revolutions are not orderly processes at best, nor had the highly individuna ized lives of the Texans fitted them for operation. Setting_out for San Antonio in January, 1536, Houston ran into as lurid a drama of insubordina- tion as reckless courage ever staged. From the United States had come several hundred volunteers—the New Orleans Gra; the Red Rovers of Alabama, the Kentucky Mustangs— and arriving at a time when no Mexi- can soldier remained on Texas soll, these high spirited youths, eager for hold suggestion. Dr. James Grant, a_Scotchman owning huge estates In Parras, came forward at this moment with a plan for the Invasion of Mexico, and every imagination caught fire, Houston was powerless to stem the madness, He sent a reinforcement to the Alame, but suggested immedinte evacuation; for by now it was known ;]' vipe out the shame™ of Cos’ surren- er. His words were wasted, for the Tex- ans, superbly contemptuous of Mex- ican valor, disdained retreat, Every | man had been trained in the savage school of Indian warfare, and for leaders there were Willlam Barrett Travis, that lithe, intrepid young glant of the red hair apd blue eyes; Davy Crockett, whose boast it was that he had never heen known to miss | poisoned the wells of history by their | It B B BOver ARen i Care: linian, and tall, silent 1. Bowie, as deadly as his terrible knife, EEE I the river to the Almo,l ROSSING an abandoned mission, deeming it better suited to defense, the garrison jeered at Santa Anna’s summons to | surrender. Only 182 men crouched | carried i with corpses piled high about them. | bands blared the deguello, a hfirbflrlc! had none.” The bodies were piled on air signifying “no quarter.” | JKscape wie open to them up to the | mexan disaster. | last, but they laughed their scorn of death, and repelled_ever {dawn of by a for vy i 11 ssault March 6 days and nights In the early walls o charse the 1 desper were o brush-wood and burned. Nor was this the full measure of Dr. Grant's party, Continent Was Influenced by Pioneer in Blanket and Buckskin—Defended Indians and Caned a Congressman — Command- ing Armed Forces of Texas—Death Struggle at San Jacinto—From Rover to President. with home. Houston did not dare give bhattle except on his own terms, 4 accom- panied by a few ragged hundreds, he fell back to the Brazos, begging and beseeching the council for food and supplies. his back against his menaced All the money. that he possessed for | the campaign was 3200 of his own private funds; there vas little to eat, and no tents to protect against the rain; night after might the wretched company perched on saddles to kesp dry, dozing miserably with their backs inst trees, Houston's one hope was that Sant. Anna might be %o Insane as to pursu and his faith was not misplaced, for when i ca tence, dictator could always b depended upop. He plunged into the interior. Vowing a war of extermina. tion. San. Felipe de Austin and Harris ton still retreated, the rage of ti people scourged him, and his own men threatened mutiny. Was he coward or fool that he refused to make a stand? Yet as he reported In a heart-broken letter, “What has heen my situation” At _Gonzales I had 374 efficient men without supplies, not even powder. alls or arms. At the Colorado, 700 men without discipline. Two d sinca my effective force was 523 men." Closing his ears to taunts, beating | his men down with a lionlike | he fell back to San Jac | Santa Anna on and on. s t} revolution: according to_history, th [ was fought and financed by the men the extension of slaver: ing, desperate rabble racing before an Army At wer | eely d of 1,600 mi E . entering a natural cul de sac formed by Buffalo Bayou and the San Jacinto River. Behind him zt Fort Hond the fool had left Gen. Filisola and 4,000 men. 3 It was the moment for which Hous- st, about to depose him, Houston re- muddling around San Patricio with a | mad project of invading Mexico, was | captur and a_hundred men were «hot down. the luckle: |ing death tied to the heels of a wild and the few remaining defenders died horse On March 1, while the tragedy of !the Alamo played to its grim con- clusion, regularly-elected representa- tives gathered in the town of Wash- ington, and after solemn recitation of wrongs, proclaimed Texas “a free. sovereign and independent republic.” There were less than 50.000 people ‘tn Texas at the time, and it was a nation that they challenged, but they faced odds with the same iron courage that had made them masters of the wilderness, Houston, restored to command, hur ried to the relief of the Alamo, only to receive the news of ite fall, and the ghastly details of the Grant mas sacre. Sceing that his one chance ‘u to lure Santa Anna into the mordsses of the interior, away from his supplies, Houston fell back to the Colorado River, and rushed couriers to Goliad, ordering Fannin to blow up the fort and join him at once. Instead of that, the reckless captain scattered his men on wild-goose chases, handing them over to capture by the Mexicans, and not until six }dn_\'l had passed did he set out him- solf, Surrounded in the open prairie, he fought a day and a night, only sur- rendering when assured the treatment | of prisoners of war., | The prisoners were gathered to mether at young adventurers who had entered HOUSTON WAS SENT TO WASHINGTON AS THE FIRST SENATOR FROM THE NEW STATE, WEARING A BLANKET. NOW AND THEN HE ROSE IN HIS PLACE AND SPOKE WORDS THAT BIT behind the walls, and against was an army of 6,000, yet a shout of | cry to the world, the Mexican! jta messenger of defeat; the Alamo deflance went up as them e Sea-Devil L BY LOWELL THOMAS. T SHOULD be Christm: hoarse volce boomed, tell this story.” 1t wasn't Christmas that eve- ning before the log fire. It i ay, though. Bo, I may as well pass tory along to you. CUp at my house among the hills of middle New York State there wax yarn-sponning aplenty, and a salty, navteeal Mne of talk it was 1 was preparing my book about t von Luckner, the wea devil the Ses Devil himself, with shouiders like the mainyard and with feet astance for rolling decks, there, telling of hix great adventure— 1he taking of a German safling »hip throuch the British bibckade during the war, raiding the sean with ft and sinking 8 score of allied craft, until that insolent windjammer. the Keead Jer, piled fizelf on a coral reef in the Houth Reas. on of a noble family, he had. never- theless, wufled sx a common Jack tar ir bix youth, and it was an episode of his davs before the mast that he told thin Christinis story of the old times of the canve s and the wind Luek on Christmas in twice lucky That was what we vuid abosrd the old three master, the Carsur on h mas morning those 25 years ngo. Aay of the fenst Anwned with so sud Aen an ar al of high fortune that s coulAn’t bame the ol captain for penowing across the deck “Boye. it Is the hand of God " And wallors could indeed 18 ugh and sing. and bless the Christmas ppirit mnd thenk Santa Claus 1t wusnt often that we shipmates i the fo'c'ele bad any reason 1o luvigh or wi feww Bnything or any- The Coesaren was ordinarily no yevelry and erman MHumburg, rather de per too comfourtable noy torvermin, bedbugs The captain was igper hardkicking of fool with A s linspike 34 cent of heatt, though surly of n vd guite a Columbus Bt navigation Mo hed one tralt however exswiled sl other w prains 1 ever met, wnd thot tra wak singiness wine for the » siinfiint with o mania n ney snd the simplest yooney on shiphonid in by way of the w i lore’ fond Nor was the b bad fellow Cookle, in fact n Jively the ship's gulley und an tenderhearted 5 mentimentalist ns wak ever sired in Germany Mo wis vusty stiold of the caplain, though snd had u w e of wpArit thist Aemonstiated iself fn.n dewire, ax wharp w6 northesstior gale 1o defer 10 1he ekipper und pleass him on every point Jetween these twe heartics, 8 voy ppe war 8 long conspisey o skimp Tie sellors’ putions, snd the womplng they conld do wee 8 marvel of inge nulty, We wretches wio swabbed the deck and med the rails were eter nally hungry Ae 1 bouk back, It seems an If that the ‘when 1 {4 [ And K sur for smving why 10 mave ok in which he | He wi o perfoct | hand in | v | whivh | | NESS.” consisted only of wtorme wlorms grew worwe #n Chrlstnns | v on. The Caeiren made a fe {fully tempestiuons voysge from Franciseo around wind beyten Horn and then north and east wevoms the Atlantic, and then ot {we made port, We dnmediatols [ u cario fur New York o eim | o sall acroms the North Athnth after thin witd ip hslfway wd the world, secied ke il e (hut o trifle of boatng in the Darhor of Hambur e o A out, though, that whe weareely out of the Channel the e Biron wncountered BOLm URON Ko vibe weathwr of Autumin, We wer n noand huffeled T owar then that Chitlelines came And a mbracle! e and Tast ok “ “WE, SAT AROUND THE DECK, SINGIN PRAISING THE SKINFLINT CAPTAIN FOR MIS SUDDEN BOUNT Ana! wind shifted astern, ux lively and well uckner’s Christmas | Christmas dinner, a good Christmas | | { | dinner—regardless of expense. At the stroke of eight bells the meal | ax served, We had sausages. ters heuped high with them. W flapjacks, piled over with jelly. had potatoes fried to a turn and tur- | deadly lat e had We nips served with plenty of butter. We had all the beer we could | and coffee nerved with schnapps. | How our jawx worked and how we | w | | with 0 loose rudder, tossed and wal CHRISTMAS CAROLS AND oS | AU Quwn of Chylstmun morning the clouds broke. MWwirtly the sky cleared The wun whone hot and bright. The ! placed i hreeze as uny windjammer Dlessing (s ntars, over van hefore. he Coennren potnted her how stralght fo port ik, went seudding with n full | spvvad of il That wis i Christnes fon wtorm henton wiilors Thie captatin was like another man Boym,” b wald, I the hand of [ 1t g it we should cole wrte Christimas properly ' | “Calubyate? we wsked, and fooked | Lt o wiather and at the skipper, “Yen! hw vesponded heariily, “we st celebrate Christmas properly W st eat and dink as Christians hoMld un Christinan, Cookle, prepuie L ove our helts, mvitation, we adjou paunches, to his had to loose a wudden lurch and wiid | heen pitching. ‘Then w ghastly re crnsh, over witha heavy Hst. hud struck wind storms The first lu the helmxeman down and the Caox lowed crazily. One of n wax loaded with te, very heavy stuff, neh of the squill so wenkened whip's frame (hie the caen of ary broke through and fell into th Many of t worked In arsenle dust a L3 We hecame 1l wit ow and swelling of limbs. A n trying 1o keep down the wate 1) Tha ship leaked more wowly becoming wate comber hroke oy the galley and ¢ Poor Cookle wa into the wen u pana, A towsring Wive down upon the stern of the where four men were nt the hely waun one of them, The other | cought In the tremend riwl wiiter, were wished overbonrd, more lucky, | wi foot between 0 couple of heans Avrenintible 1 of water and wlmn n ont deck, The beamn foot, bone was snapped at the ankle, Phey hauled me to the eabin Coptndn examined my hroken SWe hive JoRU (oo many voidy, he il "Wa hand " 1e e noed r her. drink Then, at the | rned, cabin TO THE VERY HEART OF THE SUBJECT. W 1l indeed was Texas entitled to ‘Thermopylae had ay they expected to be ex- | ehanged, Mexican troops opened fire, and 390 were shot down like sheep, | | * ok o w [ "TERROR swept Texas like a prairie { - fire., The American voluntee from whom so much had been hoped. were wiped out: the best and brave of the colonists lay dead and charred in the ruins of the Alamo, and with | desperate intent to save his own. every Texan left the army to fight ton had waited, and, with caution no |longer a necessity, all that was hot and intense in that wild nature flamed | t- | to the surface, What though he had at his com | mand only 753 men, worn to the bone | by hardship? What though his ar- tillery eonsisted of two small cannon— | only the gift of Cincinnati—with broken horseshoes for ammunition? ;{ 1l that he saw was the throat of his oe. Driving his scarecrows to the work of building rafts. he crossed the Rayou, sent “Deaf” Smith to cut Vinces Bridge, so that it might be a fight to the death, and ordered his solitary fife to%ound the charge. “Will you come to the bower 1 have shaded for you™' was the only tune the fifer knew, but g Ieaped forward, Houston cri at, roaring voice, “Remember the | Alamo!” and that cry had the inspira- tion of a thousand bugles. " * x % % HERE on that sunny afternoon of April 1836, there was slauchter zrim and terrible. -Charging with a ferocity that swept the Mexicans into panie, the Texans threw away their rifles- at the first fire and came to se quarters with their long knives. By the time a white flag waved, £30 of Santa Anna’s men lay dead on the ground, 208 were wounded and 730 were grouped in abject surrender. The following day the dictator him- self was captured as he wormed his was through the grass in peon dress. plies, but something of his old as- | surance returned with, the drus. | “You, sil he said with a grandilo- ! quent flourish, “are born tc no com- mon_destiny, for vou have captured the Napoleon of the Western world.™ Houston, lyving at the foot of a tree, his ankle shattered by a bullet, piereed the little murderer with a glare that froze his marrow. What of the Alamo and Goliad? What of their brothers | that he had butchered in cold hiood? | Nevertheless. the Mexican had sur- me to displaying incompe- burg went up in flames, and as Hou< | and money of the United States for this starv. when his rebellious men | word that Santa Anna, at the | , had crossed Vinces lliant Comet of Plains rendered ae a { Houston thre him as a shield. Santa Anna, of war, and honor about In solemn treat knowledged the independen, exas, recognized the Rio the boundary and pledged himse force the ratifica | ments if permitted to ret | " On September first, Sam Ho once Colon-nen the Fover, was ed president of the Repubiic nf and a_year later there was a | for annexation to the Uni It was refused, and Hous: and chagrined, set hin | put_ foundations under castle Organizi | ing an arm | his _ministers | walked the muddy | blanket and drearmed gre the ecotton field= of '] and other no i confederac that Mexican rule | in New Mexico and Cal shining vision took shape of retching far Pacif he returned to the presidenc however, ra back to brin out of chaos, his clea forced to reco Seven hundrs ntier were exposed “i hundred miles of border iean fora and the cost of of continnal warfare was a b erushing to be horne. When the United States agreed to annexation In 1545, the pespia f Lone r accepted with a fee relief, if not thankfulness. Houston was sent to \Washinz the first Senator from the ne wearing a blanket as in the da. President Jackson exc! - (Gexd, there is one man, at least the Almighty h: the tailor! Now and then he rose in his n and spoke words that hit 15 ths heart of the subject: but for the mns part he whittled, bored and sicx | by the politicians. Loved and venera woman and chi seemed more heartbreak were to his latter years. Hatin, | man that history charges “head devil of the slave and Joving the Union v ! mystical pas: all his mi to beat back i tide of secession. Leaving the Senate in years of service. he threw & the battle for his & Zovernor on an antisecessin | form. The whole force of p ment was arrayved agzainst him such was the magnetism of the r that he was elected. Oniy for a while was San Jacinto membered. In 1561 Jeftor Davis ealled the Sou’ a2 new al gilance, Texas answered with a il shout. Housten refused to follow 2 they deposed him. Of a sudden he fell old. The wo | received at Tohopeka reopened the ankle shattered at San Jac forced him to hobb Broken in spirit as we Jonely and very poor, he sat watch the fratricidal struggle with sick eyes, and there can be no doubt tha glad when death closed them in 1363 (Comyright. 1927} | - f Deep-Water Eyes. EEP-SEA fishes, as a rule. have either ve: large eyes or no eycs at all. The large eves are fitied to make the most of the little light that is present at great depths, and th. | is amplified by the phosphorescence of | certain deep-water denizens them- 2, after 17 maelf iy whe th v liad—all those gallant | he shivering wretch could not con- | selves. 5 trol* his hysteria until he had been ith such high hearts; and on | ziven opium from his captured ‘wop. | stem was brought up from-a depth A bunch of polyps on a flexible of 2175 fathoms between Madeira and the Spanish coast. As it came - to the surface it gave out a | liant phosphorescence. as dil mary allied forms dredzed in deep wat No doubt these v | cangoners in itzht in the deep se: sea anim sregate T them way in the gloom from one to another as they the bottom Why We Celebrate the Holiday UPPOS| mas. there were no Christ. ' on the postmen | blessed institution, has h: fizht hav ha its battles. enemies There have of Christmas. At and shop girls would be saddened Well, Christmax, like any heen | baen mnde to suppress t, and more than onece it must an it the merry holiduy The fNirst great enemy of ¢ | was the prodigions Roman | | the saddest Christma | Dioctetian was that ne n f the vear 303. There had | utions of the Christiane ding | and pagan enemies had grown wrath. | “The ship trembled and heeled A white squall | ne of thoxe sudden | jizjon are the forward | o of | 1 the | wenic | hold d we of | h an erow | | wis kept at the pumps day and night, the | nore, 1! it wept ni with his pots and winnshwd | I6, from this one thousand, nine hun. twenty-seventh we may axkod the quention whip. | . 1| hre h wtanding with one The | howled ni b Lhy He had the men bring o block and tackle, They fd of the enbin funtoned me 1 other, wd hooked my leg onte twekle, Thiea men then struigh me out, 1 thoiught 1 would div o i of it The carpentey ante my log A couple of longt plank for wplints, They were coongh 1o extond hayond my foot sery ol uw u wonden 1ok bl t hobible avound @ bit and | Dl after a tanhion Phe Caswaren win 0 hopeloss Watorlogged. she lay at the mey the pounding sea. After thieo the pummps coull heap hey Tonger, We pub twa litehouts ou the men wiked dnto then, The ammanded one, the Captain other, The maie's bdat wan weon again, The Captain dvifie 1o waeks, The food supply was simall uflont 0 the ) the tened ot tha fantenesd hn ot long Cand Thin wan -1 end o ciae vy of duys [ and mate tha never Wl for Mes The ' w | every | wunply which the nme | fie obliteratod 1 At A great Athered at Nicomedia diers surro it afire. | wlnugghter, In other mo tan waged p of all, and o that Christmax must be ful over the joyful celebrations with followers of the new e ted their hollest day. secution the most jetermined with u ym the calendar, aulek | Roman world throng of Christlans was their ndod Rithynin, me that on Christmas day pulked throughe place of worship at Roman sol the bullding and set was burning and 0,000 of the faithful | niommation of mouth and nusal ees: | ave wald to have perished, parts of the empire that wame dute Wiy marked red with hlood. | Hut Christmas survi ades luter came Empers A pstantine the v ound a Christian, and Christmas stood the King of Days of the Western world, Hpeedily now a new sowrce of con tentlon urose, and nx we look hack on dred and voally Christmas® hut o, | Uhureh on |.. LA 20 or ently It | 1t out He ‘l’ltulun now wiun ke | w nisht, Helous with Wiy ponred. 1t Then all o Bl wpded un towinid s tended vamiunts We mank wnd ay help! i, ha wteamar, had holwt us aboard lhe 5o many pleves of deop deinking merchandise, who The | 6. others for Mareh win wnall tflexible small quantities ; all* wim n good hand tened 1t to one wide [ such a naturel skinfling to thank Heaven that he that vouly Keap afloat in dho starm 0 eut of our atrength vanished | b to the Tnttom of 0w In early thmes the 1 owiew | Frant wan in disput Christ wis horn, n nother thenluarly contended S [l had o keep baling tha bo Joy withuut weelng v came conld not helleve it bt T Witn Stonming st CEarthest from senigh Now lean whin [ exhaunted i) Christmas 18 today ctunl date of the Many held that on Decamber @ day. Ther in the wtern danuary MU others fo The dinputs e ey e e e The water The Captain duled 1, he wan Weo had oc conld We diy and For duys we Then the wonther cleaved A ahip hove in sieht Weo wers e kept on it Another ap toward us We Hat it vanished The shin [ R (R motwa The last hont We were like dead an Halian tramp I8 devviok out and were | “YULE LOG AND CHRISTMAS TREE, MISTLETOE AND HOLLY COME ' TO US FROM THE ANCIENT DRUIDICAL TREE “\\ll(. lll‘.“' L DOW B eonfusion that nebody knew with nplete confidence fust When ta g ;\»v nte Chrimtmas AU length, i the | .ln‘Hll.\ contury, Pope Jutius b ossttied the matter In favor of our present date. Hin dechaion was univorsatly ae | | vopted Wit the auestion of the date | pont. the guestion then arm Nhould there be any Christinas at at "y the flest had been [ among Chafstians o cevtuin hostibiny toward the Christinas fostival. The olohration of hivthdays in general was ansidered heathonish and somothing ke over from the pagans. Nor LA the enomies of Chvistimas fall | Obmerve thint many pagan eustoms hat event into the feastings of the day LIPS tmas and the days of Advent that Ko hofore it aeeur at the time of (he Winter solstive, when the davs censs L REOW ShorERE ind Besin to fensihen Whet the sum iy ing dechined s heg iyt chimb agatin The period Was one of festival I many parts of the workd and wan A wacred by many veliglona. Then acoured the Raman Sataviaiin with Tt wild oxcessen. and the peapte of the | northe toe, had o kveat Atidwinter foant WIth diys of hearty eating andt 1 was only natuval that some pE the ol pagan vites pe there enliar to the seasan shonld be held over and incorporated nto the vapie s of Cheistin, From the Saturnalia cane hanquet. L dancings and viotings in AW the RIVING of Rifte Our Christmas inner and Christimas pres ente aid Chelstmas cants and the Woaliig of Chuisimag masks i vay oy paris of the World date baek to (he Satuvialia, The Midwinter foast of the northern peoples was Yule, honce our Yuletide and Yule g The hurning of the Christmas log e oeinda (ron northern oo worship. So dovw the Christmas tes. The an Clant Druids gave Chetstmas tts holly Claus seemax 1o date fvom CReistian tines. He s sood St Nicholax, of course. The hanging ot stockings comes ffom the logend that | the saint, wmong his other chavittes ned to Provide dowerids fae poor sivis The alder form of the Christmas stock | g custam was for poer givks o hanyg W stockin N SE N eholan Woukt place Wareige Partions tn them, H Thoour times we are accustomed o the iew that many of tha Rty wavs of Chuistimas have come down from Arter pasanisin and pratse the tolerant SpiE that pw them 1o be e badied (8 the merriment of the holy | [ bt | ) {vinistie attitude on §fvant af the Eyrahliahed Choren i the hope that heneva | | days. In earlier vears. though min {learned and pious peopls ssied whether it was right that t N | should he held with pasan save their own answer Wi phatic no. Nor could it be de many of the pagan cus " in Christmas were il innecent merrie sood deat rly day rivs of the transferred to Christmas, enness, wild dancing and ohsce tcles. Chief Feast of Fools, rorue was made st tn whi King of ¥ en the power to cox n of license on the | ing subjects. 1t was { gain. Foom ¢ pagun religions came the drinking of the wassail dowl Thus, Christinas be scanduls, and ands that the € of Christy In speaking of the most noted thealos sald the devils § ther that should 1anity, they cou this one The encmies of Chr to ahalish t friends of Ch | suppresying | The Iatter opivien prevarisd | Chelstimas continued its mery though in & semewhat more s diEnified way A mand vears new enemies ot | Weo arvive at the peried ot ¢ | mation. The sour Oahv EVRUE POINE of belns oppose e consblersd pagan W § Cheistiniey 1 ol these MO characteristic than Linanial abeecvances of Oh then he stood hastie eral wnd the Chrdstmas of was A By YT | ®avetion that wers apt e viets and carousals Oahvin fnouncad Chrestmas an abo fand Bis disciptes tollowed hom unlovely belief o The eheerva o I Yuletide waus abolished in the var cas Secty that Tesuited fram the Retmas {tion, save in the Lutherwn and \w Rloan Churches, and th many & Was MOt vestarwt for o long tie Puritan Eagland bore an e Srudee apainat Chuistmas Not PR Rer churchmen assume the that P A% CRyitinns was the mast immes e o \ { w cat W N ar, e Crey [ hated it with all the faasts of the Be tabtishod Chuieh With the A Criwell's vegime e celvisaiw OF Christmas was orkikden B AW Parkament held its baal sitiing an Cheistmas @y, chureh sery s el Wrohihited. and shops wers wintvied ta VOINAIR GO ARd work to g SN s el BUN here Wore mary makings an he ancient oty They wes hald Wontinued ea” Fourtd Taed L [