Evening Star Newspaper, December 23, 1928, Page 70

” BY ALICE ROGERS HAGER. 'HEN Santa, with his jolly wise smile and his mysterious pack overflowing with good- ies, explores the chimney pots of Washington tomor- fow night, he will find the boys and girls of all ages waiting for him as eagerly as ever, even as they wait for his coming in nearly every part of the Christian world. Eyes will sparkle and shine, small heads will go burrowing under bedclothes lest the good saint catch them peeping—and it is well known that he is fairly hard on peepers ~—and when Christmas morning dawns thgre will be the glorious tree in its corner, xguzling alight and drooping every one of its brancnes in an invita- tion to childish hands to pluck the fruit that the best loved of all the fairies has left behind. Father and mother and granddad and grand- mother will shake their hands over such happiness. And so the feast of the Christ Child will be celebrated once more with singing and laughter and good will, while the far distant song of the herald angels drifts again through the hearts of men. And Santa, who is a stout fellow, and 2 better Arctic explorer than Richard Byrd himself, will not mind in the least if, during the course of a long afternoon, when belt buckles have been eased to accommodate the last helping of turkey and plum pudding, the elders explore his genealogy in a lazy state of wonder that there can be so many queer things under the sun, nor will the ears of the Druids burn beneath the leaf mold of old England when the story of the carols is told once more. Now, this, you must understand, is | & proceeding that can take place only if there is a contented hum of voices from nursery and sun porch, or if Tom, Dick and Margery are out on the ter- races testing out the miracles of the e to have a peep,” says grand- dad, who, like the elephant’s ghllgrd. has a “satiable curiosity,” “into the homes on the other side of the globe just now and see what they are doing. I under- stand they have some queer ways of enjoying Christmas, and that they call Santa by all sorts of outlandish names, And that reminds me—Dick asked this m‘o‘winit,lédthem really is a Santa.” hat did you say?” aske anxionaly. ¥ y ed grandma “Told him to ask Wwith a chuckle. thority.” ..Dad laughs comfortably and answers, You're not far wrong at that. As it happens, I can tell him something about it. I got hold of some books at the library “the other night that told a Jot about Santa Claus. Sure, there is a Teal Saint Nick, and I don’t mean just the spirit of Christmas in the symbolical sense, nor the department store variety. And there are more different ways of celebrating the 25th of December than you can shake a stick at. It's like the story of the Christmas spiders, who, when the Christ Child let them go in to look at the Christmas tree in the house that had been so cleaned up that there wasn't any place for them to stay—they climbed all over the tree and examined every last thing on it before they left. And when the Christ Child came to see that they hadn't harmed anything, he found the tree Just covered with spider webs that the spiders hadn’t known they had made. So to keep the children from being dis- appointed, He changed all the feathery was Hloer hkn anyihing that pad erms oer than an eve ‘been done before.” 2 * k Kk AT does that have to do with the things we were talking about?” asks mother. “A lot,” says father patiently. “You see eyery country where there are Christians has been just like one of those spiders, climbing over the tree of Christmas and leaving its own cob- webby trail of ideas and customs behind.” “And T suppose the loving kindness they all have in their hearts is what the Christ Child uses to turn the cob- webs to gold,” contributes mother, happy with her idea. “Exactly,” father approves. “If you like, T'll tell you what I learned about his dad, of course,” “He's the family au- & all proper stories should start, Christ- mas, of course, began with the Star and !the Manger and the clarion song of the angels. And with Mary's still and adoring face as she bent above her Babe. Then, according to the legends, the cattle knelt down and worshiped with the shepherds, the little brown bees sang together in a corner, and when the magi came, the goose alone remembered its manners and went properly out to greet them. In Bosnia now, they tell very beautifully that the sun leaped in the heavens and the stars around it danced. A peace came over mountain and forest. Even the rotten stump stood straight and healthy on the green hillside. The grass was be- flowered with open blossoms, incense sweet as myrrh pervaded upland and forest birds sang on the mountain top and all gave thanks to the great God. “In Switzerland still, the cattle are supposed to talk together on Christmas eve, but woe to him who listens to them, for death shall be his portion. In Eng- land, the Glastonbury thorn blossoms only on Christmas day, and in Provence, the children go out with gifts of sweet hay and carrots for the weary camels of the magi, whom, from year to year, they hope to see. That small feet never find the right road means no de- struction of faith, because one can never tell beforehand by which way the Kings will travel, and they are in- deed always waiting in the church by the - Creche when, colder and wearier than the far traveled camels, the chil- dren creep into their places at last. “Nor is there to be forgotten that in an earlier day in this same mystery- loving neighborhood a great figure of Melchior, made from wicker work, dressed in strange garments and laden with a pannier of no mean size behind, was mounted on a donkey and taken from house to house that the charitably inclined might drop into the pannier their donations of food for the poor. The round was finished at the chapel door, where, under a flaring torch to simulate the star, and to the ringing of the holy bells, those who were in need THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, Christmas Feasting, Manners, Customs Traced Through Ages came to receive their share of the ‘gifts to Christ.” * ok ok % ¢JT was in AD. 354 that a Latin chronographer made the first note of Christ's birth of which we are cer- tain. He said: ‘Year 1, after Christ, in the consulate of Caesar and Paulus, the Lord Jesus Christ was born on the 25th of December, a Friday, and the 15th day of the new moon. He was mis- taken in one thing, December 25 of that year really came on Sunday. There were, however, for many years heated discussions as to the . authenticity of this date. It was St. Crysostom, in 386 or thereabouts, who stated that the feast of December 25 was first held in the west, from Thrace as far as Cadiz, that it spread eastward from those parts with amazing rapidity. As early as AD. 400 in Rome an imperial rescript included Christmas as one of the three feast days upon which all theaters must be closed. Easter and Epiphany were the others. The real beginning of the church's recognition of Christmas as a feast day, however, was between 350 and 400 A.D. “It is of the greatest interest to note that this holiest day in Christianity’s bration of the Winter solstice. To the sun and fire worshipers of the days of man’s racial childhood the moment on which the sacred sun left his Winter sleep behind him and began his ascent toward the zenith was one of peculiar thanksgiving. For another year the world was to be assured the gift of life, the dark days of death and Winter would vanish and with Spring and Sum- mer would come renewed fertility of the soil and the joy of heat and light. In the awesome forests of Britain the ce of the Druids cut the mistletoe ‘rom the oaks with a golden sickle; in the yet more barbarous wrthern coune tries huge logs were set blazing to the glory of Odin and Thor and dark sacrie fices of cattle.and men were made to appease their Winter wrath. Goth and they all chorus. “Well,” says father. “This is how it was: “To go back to the beginning, where Saxon called this feasting time ‘Yule, and the name still in modern Scotland in the place of ‘Christmas.’ Anclent Germany symbolized the sun calendar coincides with the pagan cele- | bec: rising higher and higher in the heavens by decking a chosen tree of the forest with any bright things they could find, ause the climbing monarch of the heavens would spread and blossom like & great tree. Prof. Schwartz says that they compared the lights they set upon the branches to the lightning flashing overhead and the golden apples and nuts to the sun and its_satellites, the moon and the stars. Little animals hung in various places were sacrifices also. Going south, in Rome was found the tremendous feast of the ‘Saturnalia,’ gay, licentious, extending even to the slaves, feasting, drinking and hanging its houses with evergreens. Later the ‘Lord of Misrule’ in the English Christ- mas was to be a lineal descendant from the ruler of the sports in the Satur- * K K % ¢'THE Druids came close to the Ro- mans in that they, too, decorated their dwelling places with evergreens and, of course, with the waxen berries cut by the golden sickle aforemen- tioned. In this manner the shivering spirits of the grove, angry with dis- comfort because their tree houses had been stripped of leaves by the bold north wind, were offered human hos- pitality and a shelter against the cold, “Baron Holberg says: ‘Before the es- tablishment of Christianity there were in Denmark games or merriment which lasted for six days of the old year and six days of the new.’ The Greek ‘festi- val of the presence of .the gods,’ called ‘Epiphany,’ corresponded in time and meaning to all of these others. Nearly all of the greatest rites of these di- vergent peoples were held at the dead of night—listen to their names: The Briton, ‘wake’; the French, ‘reveillon’ the Spanish, ‘medianoche’; the Roman, ‘pervigilia.’ Music, according to John Cleland, was used at least by the Druids to rouse men who, dead with sleep on bitter Winter nights, were loath to leave warm beds for a spectral ceremony. This music was called ‘wakeths’ and through generation upon generation of slurring by a multitude of voices be- came ‘waits.’ D. 0, DECEMBER 23, 1928—PART 7.' “So now we have the Christmas tree, decorations of red berries, waxy white mistletoe, green leaves, evergreens, 'Epilphany, ‘twelfth night’ and the ‘waits.” " “But, father,” mother looked worried, “where does our Christmas come in? All this is so—so pagan.” 3 “Exactly,” father smiled. “It is to the everlasting glory, to my mind, of the apostles and early missionaries of the church that Christmas did come in just as we have it. They were wise men and men with understanding hearts, and they realized or soon learned that you might divorce a man from a disagreeable pagan deity without too much difficulty, but to take away his most cherished festivals was another matter altogether. So wherever it was possible they grafted Christianity onto the old stalks and pruned and watered and prayed over the graft until they had ‘trained it into a straight and lovely growth. The old became swal- lowed up in the new, although it was still visible in certain signs to the see- Ing eye. “And to go on. The great feast of Christmas came at last to be the peak of the Christian year. Its sacred sig- nificance was increased a thousand- fold by the repetition of its mystery. Legends grew thick about it. rooted firmly in ancient sofl. countries there was feasting, but gift giving was left for the new year. Not so among the Teutonic peoples. * ok ok K ¢¢RIGHT here we really must bring in St. Nicholas. We haven't many facts about him, but we do know that' he was a bishop of Myra, in Lycia, and I hope you know where that is! I didn’t. until I hunted for it, so I'll let you hunt, too. At any rate, he seems to have lived in the time of Diocletian, who persecuted and tor- tured and unfeelingly cast him into prison for some years. Constantine was better disposed to Christians, you will remember, and so'our saint was released after all. He is supposed to St. Nicholas Was Bishop of Myra, Later Patron Saint of Russia—How Santa Claus Myth Grew in Folklore of Many Lands. Origin of the Yule Log and Christmas Tree, the Wassail Bowl of Merrie England, and First Exchange of Gifts. He is listed in martyrologies of the ninth century, and churches began to be dedicated to him in the eleventh century. His cult became tremendously popular after the removal of his body to Bari, in Apulia, on the 9th of May, 1087. Numberless pilgrimages were made to his shrines. Nearly 400 Eng- lish churches bear his name, and he is the patron of Russia, the special pro- tector of children, of scholars, mer- chants and sailors—certainly a catholic choice of proteges! “Two of the legends about him are worth remembering. In many of his pictures, he is shown with three boys beside him in a tub. It seems, accord- ing to this legend, that he happened to visit an inn where three rich youths, who had taken lodging, had been mur- dered for their money by the innkeeper. Their bodies had been cut up and hid- den in the salting tub. Miraculously, the good saint smelled out the foul deed and, through his special powers, raised them up complete and lively again. The fate of the innkeeper is shrouded in the mists of time, but per- haps he repented and was forgiven. “The other most famous legend, which has also been illustrated by the painters, had to do with his kindness to three dowerless maidens. Their father, poverty stricken and unable, in consequence, to make proper marriages | for them, was about to turn them adrift in a highly improper world, when St. Nicholas came knocking at the door with a donation of more or less celestial gold—and the situation was saved. And so, from this redeeming of the maidens, came the giving of gifts on St. Nicholas’ eve, or December 6. Most of Western Europe kept this custom until the Protestants began in- veighing against it, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. They insisted that all good gifts came from the Christ Child alone and not from any saint. This and the gfowth of the Christmas tree idea finally developed the day we know. Belgian and Dutch children, however, still receive their gifts on St. Nicholas’ eve, and gradually, over many years, St. Nicholas has become “Sami- klaus” to the Swiss little folk, “Kris Kringle” to some of the German “kinder” and “Santa Claus” to small Americans. In a few other places he is known as “Father Christmas”; in some the Christ Child himself is said to be the visitor, and in Prance he is known as “le Pere Noel.” * kK K ¢¢QOME of his customs are quaint and pretty. To the Belgian and Dutch children he comes in his bishop’s robes, first to see if they have been good. then later to drop gifts down the chimney or onto plates or into baskets or sabots in convenient corners. When the chil- dren find them they say, “Thank you, St. Nicholas,” very politely. And they do not forget to leave fodder for the gray horse or white ass, one of which is his invariable steed. When they have been geod the fodder disappears and the gifts are to be found. But when they have been bad, alas and alack, the fodder is untouched and only a switch is to be seen. “In Holland a white sheet is laid on the floor just before the appointed time for the saint’s appearance. Round this sheet the boys and girls range them- selves, with disturbed eyes on the clock. A few minutes before time they begin to sing lustily in his honor. They are rewarded with a shower~of candies onto the sheet, and while they are scrambling the saint himself enters, followed by a regroid servant carrying an open bag and bearing a rod. But this is seldom used. St. Nicholas dis- tributes the presents which he has brought in his arms, and joy reigns as he takes his departure. “It seems too bad not to tell you the rest of the story, particularly about Christmas in merrie England.” “Oh, but you must,” cried mother. “We won't let you stop now. And, besides, you haven't said any- thing yet about the carols.” “It will have to be very short, then.” Father stretched and settled himself more comfortably in his chair. “The aub{e’cc is fascinating, but it fills many books. Probably no other country, ex- cept possibly Southern ce, made as have been” {)hr;ssent at the Council of Nicaea, but is not known for sure. much of Christmas as England did. You may remember that King Alfred ‘was only caught napping by the Danes and his army virtually destroyed, in 878, because he was celebrating Christ- mas. Festival began on December 16 and ended on January 6. Christmas morning itself began at daybreak with a sumptuous breakfast in the great hall, to which all tenants and neighbers came., The Yule log must be lightet from the embers of the one of the year before to bless the* house for the year ahead. There was the Christmas tree, stockings hung for little people, mis~ tletoe for shy maidens, waits sung in the snow from door to door and the huge and gallant repast, at which the wassail bowl and bringing in the boar’s head were the most noble moments. “There is a curious legend about the boar’s head, which Robert Haven Schauffler relates. It is supposed to be done in memory of an Oxford student who was attacked by a wild boar en a far-gone Christmas day. The student's only weapon was a copy of Aristotle, but. legend says that it was a doughty one, for with it the young man choked the boar and carried his head home to feast upont . ¢Then, too, mince pie is popularly said to represent the gifts of the Magi, with the bits of mutton some- times used to simulate the sheep over | which the chosen shepherds were keep- |ing watch. They could properly be | eaten beginning on the 16th, and should be called ‘Christmas pie." “Perhaps an old song by Thomas Tusser will give you a better idea of the strength of a man’s Christmas digestion in the sixteenth century than any feeble words of mine could do. It says: “‘Brawn, pudding and souse, and good mustard withal, Beef, mutton and pork shred pies of the best, Pig, veal, goose and capon, and turkey well dressed, Cheese, apples and nuts, jolly carols to hear, As then in the country is counted good cheer.’ “And how the waits, when they came, would sing: “‘Wassall and wassail all over the town, The cup it is white and the ale it is brown, The cup it is made of the good old ashen tree, And so is our beer of the best barley, ‘To you a wassail— Aye, and joy come to our jolly wassail.” “Last but far from least was the mumming or Christmas play, including for long the custom, very ancient, of the Boy Bishops and of the Lord of Misrule. How the Puritans hated all these ‘desecrations’ of the true spirit of the Lord’s birthday. Under the Roundhead Parliament in 1643, Christ- mas was abolished as a feast, and even eating the famcus mince pie at that time was made a misdemeanor. Lon- don rebelled, but for 12 years the iron hand held sway. With the restoration, of course, the old days returned, but there was a_curious aftermath in the American colonies—that is, in Puritan New England. The General Court of Massachusetts in 1659 passed an ordi- nance saying: ‘Anybody who is found observing by abstinence from labor, feasting or any other way any such day as Christmas shall pay for such offense five shillings’ Although this harsh ruling was repealed in 1681, the feeling against a truly joyous celebra- tion of December 25 persisted in New England until the beginning of ths twentieth century. It was to the Dufch and the Cavaliers that we owe the debu for our present American Christmas. “But even when the more wordly joy of gift giving and receiving and “of merry eating are considered in their due place, we come back to where we started, which was the Manger of Beth- lehem. We cannot forget the baby Christ wandering over the world with his bundle of cvergreens on Christmas eve, knocking on closed doors with His tender fist, choosing His path by the candles set aglow in loving windows, finding His way at last into Mary's waiting arms. ‘Then truly’ father says, and pauses for a moment in the still room, ‘can we hear the heart of the world singing softly: “‘Lullay, lullay, Iytil chyld, 'hy wepy thou so sore, Art thou not God and man in one, ‘What woldyst thou be more? So blessed be the tyme. child also; Blessed be the moder; the With bene dicamus Domino: So blessed be the tyme!’” How Washington Spent the Christmas Holidays 100 Years Ago BY DONALD GLASSMAN. CENTURY of Christmases have flown since the bfidge of sighs and cre crossed the River Tiber at Second street and Pennsylvania avenue and Con- gressmen used Twelfth street for tobog- aning. . One hundred Christmases is a short time in the life of Santa Claus and the history of Noel; but what a mighty avalanche of historic events have swept through the Capital in that time. Were the city’s streets crystalline we might gaze into the Hoary years and see it rise in solid blocks out of River Poto- mac’s morasses. At Christmas, 1828, even the blocks of brick and wood had not shaped themselves, according to L’Enfant’s plans, But to Capitalites it was a wondrous age, a propitious time to speculate on human progress. “Think of it!” they said in reflective moments. “What progress we have geen. The century is but 28 years old, and already the Nation’s Capital has outgrown itself. Invention! Railroads and steamboats! Soon passage 8across the Continent may be completed in less than a month! Only in 1800, there was not even a sign of Federal Government in the city. Fifty years ago, & publicist essayed to show Washingtonians how their gen- eration had reached a climax in prog- ress. “Who,” he said, “in the Conti- nental Congress would dare foretell such refinement as hot-water heaters to keep homes at an even temperature? And iron ranges on which to cook our Christmas dinners. Comfortable bed matresses, fast trains and luxurious hostelries.” In 1928, the year of specalized in- vention, one laughs at the hoax of nineteenth century achievement. Be- side an iron range, the “talkies” are the nth degree of awe-inspiring in- novation; beside hot-water heaters, energy sent by radio is the most fan- tastic nightmare since the first con- ception of human fiight. A mirror to the Capital on Christmas day, 1828, is tarnished by the strains of a turbulent century. However, dim the reflection, it is piquant and poignant. Washington City, as it was called, and the Nation stood on the threshold of a new administration, as it does how. Old Hickory, risen out of Tennessee back- ‘woods, had defeated the placid-souled John Quincy Adams. The common- wealth was aquiver over the propsect of an iron reign under a soldier’s gauntlet. Christmas spirit essentially is the same, save that now the vacation js Jonger and youthful exuberance is spent in giving and receiving, whereas in 1828, juvenile energy displayed itself more in the fashion of a Fourth of July picnic. EE Ev‘nl the Capital's weather has suf- fered evolution. -pot often white. Zounds! to sledding. But, come, have a squint at the mirror to a Washington Christmas in Astronomers say the earth’s hot temper is cooling, yst faristmas weather in Washington is A century ago there was ice-skating on a score of convenient ponds and the whole length of Pennsylvania avenue was given over to Congress by President John Quincy Adams. No ter inteerst to know a public paper was ever shown, editors said. “Political friends,” said one, “may regret his defeat, but intimate friends, who know his piety of heart and meek- ness of spirit, should rejoice. Here- 1828, ere time spins another cobigeb. ‘The Capital’s public prints wereicom- imenting on the lpst message dellvered @s & great and good man and tofore, he was known as a great, able and upright statesman; now he appears “HE HAD LEFT HIS BOOT TWENTY Merrymakers Set Off Fireworks on Pennsylvania Avenue, Then a Dirt Road Lined With Ale Houses and Poplar Trees. Temperance Unknown—Only German Families Had Christmas Trees—Ice Skating and Writing Poetry Popular Outdoor and Indoor Sports—Politics of the Day Reviewed. ;// o5 &AL IN A TUB OF WATER FOR HOURS.” triot. the fln of freemen without seeking it, he now can retire without repining, ‘finis coronat opus’ Defeat to complete the gloty of John Q. Adams,” He reached the highest office an administration the soldler-statesman would bring to the White House. On Christmas eve, Maj. Joseph Gales, jr., issued a bull of warning: “‘Whereas it has been too much the habit of idle and inconsiderate per- sons on Christmas eve and New Year day to fire off guns, squibs, pistols and crackers, to the annoyance of peaceable inhabitants .. this city and to the manifest danger of their persons and property—all such practices amount to ‘disorderly conduct, and are punish- able by law. : “Now, with a view to prevent such practices, I, Joseph Gales, jr., mayor of ‘Washington, do enjoin police constables, ward commissioners and others to be diligent in the execution of their duties and bring to justice persons offending against the law.” (Signed) “JOSEPH GALES, Jr., Mayor.” At Brown's Hotel, C. S. Fowler was offering “prizes! prizes! prizes!” for the famous New York Consolidated Lot- tery. He sold tickets for $1.50, $3 and $6, for pots of gold from $60 to $12,500. The Post Office Department adver- tized for bids to transport mail be- tween Frankfort and Covington, IIl, a distance of 50 miles, and allowed the contractor two and one-half days to make the trip. A movement was on foot to open a reading room on Pennsylvania avenue between Tenth and Twelfth streets, to be furnished regularly with American and European newspapers and periodi- cals. room was to be opened as soon as 100 subscriptions were received. Interested gentlemen were asked to leave their names with 8. J. Todd & Co. George Kensett informed the gentry of Washington that he had opened a room on Seventh street, opposite the Patriotic Bank, for the purpose of glving instruction in the “manly” science. “Gentlemen,” he said, “will in a few lessons be able to protect themselves from the grasp of villains and lawless ruffians. Terms will be made known on application.” Among landladies and housekeepers there was great competition for the patronage of newly arrived Congress- men. Mrs. Turner, on the corner of Seventh and Pennsylvania avenue, ad- vertised that her home had been newly fitted for the reception of Congressmen or others who desired to board during the approaching session. Legislators could be accommodated with rooms sep- arate from those appropriated to transient boarders. * k% ONE hundred years ago, on Christ- Thus the retiring President’s farewell message. Andy Jackson, hero of New Orleans, was about to begin the “reign of terror.” A century debated in ) Vhibics Vst o of mas eve, Meridian Hill was offered for sale, its disposition being duly au- thorized by Commodore Porter, the last Ees!denm ‘The land was described as blguly. improved acres and a number of young fruit trees now bearing. The buildings consist of a large dwelling, finished in the best style, and every necessary outhouse, in- cluding a substantial barn. The prop- erty is 1 mile north of the President's House.” Having been lately hauled out of New York, the steamboat Potomac, com- manded by Capt. Urlah Jenkins, was about to resume her usual route be- tween Washington and Norfolk. Meals and transportation to any point on the Potomac were offered for $8. ° The craft was newly coppered and her guards ex- tended aft to afford a more pleasant view of the river. Merrit Tarlton advertised the sale of a colored girl, named Margaret, taken as the property of William Harrison and to be sold to satisfy house rent due ‘Thomas Havenner. The Capital's dozen churches were well patronized by adults, while the youth spent its time in outdoor demon- strations similar to those on Fourth of July, Youngsters had little difficulty imagining the’ existence of Santa Claus. The mystery of flames dancing in the fireplace lent credence to tales of chimney saints. Onbe century ago snow fell thicker and oftener on Wash- ington’s dirt streets. Up and down the streets houses were ablaze with lamp and candle lights. Parties and feasts and parlor meets. Festivities began about 9 o'clock, after children had hung up their stockings and retired. About midnight the beard- ed saint made his rounds and filled stockings of young and old with such toys, sweetmeats and delicacles as human ingenuity concocts. Indeed, the Capital’s Christmas spirit could not contain itself within four walls. Cracksmen pulled down old flintlocks and blunderbusses and_fired them willy nilly into the air. Smart tricks popped into the minds of hilarious merrymakers. One buffoon bethought himself of stuMing a house chimney nnd‘ smoking out members of a dancing party. ‘Temperance was almost an unknown word. Chief Justice Cranch was presi- dent of the Washington Temperance Society, hut the beginnings of a moble experiment hardly made themselves felt. In most houses the filled carafe and decanter were on the sideboard, where any visitor might quench his palate. Eggnog, Tom and Jerry, apple cider and champagnes were added to more puissant liquors and dis) ad libi- tum. Should a teetotaler decline a social swig_he had hard work escaping a taste of alcohol, upecllll{nlf he accebted a slice of ple, Cooks knew only one way of flavol ple, and that was to add undiluted brandy. A number of gunners and fishermen lived in West Washington, and it was their custom to go home early Christ- momning and pyrade 3he sleels, ind and-a-Half and Sixth streets American Theater Was golng full blast, | would be “GENTLEMEN WILL IN A FEW LESSONS BE ABLE TO PRO- TECT THEMSELVES.” blowing whistles and shooting fireworks and sampling the spirits in every open household. On Louislana avenue between Four- the old the’ Washington Fox Hounds at Seven- teenth and Massachusetts avenue, where there was also a social evening during Christmas week. Boys and young men carried small lengths of smoldering rope to ignite fireworks. * ok kX IN all, the Christmas holiday did not last more than 36 hours. Govern- ment employes: were allowed to leave an hour or two early on the twenty- fourth and expected to be back on the twenty-sixth. Even on New Year day the clerks worked until noon, then called on the President and delivered greet- ings. Silver pencils were distributed among Uncle Sam’s workers. Sunday schools did not give Christ- mas entertainments, and save in homes of native Germans there were few Christmas trees at the family hearth. Public houses dispensed lager for the German population, ale and porter for Englishmen and old rye for Irishmen. NTON TiSRER—° Just a stone's throw to the east, Ma- sonic Hall rocked to the measured of dancers. The Columbian Museum '"»"\'r CB:J:I -permlwtm m{ hunt ‘eal . & fox un! ¢ricd from headquayters of The Capital's hatters were in heated competition. Each made his own chapeaux, and sought to surpass his rival. One Mr. Handy, featured the felt hat and was loath to give his customers silk stovepipes, while Mr. Todd, sensing business in novelty, brought to light an original creation in a top-plece suited to a hackman or Senator. Hats in those days were hats. They cost from $5 to $15, and might last a man a whole generation. Gen. Weightman lived in rooms above the old Bank of Washington, Wwhere he entertained his friends regally. The Intelligencer's press room was at Seventh and D streets. The Post Office Department, city post office and Patent Office were on E street between Seventh and Eighth streets, On Seventh street between E and F. a prize fire engine was housed in a highly inflammable building, the second story of which was the armory of the Washington Guards. Pennsylvania avenue was a dirt road, with two rows of poplars in the middle from the Capitol to Fifteenth street. In this short stretch there were two bridges, one the Tiber Bridge, at Sec- ond street, and the other between Ninth lndkTenth streets, spanning a tiny creek. Center Market was a shed on brick plers, extending from Seventh to Eighth street. Most of the produce was brought to the city by sled, dray and tow. The Christmas of 1800 was the first in the Capital. Ten years before had e been a transition from Revolutionary to republican days. The city had been laid out, there were a few houses, but no sign of a Federal Government. In October, 1800, a packet sloop carry- ing a Nation’s_treasury of documents sailed up the Potomac from Philadel- phia. When Congressmen arrived, there was_nothing to greet them but a lot of fine plans and grand ideas. The White House was still under construc- tion. One wing of the Capitol might serve in a pinch. Many Congressmen had to live as far as Georgetown, three miles from the seat of debate. The brave solons traveled home over a treacherous road. Amid all the dis- content, one voice rose above the chorus —that of President Adams. “May this territory,” sald the Presi+ dent, “be the residence of virtue and happiness. In this city may that plety and virtue, that wisdom and magnanim- ity, that constancy and self-govern- . {Continued on Sixih Page.). _