The Key West Citizen Newspaper, December 24, 1938, Page 9

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1938 Lonely North Carolina Town Marks Christmas Christmas January 5 IN WRITTEN FORM FOR FIRST TIME |For Real Christmas Spirit Take Youngsters Shopping OVANTHS, N. U. town in America, celebrates Christmas twice each year. “New” Christmas comes December 25 but just as regularly on January 5 the inhabitants of this isolated town ob- serve “Old” Christmas, a carry-over from the days before our current calendar was generally accepted. Christmas trees must be imported, for Rodanthe has only one tree (see below), a gnarled oak. But the kids enjoy this plan, because Santa Claus visits them twice. Their parents, fishermen and coastguardsmen on an island that is little more than a shift- ing sand dune, participate enthusias- tically in both celebrations. But round Old Christmas centers most of the tradition. easternmost Boatswain's Mate P. A. ‘Tillett, biggest man in the coast guard service, is Santa Claus for Rodacthe's Old Christmas party. They had to send to the main- land to get red cloth spa- cious enough for his suit. Each Old Christmas cele- bration is held in the school building where the only “furriner’ is the school teacher. To the present teacher, a girl from Virginia, Old Christmas is the “world’s most puzzling custom. But eshaioas residents of Satteres ialand: don’t look at it that way. To them, Old Christmas is no more unusual than the Fourth of July. On their isolated island the event has been celebrated by generation after generation, and will probably continue for generations Rodanthe children believe in “ on ry th NEW PRIMERS PUT (By Associated Press) PHOENIX, Ariz., Dec. 24.—The Southwestern Navajo’s language, once recorded only by chiseled hieroglyphics along the hunting trails, has found its way to writ- ten expression through the white man’s printing shop. Linguists, both white and red, | have worked to give the Navajo Indians of Arizona and New Mex- ico a written language, something they have never had: The task is not easy, for many letters in the English alphabet serve no pur- pose in the Navajo tongue and must be assigned new uses. Willetto Antonio, 19, a Navajo of Crown Point, N. M., is one of the most active in the work. A graduate of Phoenix Indian School, he was trained in operat- ing a linotype machine and set- ting hand type. Now he is printing a Navajo | His Last Dime By Katherine Edelman AN DRISCOLL was broke. Well, almost broke. He had one thin dime, hiding in the | dark depths of a purse that had once held bills of three figures. He had held it for 20 years, ever | since he had found it while plough- ing on his father’s farm. His lucky ! dime—that’s what he had called it. Dan laughed grimly at the thought. Lucky! Had anyone ever been so | unlucky as him? Here was the whole | town preparing for Christmas, shop- ping, spending oodles of money, and he was a penniless, weary wander- er. A lucky dime! A little place around the corner | caught his eye. Dan entered, his nostrils quivering under the tanta lizing odors, He looked around with | | greedy eyes, his mouth watering with longing. Soup, roast fowl, po- | tatoes, luscious mince pie! But he | mustn't think about such things. He | had just one dime—the price of a | | cup of coffee and a doughnut, or a | | hamburger. Which would it be? The | | | AYULE STORY | queer little man inside the counter | waited while Dan weighed the im-’ | portant question. The hamburger | won. While it was being cooked to order, Dan dug into his pocket and j took the dime from the battered purse. Hungry as hé was, he handed it | over before attacking the food. His voice was a bit apologetic. “It's an old timer,” he said; “been in my | pocket for years and years.” | The old man didn't seem to be He was peering through | 8 spectacles at the coin. “You're sure you're telling the ! about this dime?” he queried. | @ absolute truth.” Dan an-} d. “But, if you won't believe | e@ you can have your coffee and | hamburger." | A shrill laugh ran through the place. “It's a good thing you ran :ross someone who knew, and bet- | r, somebody who was honest,” the | ittle man was saying excitedly. “Do you know that you have one of the | rarest dimes at large? It’s—it's worth thousands.” “You mean, this thing I’ve held on to for years is worth money?” | “It's worth big money,” the cafe owner was waving his hands in the air, the dime clasped between his thumb and first finger. “I've been looking for one of them all my life!” “Hand me that menu!” Dan Dris- coll cried commandingly. “I'm go- ing to have a Christmas dinner right now. I'm going clear down the line, , | from soup to mince pie. | ©—WNU Service. Nation’s industry adopts liber- alized program for 1939, with new concessions made. =. SEIS aa SSS ST STD SSS | taken _spikenard, THE KEY WEST. CITIZEN NAVAJO LANGUAGE’ primer, already approved by the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Wash- ington, D. C., to be used in the; primary grades of Indian schools. A typical line reads: | “Ahpinitaa’ cipeeltlei pivaatee’| xaac’na’koh”. Its translation: “This morning when I crawled from under my blanket”. Accent marks are vital to the meaning, for the Navajo tongue is one of varied inflection. The Navajo primer, half in the Indian language, half an English translation, was written by} George Hood, an Indian service} i ! employe at Tuba City, Ariz. Aj second primer, prepared by Mrs. Anna N. Clark of Tesuke, N. M., is ready for printing. Cooperating with the Indian bureau in the language project are Smithsonian Institution ethnolo- gists and Oliver La Farge, noted author of Santa Fe, N. M. Ointment Named in Bible Is Extracted from Shrub Native to United States America shares with the Holy Land the small plant from which comes the oil that recalls to mind events of 19 centuries ago, when the glories of the first Christmas eve were revealed to shepherds on Beth- lehem’s hills. From this plant, which abounds in Minnesota’s north woods and oth- er places in the United States, is highly-perfumed ointment referred to in the King | James version of the Bible as used to anoint the feet of Jesus. So this small, unassuming plant played a small part in events which gave us Christmas, most cheerful holiday of nations. Christmas Celebration Datos Back to 354 A.D., Roman Records Siow The ‘earliest celebration of the birth of Christ, December 25 of each year, took place in the Fourth cen- tury, and the custom spread from the western to the eastern church. Before that date the commemora- tion of Christ’s nativity and baptism took place January 6. First mention of Christmas is found in a Roman document known as the “Philocalian calendar,” in the year 354, and the first English celebration of the festival was in 598, when St. Augustine baptized 10,- 000 converts. In 567, the Council of Tours, France, declared a 12-day festival from Christmas to Epiphany, and later, from 991 to 1016, the laws of Ethelred ordained that al) strife should cease at Christmas. In Ger- many, Christmas was established in | 813 by the Synod of Mainz, and in Norway by King Hakon “he Good, in 950. GIVEN TITLE PCS LS LAALLLAAZCLELLLALIZELL CALUBA, Calif. — Elected chairman of the county board of supervisors 22 times, C. J. Calusa of this city was given the title of “most elected man in the state.” Trimming three hours and 50 minutes from the Miami running | time, and one hour and 20 min utes from the west coast sched ule, the two sections of the Sea board’s crack Orange Blossom Special, pulled into Miami and Tampa last week with the first service of all electric trains from New York to Florida, with the fastest service ever maintained. PWA steps up its program to aid pump-priming; Ickes says t dirt is flying on 4,800 proj- j ects. ae: | rice. EXPRESSION STUDIES In Santa Claus’ court at cne of America’s big department stores a fast photographer caught these can- did shots of youthful shoppers going about their business. They're pic- tures you might find in any store in the country this time of the year. control Pre dwarfing chi Voting of cotton crop hailed by Wallace as | the reactions on ment. x. SL LS SSM ES SS SS. COTTLM, vi We Extend Our feel it is a privilege to MERRY CHRISTTMAS | tobacco and will leave GREETINGS We feel that you have helped in a large way to make our business a success. deep appreciation to you we greetings for the season. PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR TOO ALL SOUDA ERE ORIDA CONTRACTING and ENGINEERING CO. White and Eliza Streets PHONE 598 PAGE NINE ! COCCCOOOOSOESESEHSSHSOOOOHSSOLOLESOTESEOEOOOODDO® THANK YOU! We appreciate greatly your Friendliness and your Patronage during the past year... Good Will during ---1939--- Lewinsky’s Men’s Shop Lewinsky’s Furniture Store We hope to merit your continued PI 1938 1939 IIFIPSILLELL LL PPP POO OD C TO GREET YOU WITH A WORD OF THANKS Four Your Good-will and Patronage AND A MERRY CHRISTMAS and A HAPPY NEW YEAR . R. STOWERS COMPANY 515 Duval Street Key West TO WISH YOU oe rsecccecees € fen. Roosavelt: plans (if 19 38 1939 building at Hyde Park; his estate to govern- SEASON’S. GREETINGS THAT YOU AND YOURS HAVE A MERRY MERRY CHRISTMAS DAY... THAT THE NEW YEAR MAY DAWN BRIGHTLY FOR YOU AND BE THE BEST OF ALL THE YEARS YOU’VE EVER KNOWN, IS THE WISH OF EVERYONE IN OUR ORGANIZATION MERRY CHRISTMAS LBD L aS BL aDIMD aL! DLL LM: We serve you and with extend our AND HAPPY, CABRERA. “WHOL ESALE GROCERY, INC. SIINIIIIIVIIIIIIII SIS. that this C We offer our best wishes for your complete happiness. OUR BEST WISHES FOR YOUR HAPPINESS We hope hristmas season will be your most enjoyable. We hope that the coming year will bring you good health, happiness and SPE EHaEL SE ESS SS ES SSM N VEALED AAA AAA A A dd ded WIMOOPO TOOLS OSS. wren % PIM LLB DE SBS ELS SS LP SM, BaLI IIS La ISS LIVI ass Ss. | Nose oma 8. OIO#: SL TLISOOTMOOTES. seaseeese SOOMM A, WISH TO THANK ALL PATRONS FOR THEIR BUSINESS IN 1938 AND SOLICIT A CONTINUANCE OF THEIR BUSINESS IN 939 WILLIAM CURRY’S SONS CO. Hardware and Building \L4idttitttitdtiéddddidééed WE OUR horns who comes at Old Chris just as St. Nicholas rewards remember how “Old Buck” or celebration, prosperity. May this success be ‘associated with the service our company can give you. A Very Merry Christm: COLUMBIA LAUNDRY AND DRY CLEANERS 617 SIMONTON STREET PHONE 57 and a Happy New Year Material heheh hhh dA hh dh hed bede de he diadedeadi dade de dodade do dita’ EES EEA Ee eS EERE a A IQOODIOIILIIDIIODOOIM ES, ee | IAEA ALA AA AA hb bdbede bedbede daddies Old Chxistuas qn Hatteras island, where autos must travel the beach, ied ddttéetttééd