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Show PIUTE COUNTY NEWS. JUNCTION, UTAH ;r0uld at akeKc6cleTv IE have m mbdier said, Tourandwayfrbmme . , .it's time for bed! She shoolhim gentfo, ruffling bac his hair Anc led hm stumbling up the broad, stone :tdir "Where have you she been? ased him in Mr,. ( ( mprise, f(t j) Finding a sweet, dazed loo within his eyesj As he had been blinded by adight So strange and beautiful, that all his sigh Swc m in a distant, glory. Then the boy Looked up at her, ms rosy face all joy, "The' cattle stood around and ate the hay, He said, "and there apny baby dff V u A tiny baby, mother, and I stared Through one small crac . . . but rur one. saw or cared. The baby's mother smiled, and 'all was gold s Around him like a light ahebvery old, . . Rich men did worship him upon th&rfaeesf1 He paused, then bointingcfiedr"Oh. Ipbs 1 By ELMO SCOTT WATSON T WAS some unknown wli who made the statement recently that Christmas greeting cards will cost this country $55,000,000, and that does not take Into account the time lost In trying to remember to whom they should be senL" Although It woulu be difficult to estimate the value of the time lost In trying to remember, as this wag suggests, there are those who can testify to the fact that bis estimate of $55,000,000 as the total cost of Christmas greeting cards is a modest one. If not actually an underestimate. Dealers in Christmas cards Will tell you that their business has virtually doubled each successive year for the last five or six years. And the season of 1927 probably will exceed all others In the volume of sales. One wholesale dealer in Christmas cards has reported that early in November his orders had already passed the 1926 total and each week saw a steady Increase over the previous week. The number of Christmas cards used In the United States long ago passed out of the realm of millions Into billions. If there Is anyone who can testify to the Increasing popularity of the custom of sending Christmas cards, it (s Uncle Sam's mall man. He will tell you that these gay little bits of cardboard have doubled and trebled and quadrupled the burden on his back around Christmas time. Time was when you could send a Christmas card for one cent. Now .t costs two cents, but not even this extra penny which soon runs Into the thousands of dollars for the coffers of the department has diminished the flood of cards which begins to pour Into the mails at the beginning of the third week in December and continues until after January 1. For the Christmas card Is a gift In universal use for remembering ones friends at the holiday season. Rich and poor alike send them. The social leader has her cards of special design engraved on costly vellum and sends them out iy the hundred, tlie working girt buys hers t and sends them out by the the dozen. Count that man poor in friendship. Indeed, who has never received a Christmas card. And some complain of an embarrassment of riches in this regard, for the problem, as suggested by the wit In the opening paragraph of this article, is a real problem to many. How many times have you, looking through the stacks of cards that the mall man brought you during Christmas week, come across one which held your attention more than momentarily as you said, Heres one from Mr. and Mrs. Blank. Did we send them one this year? In fact, the custom of sending Christmas cards has become such a problem to those conventional-minded persons who have never fully realized the meaning of the statement that they have declared. But the next year finds them Never again! adding their quota to the mountain of Christmas cards which pile up tn post offices throughout the land. Although the Christmas card Is a comparative newcomer among Christmas traditions, It can by no means be regarded as an infant industry." The figures already cited prove that But as one regards the amazing growth of the idea, one wonders sometimes how our forefathers ever managed to celebrate Christmas without Christmas cards. For it was only 81 years ago. In 1846. that the first Christmas card first, at least, in the sense that it was the forefather of the present Christmas card Idea was sent out. The man who originated It was Sir Henry Cole, later famous as a social and educational reformer. He had already begun applying the fine arts to manufacture and was the pioneer in Illustrating children's books with woodcuts of famous paintings. Just where Sir Henry got the Idea if it was not original with him for his Christmas card Is not known. Lover curds and illustrated writing paper had been popular in Europe for many years. In Germany Illuminated cards were sent on Namenstag, the feast of ones patron saint. In 1844 some unknown person In the city of Leith. Scotland, is said to have sent out New Years cards to his friends bearing a laughing face and the words A Gude New Year to Ye, but since this did not have a wide circulation, it is doubtful If Sir Henry got the Idea there. He may have got It from the custom of English school boys of writing Christmas pieces on paper which they decorated with many scrolls and much flourish of penmanship. ' But wherever Sir Henry got his inspiration, after deciding to send out cards to his friends bearing his good wishes for their happiness at Christmas, he went to J. C. Horsley, a member of the Royal academy In London, for the design, and Horsleys product was that shown at the head of this article. The German Influence may be seen in the Germanesque style of leafy trellises which divide the card Into three panels. The smaller side panels show two of the acts of charity feed Ing the hungry and clothing the naked and the central panel shows three generations of a fam ily party at the festal board quaffing their Christmas cheer. This card was six by four inches, colored by hand, and a thousand copies were issued. For some unexplained reason, Horsley Issued his design under the nom de plume of Felix Summerly. and the card hears the line Published at Summerlys Hive Treasury Office, 2 Old Bond Street, London. Since this card bears the Inscription A Merry Christ mar an a Happy New Year to You, It Post-Offic- . . tat fourty Greeting i fleet Pitlje for Cljriatfcma mt tij renting len e . ' fm, I - Jjx) out and see that shining, shinjngJstar! How big and bright it is! How wideand far jilt sends the light! So then they botlidrew 2? )) near The window to lookout. "And cant you hear , JSweet singing, mother? Tell me, are there J mmx te wings the night . . . and ... D. Thchild grew drowsy and his curly mh 'Bxpoped4ied afiower. Gently to his e 4$ ing beside1 head bed And there she stayed isiTiQther ccrriedhim. . hpnappy yet afraid. 1927, Western Newspaper Union tUopyrlglit) Gre&lirig Cards of 7o day" flve-and-t- . jj-- mother, please can te regarded as the first holiday greeting card ever printed and sent out as the forerunner of g custom that was to become world-wide- . Strange to say. Sir Henry Coles friends were not especially pleased at this remembrance and it is said to have received much unfavorable criticism. So he did not repeat the experiment and It looked as though the Christmas card idea was to die the early sixties ornamented note paper and envelopes began to appear in the stationers shops around the holiday season and the use of these began to increase each year. Next these designs were stamped In relief in the center of a card with colored or embossed edges However, in decorated by stencil or by hand. Thus the business of making Christmas cards got under way slowly. It was even slower tn getting started in America and it was not until 1873 that the beginnings were apparent in this country. In that year Louis Prang, a lithographer of Boston, exhibited samples of his flowered business cards at the Vienna exposition and they attracted He had an agency in considerable attention. London and one of his women employees there (her name is unknown) suggested to him that he put a greeting in place of the name of his firm and issue them as Christmas cards. This was done the next year, so that 1874 marks the beginning of the Christmas card in this country. It was net until two years later, however, that the Christmas card idea became widespread and this was due to the exhibits of such cards by different printers and lithographers at the Centennial exposition in Philadelphia. Another forward step in the Christmns card business was taken In 1S79 when a British com pany. which had offered prizes for Christmas card designs, held an exhibition of the best ones sub mitted in Dudley hall in London. About this time a' Boston card manufacturing company held a similar exhibit at which the first prize winner warn given the sum of $2,000. At the London exhibit It was learned that the majority of the prize winners were women and two of them Kate Greenway and Alioe Havers, later became fnmou for their Christmas card designs. In fact, in the early years of the Christmas card business, before the great demand for them resulted in mass production and more emphasis upon quantity than quality, the Christinas card design was an Important piece pf creative art. so much so that it has been said that The Christmas card enjoyed a golden age of art in the decode from 1878 to 1SS8. One of the reasons for this was that the exhibitions and contests which were being held by the producers of Christians card were stimulating Interest in this form of art and uncovering many new artists. One of the art eents of the year 1880 was a Christmas card exhibition arranged by Louis Prang at the American Art .galleries, writes one investigator in the history or the Christmas card. For several years thereafter similar exhibition were held, with competitions in the artistic merit and popularity of the designs; and such men as Richard M. Hunt, John La Farge and Louis C. Tiffany were sufficiently Interested to act as Judges. The exhibition of 1884 carried a special feature. The quantity of dilettante work that hitherto had found Its way to the exhibitions tended to turn away the best artists, but now their Interest was deliberately sought in the hope of raising the level of Christmas card design. HOLIDAY 39 o artists of first rank were coramls stoned to paint designs and these were purchased and entered in the popularity contest Among those whose work was shown was E. H. Blash-field- , the dean of American mural painters, and J.Alden Weir. And' the collection was exhibited not only in New York, but also at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and at the Art Institute of Chicago. But the later Influx of cheapness and mediocrity proved too overwhelming for the continued Interest of the .best artists in Christmas card designing." Until the eighties the illustration on the card was the main thing and the only reading matter was a simple greeting or an appropriate motto. Then poetry on the cards became popular tind It became so popular that It brought into the Christ-macard field several noted poets. On one occasion a London firm offered Lord Tennyson $5,000 for 12 poems of eight lines each to he used on Christmas cards, but he declined the offer. The craze for poetry became so pronounced and It was used so generously that finally the manufacturers of cards were forced to place a limit upon the verses and set that limit at 12 lines. The religious motif also was popular from the beginning and as late ns 1895 one manufacturer declared that the most popular of all Christmas card designs was a reproduction of the Nativity scene, with Murillos Nativity a the greatest favorite. Since that time various motif. hnv-- t ' appeared in Christinas card until now eve J symbol of Christmas, contributed hy every nation uppear on our Christmas cards. Camels, the star in the east, the three wise men. palm trees, building. of decided oriental appearance recall the scenes in Palestine where Christ was born on the first Christma; the Yule log and the mistletoe are reminiscent of the Druids of ancient Britain; holly, pluin puddings, roast beef, singers of Christmas carols typical English landscapes remind one of the good cheer of the English observance of Christmas; Jolly old Santa Claus, originally a Dutch patron saint, hut now thoroughly Americanized (one Christmas card this year shows him speeding over the snowy landscape In an automobile of distinctly American make!) appears on many; the turkey Is a symbol for both Thanksgiving and Christmas feasts and is a distinctly American contribution. Nor do Christmas cards stop with Christinas symbols. Each year sees a new Idea Introduced with new symbols which are not especially associated with Christmas. In 1911 the Pickens centennial was echoed on the Christmas cards; the revival of Interest In Americana in recent years has put all kinds of antiques furniture, muffs, bonnets, sleighing parties and husking bees on our Christmas cards, and last year, as the result of the great Interest in ship models, many a ship went sailing across the cards. Just as Christmas cards of the past reflect the interest. of Americans of those days, so do this year's cards indicate some of the major American interests now. Among them are radio and aviation, the latter, no doubt, due to the various historic flights which have thrilled the nation during the past year. Sports, too, have their place and It Is not unjwil to find on Christmas cards scenes Illustrative of the various types of outdoor recreation. This, however, is not a new idea, since shimming, boating, cricket and tennis scenes were reproduced on English Christmas cards more than thirty years ago. Twenty-tw- s hoop-skirt- GUEST ty Elizabeth. Blessing HE plum pudding was ripening, and the guest room was prettier, with the ye) low drapes than I had ever dreamed it could be, and even the mistletoe hung in all the doorways all there was left to do was to put the guest towels in the bathroom. As I was taking two of my daintiest towels from the linen chest, it occurred to me to ask my husband just how his sister Willa looked, since I had never seen her, and was going to all the trouble of arranging theater, bridge, and dancing parties for her during her Christmas visit with us. Charles had hesitated, I Well, told you once that she was a home girl and But thats very indefinite, " I had How tall is she? replied. Olt-she3 about five feet six about your height, and has long, red hair I suppose its still long, and shes rather fat and Fat, I had gasped, your sister fat." And then I had visions of Raymond Garfields expression when he should see standing under the mistletoe, this fat, girl who was to be his partner at all of the parties. Surely, Charles, you dont remember well." Yes, she is fat," Charles went on, "and although she has money from four years of teaching, she always wears a faded blue serge suit with a The doorbell's ringing belt, and interrupted him. IH answer it," I said. A telegram! and tearing It open, I read: Meet me at 2:15 at the Union depot Willa. It Would be a two-hotrip; so I picked up seme Christmas cards, and niy gold fountain pen with my initials W. W. on it I could spend part of the time on the train addressing cards. I couldnt possibly miss her the fat, redheaded sehool teacher in faded blue serge with a belt, I thought as I settled in my seat check would be accepted. I felt for my fountain pen. It was gone I Frantically I searched my pockets' for It, carelessly laying my purchases' on the counter. Step aside please, Madam, you are holding up the line, politely requested the cashier as a stylish, tall blonde took my place, and before my dismayed eyes took out a pen exactly like mine. I remembered Charles had once told me that often thieves were better dressed nowadays than others. She easily could have picked my pocket while we were standing In line, I reasoned. Hence, convinced that she had my pen, I demanded that the cashier examine the pen and see If it had my monogram, W. W, on it It had! I will let the lady off easy," I thought as I noticed the costly serge of her modish suit, because she Is probably a kleptomaniac whose " There Is some mistake, a clear Eweet voice Interrupted my thoughts. a, d I stepped from the train conscious of the patronizing attitude I had assumed, but nowhere could I see anyone answering Willas description. It was nearly five oclock when I reached the last store, where I had ao charge account but where joy ... I Thought as I Settled In My Seat." This is my own pen, and W. W.1 stands for my name, Willa Woodrow. Willa Woodrow, I gasped. This Then hiding my true thoughts, I hastened to greet her, explaining : Im Wilma Woodrow, Charles wife. I wrote my check while Willa put things back into my pockets, and we walked from the store together. But, Willa dear," I exclaimed after we were on the car, Charles said red hair, and fat" And I added mentally, "faded blue serge." Exactly, dear look at me," Willa commanded. I'm looking, I smiled, but what I see is fluffy golden hair crowning a plump, but not too plump, face from which shine two magic blue eyes, and Then I remembered the holiday parties I had planned for Charles homelike, sister, and I pictured the fascinated gleam wlikh would come into Raymond Garfield's eyes when he saw Willa standing under the mistletoe. girl 1 e ( 1927, Western Newapaper Union.) , |