Show P PAGE Al rj T VU Christmas Abroad Stirs Memories of Y Yule l e at Home HOHle i J. J By BAUKHAGE and Commentator News Analyst UNO Service 1616 Eye Street NW I I Washington D D. D C. C Christmas WASHINGTON V WASHINGTON Christmas 19 The second one in seven years ears when one could really talk about earth peace on A without shamed 1 and downcast ey eye eyes es s. s W While h i 1 e f 9 I armies armies struggled d. d i iwho i who ho could think of the message to f the shepherds from the angels' angels t chorus promising peace on earth for all men of good goodwill goodwill f t will My last Christmas ChrIstmas Christmas Christ ChrIst- mas word was sent to you ou from the ruins where Baukhage one year ago I experienced the saddest holy day season of ot my memory It was in shattered with my thoughts on Its rubble and the ruins rums ugly symbols of mans man's inhumanity to man the negation of ot our Saviours Saviour's teachings gs I had pleny of food and drink and shelter and was clothed in the uniform which is a reminder I of a career of ot which I am proud I despite its implications But I was as I homesick as any young soldier in a lonely outpost with the threat of battle battle battle bat bat- tle about him for I could picture my own hearthside and the little group about the happy tree my myown myown own 11 tinseled packages unopened and my empty hands reaching out vainly over the oceans too wide to span And all about me were the signs of anguish cramped souls pinched bodies and the wreckage of the handicraft blossomed in stone and canvas and parchment which has enriched the world through the centuries I stood in the desolate little square faced by the wreckage of buildings thinking of what Rudyard Kipling called Christmas Christ ChrIs mas past You maj may know the poem breathing the nostalgia of an Englishman still clinging to his boyhood memories of England England Eng Eng- land contrasting them with what he be saw about him in Ind aOh aOh a. a Oh Ob the white dust on t the e high hiJ highway 1 way Oh the stenches In iu h the byway Oh the clammy fog that hovers over earth And at al home tb they're making merr merry neath the white and scarlet berry what berry what part have bave Indias India's exiles in their mirth II In the shadow of her ancient castle grew a tradition which lived on to modern days a tradition made eternal by the woodcuts and engravings of Albrecht Duerer whose year old house still stood but only as a fragile ghost which soon must yield to demolition squads a hollow shell despite the proud persistence of its storied facade fa facade facade fa- fa cade a tradition made by the whose memory was enshrined in the home of Hans Sachs Sachs-a Sachs a house now nosy now only a shapeless pile of rubble For the second time I had occasion occasion occasion occa occa- sion to recall the yearning in those unhappy Kipling verses The first time was more than two wars be be- fore We two lonely Americans looked down from the window of our little room in in a pension on the Boulevard l Ir in the Latin Latin Latin Lat Lat- in Quarter on a snowless aching Christmas in Paris Pans Below was a deserted convent garden If only the figure of a single nun had broken the damp stillness curtaining leafless leafless leafless leaf leaf- less trees and withered flowers But no no they were all deep in their devotions devotions devotions devo devo- and not even the faint taint echo of the evensong or the moan of ot the organ organ organ or or- gan reached us Nor was there holly or mistletoe no white or scarlet scarlet scarlet scar scar- let berry f for r the Latin Christmas bears little resemblance to ours Long months had stretched to years since I had seen a lighted Christmas tree evergreen festoon or a bright bright- j i ned wreath or listened to the ringi g crunch of footfalls in the powdery snow or no no novelty then in our northern clime I 1 thought then of at Kipling's lament of the exile and understood him r when he said faint and forced the laughter and md if it sadness follow after after after aft aft- er we are richer for one mocking Christmas past Today as Yuletide rolls around once more despite the shadows that tha fall across many a hearth and the postwar worries that beset us we at least can glory in the heritage of an American Christmas in th the theland land which the God of our Fathers Father has bequeathed us r Almost a month before Christmas Day John Lewis had a l Hint int that reassured reassured reassured re re- re- re assured him temporarily at least that he would not spend this years year's holiday in jail Judge T T. Alan Goldsborough Goldsborough Goldsborough Golds- Golds borough spoke the comforting word He said in discussing the contempt contempt contempt con con- tempt tempt charge against Lewis that he believed comfort would be disturbed whatever the outcome How merry this season will be for tor forthe forthe I Ithe I the man who defied the government and brought down the wrath of half hall halfa halla a dozen nations upon his head is a question It would be interesting in indeed indeed indeed in- in deed to be able to look beneath the brow adorned with the thc bristling eyebrows eyebrows eyebrows eye- eye j brows and thatched with the thick grey hair that was once so black and bellicose This season in the nations nation's capitol Isn't as merry a moment as it is in most cities for this is a city of I transplanted folk most of whose I hom homes s are too far distant to be reached on a n short leave or via ViR the I restricted purse that is the portion of most government workers As I write the President expects to journey journey journey jour jour- i ney back to Missouri and his own family circle Many 1 of ot the officials will do likewise White House a Center of Festivity In other years jears ears there have been more festive Christmases The little ceremony which became became be be- came a custom during the Roosevelt regime when the President President Pres Pres- ident was driven out into the crowd about the municipal tree where he touched the button that I illumined it has been I ned That event which drew many a lonely inhabitant to the crowded square served cd to bring bringa a holiday touch to Christmas Eve Ewe and the thc knowledge that the President President Pres Pres- ident later on would be surrounded sur sur- rounded by children and grand grand- children while hile he read the Christmas Carol was a rather cheering thought There is on record the time when two White House Hous children Charley Charlcy and Robert one of them now a presidential presidential presidential pres pres- aspirant himself cut a mammoth Christmas pie given to father William Howard Taft their father Wilham by the International Bakers' Bakers tion It was 32 inches in diameter and nd weighed 92 p pounds There was a grand celebration too oo when Theodore Roosevelt et familia amilia spent his first Christmas inthe inthe in the he White House The Wh White te House police olice were not the least of ot the cele- cele the brants-the the new president distributed ed no less than 87 fat turkeys among them hem the messengers ushers gardeners gardeners gardeners gar gar- and stablemen This was credited as being the largest largesse largesse largesse lar lar- gesse ever distributed by a president dent lent President McKinley always gave turkeys to the married employees employees em- em but not as many or as big ones the Franklin always always al- al ways had some souvenirs for tor the White House stat staff What President Truman's gift gUt will be this year has not been announced at this writing Back in 1892 when Benjamin Harrison Harrison Harrison Har Har- rison spent his last Christmas in the White House there was no prejudice against things German and the high highpoint highpoint highpoint point of ot the celebration around the tree ree in the library was the tion ion of German poems taught them by their governess by the Harrison grandchildren Ben and Mary That was a real childrens children's hour and we te have a careful ac ac- 1 I count in the Washington Star o 0 that date to authenticate it Ni nylons or mink minI coats coals were men boned There is a complete set says the Star of real baby furniture the bed quite big enough for little Mary Lodge McKee a dressing case with a glass just high enough for her t to peep into and arrange her front hair and the cutest little washstand washstand washstand wash- wash stand with will all the toilet appliances appliances appliances ances all from Mrs 1 Harrison to her tiny granddaughter A set of lambs lamb's wool muff mutT and md tippet for little Mary was lying near and a steam engine fitted out with every modern appliance and which will chase around in inthe inthe the liveliest style for little Benjamin Ben Den jamin He De has a hook and lad ladder ladder der a complete outfit a set of parlor croquet and a doll baby or two to After all it is the children who make Christmas for Christmas was I made for them and it is by their grace that we oldsters can relive it over through them |