| Show To Six Americans Belong the Credit For Making Santa Claus Glaus the Childrens Children's Symbol of Christmas a Living Reality D By fly ELMO SCOTT WATSON by Western Union HE social historians will T THE tell you that the Dutch gave to the world that familiar symbolical Christmas Christmas Christ Christ- mas inns figure Santa Claus Glaus and that his name is merely a slurring of the Dutch pronunciation of San Nicholas or which is of course St Nicholas They will tell you too that Nicholas Nicholas Nicho Niche las was an actual person the bishop of Myra in Lycia Asia Minor in the first part of the fourth century of the Christian era In his honor December 6 of each year was set aside as a special feast day But in the late Middle ages when the the Catholics and the Protestants both tried to do away with festivities which had grownup grown grownup grownup up around St. St Nicholas Nicholas' day the children l re r refused us d to give Ive him up I Gradually the me toe festival in ate nis honor was assimilated into the festivities festivities ties honoring the Christ Child ChUd lie He Comes to America When the Dutch settlers came cameto cameto to io New Netherlands more than years ago of course they brought drought with them their custom of honoring In fact it U Is said ald that the ship which carried the first Dutch children to Manhattan island bore a likeness of him as its figurehead But he wasn't the jolly little fellow that we know For the Dutch children knew the good lood Saint Bishop Nichlas Nicholas Nicholas Nich- Nich olas las as a solemn majestic figure In n trailing robes wearing a jeweled jew miter and gloves and mounted mounted mount mount- ed on a fiery white charger Even after alter the British took over the th Dutch colony and New Netherlands Netherlands Neth Neth- erlands became New York thea the thes a y St p fy T fr s WASHINGTON IRVING little ittle Dutch children continued to look ook for the coming of Sinter klass on the eve of December S 6 Sand and hang up their stockings But the he English colonists didn't believe believe believe be be- lieve in and gradually gradually ally as the Dutch became assim assim- hated and some of their customs began egan to change there came a change in the character and appearance appearance ap- ap of the good St. St Nicholas too oo A Turning Point The American Revolution not only marked a turning point in world history but In the his history to I of St. St Nicholas as well He was no longer the Dutch saint as the Dutch colonists had imagined him lie He was a Dutch saint as their English neighbors imagined him and he began taking on Dutch characteristic characteristics Instead of being a severe for for- bidding figure he became a jolly fat at little Dutchman In place of his long robes he began wearing knee mee breeches and the shoe buckles of Dutch colonial fashion No io longer did he ride the fiel fiery white charger Now he went about on his errands in a little wagon drawn by a fat little pony And finally thanks finallY thanks to six Amer Amer- he cans he became the Santa Claus that hat we know today These six Americans were three writers and three artists and all ail of them contributed their share toward oward the creation of a Santa Claus so 0 familiar to American I children The The first of these six sue was Washington Irving Whether Irving simply followed a tradition that was already widely accepted in the state where he was born bornor or actually created a new Amer Amen lean Iran Santa Claus is II unknown At any rate when he published his whimsical Knickerbockers History Ills His tory of flew Kew York in 1809 1609 he gave lavo us ua the first length full-length word portrait of ot Santa Claus the Amer ican jean I It is U to Irving that we owe our 1 idea of ot the flitch Dutch colonists as jovial jo Jos vial tie fat little men wearing voluminous volu minus minous breeches and smoking long pipes and he made the patron pa pas tron saint of their children the I 1 of at them all According I i to Irving Saint Nicholas wore a alow alow alow low broad-brimmed broad hat and a r q o Y t te e t a i r j r The first known picture of Santa Claus 1839 I huge pair of Flemish trunk hose and he rode jollity over the rooftops rooftops roof tops lops in a wagon dropping splendid splendid splendid did presents down the chimneys of the houses where dwelt the children who were his favorites It was also Irving who gave him another characteristic which has survived through the years For as the Knickerbocker history tells us when Saint Nicholas had smoked his pipe he twisted it in his hat band and laying his finger beside his nose gave a avel avery avery vel very significant look then mounting mountIng mount- mount in Ing his wagon he returned over the treetops and disappeared The next writer to paint paint a a word portrait of Santa Claus was Irving IrvIng's IrvIngs Irv Irv- legs Ing's friend and time one-time collaborator collaborator collaborator orator James Kirke Pauldin Paulding Paulding himself of Dutch descent descent de de- de- de scent cent in his Book of St. St Nicholas Nicholas Nicho las published in 1827 declared that Santa Claus was as gallant gallant gal gal- lant a little Dutchman as ever smoked his way through the world pipe I foremost he isa Isa is isa a right fat little fellow who scorns to follow tallow the pestilent fashions of modern times but ever appears in the ancient dress of the old patriarchs of Holland Moores Moore's Immortal Poem It remained however for Dr Clement Clark Moore in his immortal im mortal poem A Visit From St. St Nicholas to fix forever in our consciousness the appearance of the childrens children's Christmas saint Moore was graduated from Columbia Columbia Col Col- university in hi 1798 and became became be be- came professor came professor a-professor of Hebrew Hebrew and and Greek in the General Theological seminary seminal In 1821 He was a prolific writer one of his Ills literary literal productions bearing the Imposing title of Observations Observations Observations Upon Certain Passages in Mr Jet Jeffersons Jefferson's erson's Notes on the State of Virginia Which Appear to Have Havea a Tendency to Subvert Religion and Establish a False Philos Philos- ophy However his most important important tant work the one at least upon which he believed his fame as asa asa asa a scholar would be secure was wasA wasA wasA A Compendium Lexicon of the thelie lie Hebrew brew Language He lie little t ItY 10 JAMES KIRKE PAULDING realized that future generations of Americans would remember him better as the author of what he was accustomed to call a silly poem oem Yet such was the case for a short time before Christmas in Dr Moor Moon wrote for his chiK chile n a Christmas poem and they hey were delighted with the rollicking rollicking rol rol- licking icking tale A daughter of Rev Dr Or David Butler rector of St. St Pauls Paul's church at Troy N. N Y who was a niece of ot Dr Moore was a Christmas guest in the Moore home lome and made a copy of the poem oem in her album The next year she sent a copy of it to the Troy Sentinel and it appeared in that paper prefaced by ay a note from the editor saying he le did not know who had sent it By the next year It U had appeared in m many other newspapers and magazines and within a few years It it had found its way into the schoolbooks By Dy this time inquiries inquiries in were beginning to be made as to its authorship and eventually Dr Moore none too well pleased that his hll silly poem was so 80 well-known well whereas his scholarly Com pend Ius Lexicon attracted little attention admitted admit ted its authorship and gave the autographed original manuscript of the poem to the New York Historical His Ills society How much Moore drew upon Irving and Paulding for his description description de de- de is not known But there Is a curious parallelism In some of his words and some of theirs although Moore himself 40 years later said that a portly rubicund Dutchman living in the neighborhood neighborhood neighbor neighbor- hood of his fathers father's county seat Chelsea near New York city suggested to him the idea of making making mak make ing St. St Nicholas the hero of at his Christmas piece for lor his children The Reindeer Appear It is certain that we are indebted ed to Moore for making Santa Claus' Claus mode of transportation a sleigh drawn by eight tiny reindeer rein rein- deer In its original form the poem differs slightly from the present version particularly Inthe in inthe inthe the names of the reindeer Vis cen of the original has become Vixen and Donder has been changed to Dunder Dundee The title which Dr Moore gave to his verses was A Visit From St. St Nicholas but the modern modem versIon version version ver ver- sion taken from the first line is The Night Before Christmas As for the contributions of the three artists to our image of Santa Claus the name of at the first one unfortunately one for his fame Is lame is unknown In 1839 a book called The Poets of America edited by John Keese was pub pub- It contained Moores Moore's poem and the illustration for it hY A J lI DR CLEMENT CLARK MOORE was a picture of Santa Claus reproduced reproduced reproduced re re- produced above Who the painter paint paint- er or engraver was has never been determined but it is believed that this was the first time that a Lu u u. u picture 01 of Santa ian oania a Claus aus was ever printed The world had to wait walt another 20 years however for another portrait portrait portrait por por- trait of Santa Claus In 1862 an edition of A Visit From St. St Nicholas Nicholas Nich Nich- olas illustrated throughout by F. F O. O C. C Darley was published in New York Darley gave us several several several sev sev- eral views of the old fellow lellow at work One in particular was appropriate appropriate appropriate ap ap- for it showed Santa Claus placing his finger slyly toone toone to toone one side of his nose just as Dr Moore had described Darley probably was the foremost foremost foremost fore fore- most American illustrator at the time but after all aU his version seemed to fail fall to satisfy completely complete complete- ly and another year passed before be fore the real Santa Claus climbed into a chimney just as readers of the ancient classic had pictured I him in their minds Darley Dailey had given us the sly twinkle in the eye ye of the natured good-natured elf and he had made the reindeer at least as tiny as the poet had described them but something was lacking In 1863 a volume of favorite poems was published in which Dr Moores Moore's poem was include J. J It was illustrated by Thomas Nast whom the American public remembers remembers remembers re re- re- re members chiefly as a cartoonist for Harpers Harper's Weekly the crusader er who almost single-handed single smashed the notorious Tweed Ring in New York with his vitriolic vitriolic vitriolic olic cartoons and the artist who added to our gallery of familiar symbols the Republican elephant the Democratic donkey and the Tammany tiger In this compilation tion lion Nast turned his attention to depicting the features of Santa Claus and for the first time converted con can vetted an illusive figure into visual visual al reality Nast may therefore be said to have created a Santa Claus which remains the model for tor all aU who succeeded him The social historians tell us that the Dutch gave to the world that familiar symbolical figure Santa Claus and that is true But it was the U genius of six Americans Washington Irving James Kirke Paulding Dr Clement Clark Moore Felix O O. O C C. C Darley Dailey Thomas Nast and that unknown artist for John Keeses Keese's Poets of America which merica which made him a living liv ing tag reality for all aU time to come |
