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Show Saint Nick Lived lii 4thCentury On Christmas Eve, American children chil-dren .vill be tucked snugly in their beds while visions ol sugarplums dance through their heads. Listening Listen-ing breathlessly, they may hear sbighbells in the snow. Santa will be about, his pack laden with dolls and drums, painted carts and picture pic-ture books, and unrationed good cheer for young and old. The real, live St. Nicholas was born in Asia Minor and lived during the Fourth century. The Dutch settlers set-tlers brought many legends centering center-ing around him to America. He was an extraordinarily studious youth and, after his father died, much concerned about the fortune he had inherited. He, therefore, conceived the Idea of supplying financially embarrassed em-barrassed maidens with doweries, the young ladies having no idea where the money came from. In his youth, Nicholas visited the Holy Land, and as a result, desired de-sired to spend his life in a monastery. mon-astery. However, he was bidden to "Go on; live among men . . ." Later, as the Archbishop of Myra, he was renowned for his gracious-ness, gracious-ness, kindness and understanding of children. The feast of St. Nicholas, patron saint of Russia, is celebrated on the sixth of December. On that day, in many European countries, the children are visited by St. Nicholas and given nuts, apples, candy and small gifts, providing they have been well behaved throughout the year. The modern American conception of Santa Claus was. first expressed by Washington Irving who, in 1809, described him as a tubby, jolly little fellow speeding across the sky in a reindeer-drawn sleigh. In 1822, using Irving's description and supplying additional details from his own imagination, Clemont Clarke Moore told his children the story of "The Visit of St. Nicholas." A year later, the poem was published pub-lished in the Troy Sentinel. Many years passed, however, before Dr. Moore, being a professor of divinity, publicly acknowledged having written writ-ten the now famous poem, which has been translated into several foreign languages. Thomas Nast, creator of the GOP elephant, the Tammany tiger and the Democratic donkey, apparently dressed Santa in his red suit through a series of sketches appearing in Harper's illustrated weekly. |