Show b A d A k rl t T 0 1 X 4 AM aalt f by ELMO SCOTT WATSON HEN you read the title of this article did you yon exclaim men who helped make christmas why what does that i mean there was only one roan man who i made christmas and he was born nearly 2000 years yeara ago true I 1 it if it had not been for the birth of jesus jesua christ there would be ba no occasion for celebrating december 25 as christmas day and if that celebration had been kept to its original form there would be no occasion for writing an article such as this but the fact Is that there has grown up around the celebration of christmas a great variety of customs traditions and practices which wo we now regard as essential parts of that observance even though they may have departed from its original meaning edme of these have had such a gradual evolution that it would be impossible to ascribe them definitely to any one person but there are others which we can trace directly to one or more individuals hence the theme of men who helped make christmas whit what it Is now in this article certainly santa claus clans seems t to 0 be an essen bial part of the christmas celebration speak of lim him and there rises to mind a picture of a plump elf like little man who alio radiates laughter and good cheer why should he be be that sort of person instead of tho the stern gaunt rather formidable figure solemn and majestic in trailing robes carrying in one hand a basinet of presents and in the other a birch rod as an awful warning to naughty children such as he was when he was known as SInter klass or the bishop saint nicholas by the first dutch settlers in this country the answer to that question Is the names of three writers james K X P auldine aul dIng washington irving and dr clement 0 moore and an unknown american artist it was as washington irving who in ills his Knicker knickerbockers boel ers history of new york in 1809 wrote the first description ico of the new type of santa claus clans and made Sinter klass or st nicholas the patron saint of the dutch colonists of new amsterdam the archetype of all of those jovial many breeched long pipe alpe sui oking burg burghers liers the next writer to paint a word portrait of santa claus clans was irvings friend and collaborator james kirke paulding who in its ills book of st nicholas first published in 1827 said santa claus fas was as gallant a little dutchman as ever smoked his way through the world pipe foremost but it remained for dr clement dark clark moore in his poem A visit from st nicholas to give a more definite word portrait of st nicholas and pretty definitely establish in the mind of the public what santa claus claua looked like how much moore drew upon irvin irvcng and paulding for his description Is not known but there Is a curious parallelism in some of his big words and some of theirs altho although uh moore himself 40 years later said that a portly rubicund dutch man living hying in the neighborhood of his fathers country seat chelsea near new york city suggested to him the idea of making st SL nicholas the hero of ills his christmas piece for his children then in 1839 a book called the poets of america edited by john neese keese was published it contained moores poem and the illustration for that was a picture of santa claus clans reproduced above who the painter or the engraver was as Is unknown but it Is believed that this was the first time a picture of santa claus clans was ever printed thus it was washington irving james K X paulding clement 0 moore and the unknown illustrator of keeses poets of america helped make imade christmas by giving us our present idea of the patron saint of the holiday what would christmas bp be without christmas hymns and christmas carols and what song has been more often sung on christmas eve or Is more beloved than silent night holy night it was on december 24 of the year 1818 that josef mohr assistant pastor of the newly established st nicholas parish church chuich in the little village of Obern oberndorf dorr near salzburg rg austria landed handed to franz gruber a schoolmaster of arnsdorf who ibio was organist tor for the church a poem with the request that he write for it a suitable melody arranged for two solo voices chorus and a guitar accompaniment the reason for the latter at being that the organ in the little church had broken down so franz gruber sat eat dov dou i 4 at his grandfathers desk immediately wrote a simple melody malody for the peem poem and that night on christmas eve in st nicholas parish church was for the first time sung stalle bachl to the fact that the tho little organ in oberndorf tad bad broken down Is due the widespread popularity of the hymn the organ bul builder lder karl man racher of fugen in had been sent for to wake the necessary repairs ile he heard beard the air end ano hummed it in his native country where it became very popular in a short time ano and soon boon spread all over the abe world thus it was too that joser josef mohr and franz cnober two lans laas helped mabb alu 5 r 4 ats ho awl ad zhe christmas card A 7 ak 0 11 IN 5 fl ul james kirke paulding einar Fiol boell do you ou enjoy sending out christmas cards to your friends if you do then you sou should know the name of sir henry cole ar an englishmen englishman for it was he who originated this custom later famous as a social and educational reformer henry cole was a pioneer in il illustrating lu chil drens books with woodcuts wood cuts of famous paintings in 1846 he conceived conce hed the idea of sending decora tive tave cards to his friends bearing his big good wishes for their happiness at christmas christinas so he went to his friend J 0 horsley a member of the lloyal academy in london for the design and the re sult suit was the card which Is reproduced above but few E englishmen followed coles lead and the business of making christmas cards got under way very slowly in england it was even slower la in retting getting started in this country in 1873 louis prang a lithographer of boston exhibited samples of his flowered business cards at the vienna exposition and they attracted consider able attention ile he had an agency in london and one of his big women employees there her name is unknown suggested to him that lie be put a greeting in place of the name of his firm and issue them as christmas cards this was done the next year 3 ear so that ista 1874 marks the beginning of the christinas card in this country so sir henry cole the englishman and louis prang an american can be added to the list of irn men who helped make christmas Chilst mas do your letters go out bearing a christmas sea seal as well nell as a postage stamp these days if they do its because einar Holbo oll a clerk in the post office at CopeD copenhagen hagen denmark while sorting the moun mountain talin ol 01 0 christmas mail in had the idea of another stamp for letters which should combine a christmas decoration idea with some practical purpose ile he went with ills his plan to the head of the postal service and others with influence ned and nu an thorl ty and s so 0 when the first christmas seal committee held a meeting to discuss the pur pose and use of the possible income income from the christmas seal and it hiis was decided that the first object was the erection of a hospital for lar children and in general the income from the seal should always be for the against tu bercu losis in one form or another upon application ao to the then king christian IX Hol boell secure secured il the permission to have hare a likeness of the deceased queen louise on the first seal beal and the king became sa BO in tc te rested that lie himself selected the picture which lie he wished used tiie the success of the denture was overwhelming the first printing af pf of seals was immediately med lately increased to and over were wd sold since that time the christmas seal sale in denmark lips hes brought in enough money to erect large numbers of sanitarian sanitaria sanit aria and convalescent homes for tubercular patients hol hoi boell the alie modest postal assistant became p postmaster ost at charlotten near copenhagen and a danish cross of knighthood was ills hla bridge badge of honor ne ile died of heart trouble in his sixty second year on rebr february uary 23 1027 in 1009 the idea reached america and when jacob ells a native of denmark who had become an american saw the queer little stamp on niall mail arriving from his homeland he immell immediately sent a letter of inquiry to denmark the reply was a personal one from mr Hol boell who explained in detail the method of procedure through an american woman miss emily brasell the idea was presented to the american red cross which after several years of successful sales turned the project over to the american national tuberculosis anti antl association which has since had charge of it so elnar einar Hol boell the dane jacob ails the danish american and miss emily bissell Bl ssell the american helped make christmas if william eustis eustas secretary of war in 1809 turned down the suggestion of president madison that joel roberts poinsett be appointed quartermaster quarter master general of the army we might never have had those brilliant crimson flowers which we know as poinsettias as as a part of our conr christmas decoration heres why joel roberts poinsett was a native of south carolina who studied medicine for a time at edinburgh university and later graduated in military science and mathematics at woolwich academy ill health necessitated a long period of travel in europe and asia after which he returned to america and requested president madison to furnish him with mIll military tAry employment madison made the suggestion of the quarter master generalship but eustis objected so madison son offered poinsett a mission to south america for the purpose of establishing friendly relations with the people there and investigating the prospects of their struggle for independence from spain this led to his becoming something of an authority on latin american relations to his appointment to a special mission to mexico in 1822 and his appointment as the first united states minister to that country in 1825 while holding that position he first beheld the exotic b beauty of a brilliant red flower native to that country when poinsett returned to his home in south carolina in 1829 he brought with him some ot of the seeds of the plant and ana just e s hundred years ago in 1833 1933 he sold some of the plants which he had grown in his hothouse to robert bolst of philadelphia bolst named the flower eupher bla poinsettia and although the scientific name has since become rima the name poinsettia honoring the man who brought it to this country has stuck and it has become one of our chief floral decorations a at t christmas time Polin poinsett sett later became secretary of war in van burens cabinet after which he retired from public lic life in the cemetery of the town iown of states burg S 0 Is a simple marble tablet which hears this inscription sacr sacred ed to the memory of joel R poinsett who departed this life on the twelfth of december 1851 in the seventy third year of A pure patriot an ho honest nest man and a i good christian to this might be added he helped make christmas 1 0 by rn newspaper |