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Show ; i mean? There was only one man who LMi I i made Christmas and he was born near- J,t t 11(1 jf ""True! If it had not been for the dF Ri Wmh I W) tiirth of Jesus Christ, there would be xWft- 'ii fid iff' II fifh no occasion for celebrating December Cds'w (SirV . ... llhlu 3 as Christmas day. And if that cele- SPWa, JWSS Mlj bration had been kept to Its original wFNv APnv (SffimS, (fuf I m form, there would be no occasion for I I fffl Jl :e fact is that there has grown up around ZhZ Tl'rst ChristrTiS I tJn ration of Christmas a great variety of Card "" " AyU ji v traditions and practices which we now "" . iY'ny, i ii essential parts of that observance even f ( . - -r"-" 'Jl VL iejr may have departed from its original """ '"""S 3 jjl Sjr' ll ::. Some of these have had such a gradual Z. fh'i' rs- : that it would be impossible to ascribe P" tlm7 Ji . -ately to any one person. But there are ? N" J J-JW itich we can trace directly to one or ' js. j "" jlA J MSPOey. :irifluais hence the theme of "men who ? f? -.,.H" V P'i rab ate Christmas" what it is now in this x fV ' I "KfM Santa Claus seems to be an essen- ; 'T& C :-: ; of the Christmas celebration. Speak of ."ty 1 Ww-J : there rises to mind a picture of a plump, v -S-'" '- J I r ' Utile man who radiates laughter and f Vv jf t I Artf iJtwfc ; Why should he be that sort of per- !, ' YfSS. 1 & vW I --adof the stern, gaunt, rather formid- , v W f . k v J Yim HlMM I :-e, solemn and majestic in trailing robes, J Rwi - I 0 wT MiwSI i : I" one hand a basket of presents and - A M , t raCjfBK ier a birch rod, as an awful warning to ' " P ' V5? ffl fl iwMW iildren, such as he was when he was A ry t 'T' I 'lllfw Sinterklass, or the Bishop-Saint Nich- " Jr ' ' WfA Ifftf :be first Dutch settlers in this country? j f t f Wfwi V ;wer to that question Is the names of It i i li; W - :-ers James K. Paulding, Washington J" JM ;iDr- Cle?efnt Moore-ana an un- hv ' James Kirk PwWinq lencan artist. It was Washington Irv- -c Jp? ; $ -i & & M fi 'tfl ly 3 in his "Knickerbocker's History of New J dJ ' i'f , , , . j , , . icon c r i J t v ' J ' t F In 1909 the Idea reached America and when -1S09 wrote the first description of the j . . '. . .. . 7 , i Jacob Rils. a native of Denmark who had be- James Kirke Pausing By ELMO SCOTT WATSON 'HEX you read the title of this article, aid you exclaim, "Men who helped 'make' Christmas why, what does that ; i mean? There was only one man who 1 j made Christmas and he was born near-? near-? ly 2,000 years ago." True! If It had not been for the tiirth of Jesus Christ, there would be nn occasion for celebrating December 25 as Christmas day. And if that celebration cele-bration had been kept to Its original form, there would be no occasion for id article such as this. :e fact is that there has grown up around ration of Christmas a great variety of v traditions and practices which we now i is essential parts of that observance even iey ffla.v uave departed from its original Some of these have had such a gradual : that it would be impossible to ascribe iiitely to any one person. But there are itich we can trace directly to one or :irifluals hence the theme of "men who ate Christmas" what it is now in this i Hi :!r Santa Claus seems to be an essen- - of the Christmas celebration. Speak of : there rises to mind a picture of a plump, i little man who radiates laughter and :. -er. Why should he be that sort of per- --ii of the stern, gaunt, rather formid-:-e, solemn and majestic in trailing robes, !j :ln one hand a basket of presents and ier a birch rod, as an awful warning to iildren, such as he was when he was Sinterklass, or the Bishop-Saint Nich-:be Nich-:be first Dutch settlers in this country? ;wer to that question is the names of iters James K. Paulding, Washington si Dr. Clement C. Moore and an un-iierican un-iierican artist. It was Washington Irv- in his "Knickerbocker's History of New - 1S09 wrote the first description of the Jof Santa Claus and made Sinterklass, violas, the patron saint of the Dutch ; of New Amsterdam, the archetype of 'se jovial, many-breeched, long pipe- ' burghers. a writer to paint a word portrait of !as was Irving's friend and collaborator, ike Paulding, who in his "Book of St. .. - first published In 1827, said Santa :ss"as gallant a little Dutchman as ever Ms way through the world, pipe fore- 1 remained for Dr. Clement Clark Moore "a, "A Visit from St. Nicholas," to give finite word portrait of St. Nicholas and ' --finitely establish in the mind of the Santa Claus looked like. : :ch Moore drew upon Irving and Pauld-:"' Pauld-:"' Ms description is not known but there '"' -ions parallelism In some of his words ;f of theirs, although Moore, himself, 40 said that "a portly, rubicund Dutch-,j Dutch-,j 8 In the neighborhood of his father's 'seat, Chelsea" near New York city sug-.:: sug-.:: "'Mm the idea of making St. Nicholas the ::: Ms Christmas piece for his children. ; i 1S39 a book called "The Poets of ; edited by John Keese, was published. rd Moore's poem and the illustration , ' as a picture of Santa Claus. (Reprove.) (Repro-ve.) Who the painter or the engraver , -Anown but it is believed that this was ,5 time a picture of Santa Claus was ever ' Thus it was Washington Irving, James 'M, Clement C. Moore and the unknown :,r of Reese's "Poets of America" helped iristmas by giving us our present idea ?atron saint of the holiday. ' fmld Christmas be without Christmas ,nd Christmas carols? And what song " More often sung on Christmas Eve or 'Moved than "Silent Night, Holy Night"? December 24 of the year 1818 that Jo-, Jo-, assistant pastor of the newly estab-St- Nicholas' parish church In the little ' Oberndorf, near Salzburg, Austria, 'to Franz Gruber, a schoolmaster of Arns- was organist for the church, a poem ,7 request that he write for It a suitable "ranged for two solo voices, chorus and accompaniment the reason for the lat-' lat-' that the organ In the little church had ; flown. ,02 Gruber sat down at his grandfather's mediately, wrote a simple melody for the : ., that night on Christmas Eve, in St. ' Is ' Paris! church was for the first time "1 e Nacht, Hellige Nacht." that tlle Ilttle orean In Oberndorf en down is due the widespread popu- "rr of p hymn- Tlle orSan bunder, Karl Man- 6,, F,1?en in Zillertal, had been sent for to ' C necessary repairs. He heard the air ;,t ed it in his natIve C0Untry, where it ilaiP poPular In a short time and soon ; V, 0ver world. jy Was. too, that Josef Mohr and Franz 0 Austrlans, helped "make" Christmas. In 1909 the Idea reached America and when Jacob Rils, a native of Denmark who had become be-come an American, saw the queer little stamp on mail arriving from his homeland he Immediately Immedi-ately sent a letter of Inquiry to Denmark. The reply was a personal one from Mr. Holboell, who explained In detail the method of procedure. Through an American woman, Miss Emily Bls-sell, Bls-sell, the Idea was presented to the American Red Cross, which, after several years of successful suc-cessful sales, turned the project over to the American National Anti-Tuberculosis association, which has since had charge of It. So Einar Holboell, the Dane, Jacob Rils, the Danish-American, and Miss Emily Blssell, th American, helped "make" Christmas. If William Eustis, , secretary of war in 1809, hadn't turned down the suggestion of President Madison that Joel Roberts Poinsett be appointed quarter-master general of the army, we might never have had those brilliant crimson flowers which we know as polnsettlas as a part of our Christmas decoration. Here's why: Joel Roberts Poinsett was a native of South Carolina, who studied medicine for a time at Edinburgh Ed-inburgh university and later graduated In military mili-tary science and mathematics at Woolwich academy. Ill health necessitated a long period of travel In Europe and Asia, after which he returned re-turned to America and requested President Madison Mad-ison to furnish him with military employment Madison made the suggestion of the quartermaster-generalship but Eustis objected. So Madison Mad-ison offered Poinsett a mission to South America for the purpose of establishing friendly relations rela-tions with the people there and Investigating the prospects of their struggle for independence from Spain. This led to his becoming something of an authority au-thority on Latin-American relations, to his appointment ap-pointment 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 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 of the seeds of the plant and just a hundred yearg ago, In 1833, he sold some of the plants which he had' grown in his hothouse to Robert Buist of Philadelphia. Buist named the flower "Euphorbia "Euphor-bia poinsettia" and although the scientific name has since become "Euphorbia pulcherrlma" the name poinsettia, honoring the man who brought it to this country, has stuck and it has become one of our chief floral decorations at Christmas time. Poinsett later became secretary of war In Van Buren's cabinet, after which he retired from public pub-lic life. In the cemetery of the town of Stateg-burg Stateg-burg S C, is a simple marble tablet which bears this Inscription "Sacred to the memory of Joel R Poinsett, who departed this life on the twelfth of December, 1S51. In the seventy-third year of his life. A pure patriot, an honest man, and a good Christian." To this might be added "He helped 'make' Christmas." by Western Newspaper Union. Do you enjoy sending out Christmas cards to your friends? If you do, then you should know the name of Sir Henry Cole, an Englishman, for it was he who originated this custom. Later famous as a social and educational reformer, Henry Cole was a pioneer In illustrating children's chil-dren's books with woodcuts of famous paintings. In 1846 he conceived the idea of sending decorative decora-tive cards to his friends, bearing his good wishes for their happipess at Christmas. So he went to his friend, J. C. Horsley, a member of the Royal academy In London, for the design and the result re-sult was the card which is reproduced abo-se. But few Englishmen followed Cole's lead and the business of making Christmas cards got under un-der way very slowly in England. It was even slower in getting started in this country. In 1S73 Louis Prang, a lithographer of Boston, exhibited samples of his flowered business cards at the Vienna exposition and they attracted considerable consider-able attention. He had an agency in London and one of his women employees there (her name Is unknown) suggested to him that he put a greeting in place of the hame 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. So Sir Henry Cole, the Englishman, and Louis Prang, an American, can be added to the list of men who helped "make" Christmas. Do your letters go out bearing a Christmas seal as well as a postage stamp these days? If they do It's because Einar Holboell, a clerk In the post office at Copenhagen, Denmark, while sorting the mountain of Christmas mail In 1903, had the Idea of another stamp for letters which should combine a Christmas decoration idea with some practical purpose. He went with his plan to the head of the postal service and others with influence and authority. au-thority. And so, when the first Christmas seal committee held a meeting to discuss the pur-nose pur-nose and use of the possible income from the Christmas seal, and it was decided that the first object was the erection of a hospital for tubercu- children, and, in general, the income from the seal should always be for the fight against tuberculosis, tu-berculosis, in one form or another. Upon application to the then King Christian IX Holboell secured the permission to have a likeness of the deceased Queen Louise on the first ChriBtmas seal, and the king became so Interested In-terested that he himself selected the picture which he wished used. The success of the venture was overwhelming. Th? flnrjrinting of 2,000,000 seals was lm-Increased lm-Increased to 6,000,000 and over 5,000,-To 5,000,-To were o d Since that time the Christmas Z sate n Denmark has brought In enough seal sale in v rabers 0f sanitaria and money to erect 1gr tubercular patients. Hol-convalescent Hol-convalescent homes for tube"' lbecame post-boe, post-boe, the mode st r ass stant, beP master at Chariotteri d wag nIs Dadge second year on February 23, 19.7. |