Arizona republican., 1892-12-27

''the sea in ships" and among the people of all civilized lands, it is the enc season of the year marked by a reign of hospitality, merri- ment and open heartedness. It recalls to the old the pleasures of youth, and transports many an absent one back to his own fireside and quiet home.
 In the early annals of New York city, when it was Nieu Amsterdam and the sturdy Stuyvesant was commander in chief; when our now crowded Broadway was below Wall street and known only as plain Heere straat; when our business throttled Maiden lane was T'maagde paatje-"The Maiden's Path"-where the red checked Dutch girls went to hang their clothes; when the meat mar ket was on Bowling Green, and the pres ent City Hall park public pasture out side the city wall, the 24th and 25th of December were dedicated to St. Mich olas, the patron saint of the colony. It was his image that constituted the fig urehead of the ship that brought the first Dutch emigrants to this shore. It was he who gave his name to the first church within the walls, and whose ben isons were most solemnly invoked in the hour of trouble by all Dutchmen on land and sea.
 To the Dutch boys and girls St. Nich- Olas was jolly, white bearded, little, old man, smoking his long stemmed pipe, and in their fancies driving ',a Ni nd oceans and deserts, sending through space the sharpest of whistles to the wonderful reindeer team that carried the wonderful sleigh. These little Knickerbockers have paesed away for ever, but the children of today still keep up the devotion of the children Of 1850 for St. Nicholas, only they now call him Santa Claus. He is the same friend, the same little, low built, chubby, merry, mysterious ancient who loves children of all ages and all countries.
 The manner in which his coming is celebrated differs according to the habits and associations of the people. In the great cities and the country towns, for days and weeks beforehand, the markets
 
 claim the approach of the fete. The whole community abandons itself to for aging expeditions. Bundles and baskets are overywhere--On mems shoulders and in their hands, in wagons and coaches, filling the aisles of street cars and trun- fling through the highways in wheel balTOws. Women and children, hus- pr,1 bs. ,.f gt,., gle beneath their weight. There are gifts for boys and girls, presents for men and women, and heaps of presents for grandfathers and grandmothers "Old SCroOge' is there, crowding pater- familias in his endeavor to buy the big gest turkey and make amends for his meanness to his bookkeeper during the year, while materfamilias declares to herself that her Christmas shall be the handsomest among all the neighbors.
 Now comes Christmas eve-the fairy time of the little ones. And who shall describe it? The old mantel, with it's row of stockings, large and small; the expcctaut looks of the youngsters as they finger around the fireplace won 
 creeping into bed and listening, while the grown folks are making merry over their eggnOg and nulled cider, for any sign of the coming of the old gentleman down the chimney; then, when the house is still, tine mysterious movements of the happy parents as they produce the Christmas gifts from their hiding places and tie them up in the most pro voking knots; the COmmOtion in the house long before dawn when the chil- dren bounce from their beds to see what the King has sent them; the chorus of chuckles and gabble of delight as they gather around the bedside of the sleepy father and mother and arouse every one in the house to display the liberality of the God Cf gifts-who shall, who can tell the story of such happy time?
 By and by the bells in the steeples call the good people all to church and chapel, and away they go, focking through the streets in their best clothes and with their gayest faces. Closed stores and a general cessation from labor give Sab bath sanctity and reserve to the day out side, very different from the Christmas echoes of the night before A little later we are seated at the Christmas dinner, each ono ncrvously impatient to attack the hcaped mp viands. The turkeys and geese and chickens that caused such a stuiiing of baskets on Christmas eve are Set out stuffed in turn upon the tables.