Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1893-12-25
THEIR BOY STOCKINGS.
EARLY CHRISTMAS FUN OF Mr.. CLEVELAND
AND MEMBERS OF Els CABINET.
Private Secretary Thurbsr's Prayer for Bigger
Boos-Sserstary AorOn's Bucksaw-Hsr-
bsrts Ante Bsllum Chrismas-Goke
Smiths Rabbit Hnnt-POor Carlisle
Had No Christmas.

Lord sakes, lib. So you remeber the
time HI Decker and Shell Pratt and
Grove aud you aud | slid down the
! lightnin' rod that Christmas day TO es-
cape from the teacher? | wonder II
Grove recalls it yet?" The speaker
was DR.. Clark, one OF President CleVe-
lands boyhood companions whom | met
in Fayetteville, n. Y. He was address,
ing one Mr.. TibbitS, a neighbor.
ave toys had a lot Of fun together,
be continued, ''but folks didn't make
much Of a Christmas In those days.
Grover may have hung up his stocking,
but I'll wager be didn't find much in 1t.
As a matter OF fact his father regarded
| Christmas as the fag end OF popery,
aud he hated popery."
l learned from many sources that
! Christmas was not much celebrated
those days in Fayetteville. Among
| Others / found an aged lawyer of the
name Of Chapman, now eighty years OF
age.
'T knew Grover" be began, very
we'll indeed; / used TO see him pass In
and out of McVicar'S store; there 1t Is,
right out Of the window" said the gem
! LICllaut udl4 AloAuH III Ao AGAA 49,
waving his shaky hand toward the win
dow, THAT is the place, where the par
/ Der pole IS out in front; Grover clerked
there and slept upstairs; Mr.. Il0Olts'
now the dentist, used to sleep with him.;
be knows all about him. On, you
asked about Christmas; well, we didn't
have any in those days; times were too
hard: il we did have any 10 was In
the form OF a dinner; l know all the
people in this village. When Mrs.
! Cleveland came here, some years ago,
Blanchard-you know him, Of course?
blanchard was introduced to her as
the teacher Of Grover; / am Growers
old schoomaster, said Blanchard, as he
shook hands with Mrs. Cleveland. Just
then / came up; taking Mrs. Cleveland's
| hand, he said-'And /, Mrs. Cleveland,
am the teacher Of the teacher. Mr..
| Blanchard taught Grover and l taught
| Blanchard Mrs. Cleveland looked
very much surprised, and said:
"'Why, you are a gradfather
t~eacher!'"
The house In which Grover hung up
! his stocking still stands in Fayette-
vile, though considerably altered. IL
is a long ol~d-fashiCned frame house
with four rooms on the ground floor,
three up stairs and high basement
| below, where the Rev. Richard Cleve-
land used to write his sermons,
CHRISTMAS IN ALABAMA.
Many of Mr.. Cleveland's Cabinet
haa merry Christmases when boys.
Hillary A. Herbert, the Secretary OF
the Navy, whose home is in Mont
gomery, was born in Laurensville, s.
c., and is now about forty-ive years OF
age. He early moved with his fathers
family to Greenville, Butler county,
Alabama. He is, as a Cabinet officer,
very busy, very different to meet; but
when / limited TO him that l would like
10 know about his early Christmas, he
gave me all the time l wanted.
Never shall l forget the positive de-
light, the tenderness and the feeling
,with which MIR. Herbert spoke OF his
youthful Christmases, down in Ala
bama.
My father" he said, "owned a large
plantation outside of Greenville, and it
was there we used to hold our celebra-
| LIOus 1uG UCCOdlUu was UuO uuOuOiAR
round Of pleasure, not for a day, but
for a week. All the slaves-we had
about thirty slaves in those days-used
TO Join in the ~merrymaking; and l
can ~truthfully say that never, before or
since, have I seen such glad times
as I experienced at the slaves
dance at the quarters! Such fun
such scrspping-such music! The
dear souls, their hearts were simply
OVERLOOKING with goodness and with
simple rapture. There was an old
coach which ran through the village,
and, on Christmas we used to get it and
60 out to the plantation for a frolic.
They saw us coming from afar, and
builded great pitch-pine fires to well
come us to the merrymaking, The
laring lights could be seen for miles.
Then there was old Guilesi l like to
think Of old Guiles, whenever l recall
the Christmas of my bOyhood. II eeer
there was a better fiddler than this old
darky, / v heard him in all my life.
Guiles used to disappear sometimes, but
he always came back in time for Christ
mas fun at the negro headquarters,
where. seating himself on the platform,
he would fiddle away all night
long, and the longer he id-
died the faster be would fiddle, and the
faster he fddled the better he seemed
10 like il; and the better he liked it, the
louder be would yodle; and the louder
he would yOdle the more fun we would
have. l think the picture Of old GuiieS,
the darby fiddler at the plantation
Christmas merry-makings, sitting there
fddling away, with his head thrown
back, whilst the negroes Gu the floor
are cutting pigeon wings, is n OF the
pleasant pictures 10 my memory; din
though it be, it can never fade away,
for, with the advent OF each Christmas,
back it comes, TO tell me OF my happy
boyhood, down on the old plantation.
long before the war"
As the man said this, he seemed t
throw of the cares Of state, and, lean
ing back in his chair, smoked away il
pensive silence, the light blue smoke
curing aloft in pretty heecy clouds
Care flew away, the empty mockery o
notifies was no more, the ghost-dance o
greedy olice-SeekerS, the bane Of life il
Washington, disappeared before tie
rising memories of those early Christ
masses, and for once, at least, in thi
busy, care-pressed mans life l am sur,
that he was-happy.
"Tbe ChrissmGseS / had when a boy,
he went on, slowly, after a time, "ar,
halos 10 an atmosphere that no longe.
exists, in which, clear and distinct
though dimming fast, appear the slaves
They were without any responsibility,
whatever, and so entered with incred
IDLE spirit and abandon into the Christ
mas sports. which usually lasted a week
and we're taken part IN by the wholt
town. Each slave, on Christmas morn