Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1899-12-20
SAXONY SANTA CLAUS.
HANS RUPERT WALKS ALL THE
WAY FROM RUSSIA.
A GREAT GALLANT FIGURE WITH TOP
BOOTS AND MIGHTY PAcK-PRo-
CEssIoN ON CHRISTMAS EVE.


Santa Claus of Saxony given by the
simple pious peasantry. Hans Rup-
pert will arrive tonight" the children
Of Saxony cry all along the dear, dark
ening twilight of Christmas eve, as they
fatten their little Saxon noses against
khe cottage window panes, peering out
along the winter roads for "our Hans
RUPERT. Hans RUPERT is coming
tonight" say the simple hearted grown
mp folk to one another, people who
have one evening in the winter twilight
Of their hard. stern lives when it will
be all glow ard glamour and froth Of
fun.
Hans Rupert comes from Russia.
from its silent mysteries OF steppe
and of SHOWS. But he is not
Slav. Hans Rupert is not the ira
ditional Santa Claus of the Teuton
3and--a Jolly old man with curly beard
and winkirc smile. Hans Rupert is
tall, brawny, peasant looking fell
low, :" gay the good Saxony folk with
sublime earuestness as if they had seen
aim. Hans RUPERT has muscles mint
from tier own brave life of gray toll
Hans RUPERT walks all the way from
afar, from the Asiatie husband and, at
every step he takes toward the Caucasus
chain, at every stride up and up, still
up the lodges of its rock and bluff and
brae, across its brawling streams, now
down on the other side of its stern
shoulder Swallowed in the star calm, at
every pace past tle Russian villages
twinkling through the night mists like
sparklets struck off from the car crown
way off there above the Neva, as he
foots it grandly-tlis great, grand, gal
liant Hans Rupper--his top boots that
at the beginning Of the long Christmas
march reached aniy below the knee,
grow taller and taller, still higher-un-
til when he hears the Rhein-strom muir
muir and the golden voice above the
Lorelei reck aud o. last at the gates Of
Berlin sees the mighty CLEAN OF the
army Of the yater.and. the Hans Rup-
perish boots are upto the IONS. cuiras-
sier fashion, accordion wrink!ed and
mirror in their mighty polish the very
"Sword Of Iy Hlustrious GRANDPA
therr' And Hans Rupert stands
grenadier, oAe Of the sacred bodyguard
around an emperor, stands with star on
breast and double headed eagle on he'll
met, stands a mighty ghost to deal
death to the foes of vaterland-uu until
next Christmas.
On his back, through all his long
trudge tonight, Hans RUPERT carries
his pack. 1t is pack Of good things.
Thou hast no Christmas tree within
fjaf 81.
children have made the tree all ready
for Hans in the diligent purchase from
their little azon pfennige en- the mar
ket day Hans Rupert brings the gar
ments fer Christmas tree Here l..
his pack is tie Christ child's hair. the
gold and stlver fligree which Hans
will twist across the branches with his
own brawny hands Here are the can
dies, the Christ ehi}d's eyes, and the
toys and the gifts, the blessings that
drop from the hands of Baby Jesus =
And now the procession forms at s
O'Clock on Christmas eve 10 20 to see
what Hans Rupert has brought TO the
little family. The procession begins
with grandfather and grandmother, on
whose scanned ard yellowed cheeks
giistens the gentle tear of age, Then
follow the father ana the mother and
the unwedded uncles aud aunts, and
now the children, according to age and
size, who are awed in anticipation Of
Our Hans kappert" on the other side
of that door toward which the process
sion is now moving. They stand up on
tlptoe and peer behind fathers stalwart
frame, rebuked by das mutterchen. with
solid Saxon cuff on the unwilling ear
"Ach, mute rchen, it's beiiige Nacht =
pleads the tather and mother moder-
ates. Here are the servants of the house
hold, wearing their good Christmas
starch OF check apron stiffness. How it
stands out in is buckram beauty, If il
were posi- ble-which the dear Herr
Gardener of us all forfend-the apple
cheeks Of the good house girl glow with
a more frutty glisten as she gazes down
upon the spherIc circumference of
starch. The housemaid's smile Is laun-
dered, toe, and it never leaves her lips
until that mysterious door off there is
opened by grandfather 5 trembling old
hand, and now some enc Ia the Christ.
mas procession has struck the sN eet,
resonant, proonging chords OF the nth
er. and the hymn rises as one pure
concert aI.us the %heIe ef the house
hold heart:
Q hciliee NaehJl
Stille Nachti
The door is thrown open, and only
che stalwaTt spirits-the Erdgeiste who
guard the scailops and yolutes of the
Teutonio verb-can comprehend the
meander and the meaning of the fam
ily's EXPLANATIONS now. Hans Rupert
has done it all Hans RUPERT has done
ut all The tree glistens into gracious
charm. II is the aurora of the Divine
Child.
And then the good Saxon muscles fall
to. and fall, too, on supper. Now, the