The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-12-25
Santa Claus to the Savage

A WHITE MEN push out year by YET
~ into the rcmotest corners of the
earth, they carry Christmas with
them as gilt 10 the savagcs WIN WHOM
tney come IN contact. me American
troops nave zone TINS IN the past two or
three years IN some OF the htncrJO I'M
Travelled IsIanUS OF the BnmppmeS, where
the Spanlards nad never uarUu 10 venture.
Strange. IndeeG, are some OF the expert
ences which ran 10 the lot of these al
Ciaus to a barbarian race that has never
heard the glad OLD story Of Hule.
Sheldon jackson, an official employed
by the United states bureau of education
10 work IN the WHO'S OF Alaska, carried
Christmas to the Eskimo cnndren Inere
in 1894. RE gave a OeepIy increasing az
count Of now ne aid II IN report 10 the
bureau.
.'t'or several days Immediately preccd-
ing Christmas, he sad, Il look occasion
TO tell the scholars now 1t was observed
by the whites, and explained sucn Ted-
lures about the DAY as my limited knOWl-
euge or the language would admit OF; so
that. by the close OF school the DAY De
lore, they Dreuy well knew why IL was
observed.
All through the winter the almost
starving conuiJion Of the natives nad Deen
SO imp essed on US that nothing but the
knowiedge that our supply OF Ioou was
very nmited prevented - from dlstriD-
uuug reSuar rations 10 them.
Il tOld the ChlIuTeu ABOUT santa Claus
ana for them to tie their fur stockings up
near their beds, as he was coming to visit
them for the first time dnG wound re-
member every child.
Il made up lot of little bags out Of
empty IIOur sacks. and into eacn one put
eight cuDes OF white sugar. about dozen
pieces OF dried apples ana a dozen ralslns
not A very appropriate assortment Tor
Christmas present Tor white enid, .DuL
IL was the BEST We nad, ana 1 found out
atterward that the selection was very
much agJreclated by the little Eskimo
Although our supplies were very I'M
ited. / concluded 10 take enough from
such as we nad and give eacn family the
same assortment. It was made up OF a
TN can tined with IIour. el-ht navy bis
cults. one pint of rice. One-naf pound OF
sugar and One-third pound of tea. There
arc ten houses IN the village and ABOUT
100 persons all told The SUPPLIES above
enumerated were made up INTO ten pack
ages.
II had the herders harness one of the
deer teams 10 a sled, ana at y o'clock
started with tour natives Tor the village,
a nalImile west OF the station.
When Santa Claus Came.
When We reached the first house
took nasnlignJ view OI The ueGr stand
ing by inc uttle SKIN WINDOW, through
WaIch a IalnL Cream OF hgnt was InrOMn
Irom the Ola lamp burning below.
III occurred 20 me una -iernaDs this
was the 1IrSt time IN the history OF civil
izaUlOn tnat "a HVe santa Claus made ms
miGnlght VISIT upon an errand OF mercy
WIN team OF reindeer, and that the
Eskimo were the urst 40 actually expert
cnce wnat throughout Cnrlstendom Is only
a myth.
N became necessary TO dig away the
frost from one corner o. the window IN
OT0eT 10 get the packages through, and
IN nearly every instance the operation
alarmed those below, when = package
was imme0laJely cropped Gown, ana tney
became quiet.
" nile m my STOPPING position at the
first house ] suddenly hfted ms eyes 10
the north and beneid the most gorgeous
aurora 1 Witnessed at an une curing
the winter
The night was a glorious one. cold and
crisp. win the stars shining in lustrous
splendsr from the pa4c biue canopy above,
and not "A breath OF AR was SURFING.
Across the whole northern HORIZON
floods of wavy light surged and swept
from east TO west. sending up further lntO
the heavens streams of vapory light, dan
cling up and down In graceful shadows
that easily. led me TO imagine that they
were caused by invisible spirits
For a time ] forgot the object Of my
visit and lay watching the play Of the
aurora as il shot forwards and backwards,
and when ! finally came TO myself L
looked around and found the natives lost
in deep and silent awe at the spectacle
The hour I spent in this service was
one OF supreme delight to me. especially
so as the little handful of food / distrib-
uted made the bright eyes of a hundred
people ~listen with happiness and sup
Dlied as many stomachs with a feast they
enjoyed before they again closed their
eyes in sleep.
cit would take too much space 70 record
all the items / gathered as / peeped
through their little skin windows and saw
them dancing around I'm great glee. old
and Young. and expressing their thank
fulness for the many good things re-
ceived. the like of which they had never
before eaten