Palestine daily herald. [volume] (Palestine, Tex.) 1902-1949, 1905-12-16

king, most OF them being produced at
| Christmas
The Christmas season usually be-
| gan on Dec. 16 and lasted until IAN.
s, although in Elizabeths day the sea-
son had been known to last for full sir
weeks or until Shrove Tuesday, her
aiding the coming of Lent, put a stop
to the merrymakings.
Burning of the YuIe LOG.
On Christmas eve the yule log was
dragged into the baronial halls in the
country. put in the great gaping fire.
place, and ignited with the well-saved
remnant Of the preceding years.
log. Its duty was to burn all night
If it did not, it was considered sign
OF i'll luck. The brand left of it was
the next day taken up and saved to
light the next years log. While the
log continued burning there was
drinking. eating and telling of strange
tales. Even the lowly sometimes had
yule log on their hearth of
Christmas eve, and, while generally
the blazing fire was considered suf-
ficient for Illuminating purposes in
the halls of the great candles were
burned as we'll. On Christmas eve
the waits and carol singers played
under windows until the generosity OF
the householders was aroused.
To the Victorian Era.
A growing body of the people I'M
these days took no part in the merri-
ment of Christmastide; in fact, their
longdrawn faces. sour looking all the
year. were almost unbearaSle at The
season of joy. Alarmed at the goings-
on at court, mortified at the licen-
tiousness Of the ruling class, they
vowed worldly joy was a detestable
thing. Life to them was a stern ex-
istence. Even in Elizabeth's time
these Puritans had begun their pro-
tests against Christmas celebrations.
and against royal pageantries, and in
the time of James l. their voice grew
so loud that they were caricatured
in some of the Mosques at court
They continued, these stern ola
roundheads, to grow in number and
in power, and, having made an end of
King Charles l. in a most effectuap
manner. put their ban on everything
that England loved most, including
Christmas.
Under the Commonwealth they
stopped the decoration of churches
at Christmas. and sent a crier about
London with a proclamation to the
effect that Christmas day and all
ot!s~. suFaGstsAtons festi;;9AS--st0e.lss.
be put down and that a market should
le kept upon Christmas day." Per-
sons who insisted upon attending
,hurch on Christmas day were imme-
lately arrested. AS for the Lord op
IIisrule and Father Christmas they
we're banished, and the Parliament by
is own act crossed Christmas OF the
calendar. For ten long years Eng
and. so closely allied with the OBJ
ervance of Christmas, was throttled.
,ut Christmas was only in exile; he
eturned with the royal family when
he Restoration was accomplished.
The Passing of Old Customs.
The days of the last of the Georges
aw the departure of many time-hon-
red Christmas customs in England.
nd the arrival of some new ones. The
inging of carols was one of the first
0 go. and later in the century the
rats disappeared, although a few
tragglers now and then annoy Lon
oners in the Christmas season. untiS
bobby tells them to move on.
Some of the old etchings by Sey-
lour. the first illustrator of Pickwick-
hitch are reproduced on this page
i've spirited idea Of how old Christ
las was observed in England in the
arly days OF Victoria's reign, when
ne spirit of the season was still alive
nd modern ideas had not yet showed
le old customs aside