The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1907-12-27
CHRISTMAS In THE COUN-
TRY.

Even the rural districts in Mary
land are getting away from the SIM
plicity OF the old times, says the
aB altinore American" When did
the olden times end, it may be ask
ed? Generally speaking, the old
times went out with the incoming OF
the railway train and the steamboat.
Stir up some grandfather who was
born in one of the Maryland coun-
ties somewhere around 1880 and
draw from him "reminiscences OF his
first decade. Tap his memory con-
corning some particular Christmas
Of that early time. Generally, the
whole family was loaded into the big
family carriage-used mostly for
church-going purposes-and driven
over to grandmother's for dinner.
At grandmother's were encountered
"a large bunch of cousins, ranging
,erally from one year Of age up to
LJeen. The dinner was, Of course,
the old fashioned Maryland kind
turkey at one end, goose at the
other and big ham in the middle
with vegetables in large yariety-all
on the table at once except the plum
pudding or the mince pie for the
dessert.
And what did the boys and girls
& Of the olden times do to amuse them.
selves at Christmas times? In or
der to let in the girls such games as
II spy" "blind mans buff" "black
mans base" and even "ring around
the roses" were played. The girls,
of course, had their dolls-the doll
is. now known to be prehistoric.
And as for toys for the boys, just
ask grandfather about that. Did
they have them? Almost barn
full Of them generally made them
themselves. There was the Indian
bow-not little bent stick that
would send an arrow only thirty
feet, but powerful implement that
would drive pointed and feathered
shaft 300 feet and stick it in the
barn door. Practically every farm
boy in the early part of the last cen.
tnry was a trapper, and many are
the thrilling narratives which grand
father will unfold if you'll get him
going concerning how he used to
make the round of his gums" be.
fore sunup. Generally he had more
than q dozen of these traps and
sometimes twenty. As a conse-
quence the family appetite for rab-
bit was kept jaded. Besides rabbits
he often secured prize in shape OF
an otter, mink, muskrat or a
possum. The country boy OF
seventy years ago always had on
hand some enterprise Of pith and
moment. And so had the country
girl. There was not dull day on
the schedules for them from the first
day of January to the thirty first
day of December. At least, that is
the way grandfather and grandmoth.
er paint the oldtime situation.
And how is Christmas in the coun.
try different from what it used to
be? Ask grandfather that. The
first idea that will occur to him
most likely, will be that Christmas
celebrations nowadays in the coun'
try, as in the cities and towns, are
mostly made up of "bopghton'
things. There were Christmas trees
seventy years ago in pretty nearly
every rural household, and sumptu.
onsly and even magnifcently adorn-
ed they were; but the decorations
were mostly Of home manufacture
and these ran all the way from tops
to checker-boards for the boys and
from dolls to bay-windowed and por.
ticoed houses for the girls-the
houses being small enough generally
to allow of hanging on the tree
There are Christmas-tree houses
now "made in Germany" and they
fairly dazzle with their analine col.
orings; but do they bring the real
Joy that the oldtime playhouse which
grandfather's father made on the
SLY produced? This is a knotty
question, which grandfather and
some representatives of the rising
generation will have to argue out
between them.