Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1909-12-31
NEW EWGLAND,S CHRISTMAS
FIRST BEGAN ABOUT 1871
Prior to That Time the Big Winter Holidays Were Thanksgiving
and New Years--Every Member Of the Family Gave
Presents on the New Year and Much Secrecy Sur
rounded All the Long Preparations---
Some Early Day Games.

. it's strenae, and modern France with
her etrenneS.
1t is simply an ignorant blunder to
suppose New England children did hot
have a good time so n 90 years e.
In one sense, no doubt, their pleas
ures were restricted, as everything in
the community was restricted; the
same deficiencies In communication and
other mechanical matters appeared In
the appliances for young peoples
amusement. Art did not do nearly so
much for them-and so they did
a great lea more for themselves. Boys
and girls made more things both for
their own amusement and other peo-
pies service. l can well remember my
brother and cousin cleansing and 9TH
erwiSe making over a bladder for a
football. / thought it a disgusting job
though they did not, and was told l
should have to do it when | went to
school; but before that time came the
black india rubber football was in
vented. Or course the Rugby football
derives it's elipsoidal shape from the
original bladder. Un 1882 l imported
two footballs straight from Rugby for
Adams academy, and carried them
through the custom house free of the
heavy duty on manufactured leather,
on the ground that they were for edu-
cational purposes.)
IIfIS were appreciated Ihen.
Many amusements, therefore, were
not so easy to get at; consequently
they were considered a greater treat,
and 1 believe more enjoyed. There were
fewer theaters; plenty Of families were
perfectly willing their children should
go to the theater, but it was a rare
thing-a treat-to be enjoyed once in
a while, and consequently, as l believe,
far more enjoyed. So the New Years
presents, rarely more than one from
each member of the household, were.
more appreciated than the food of
Christmas presents which now pours
down upon a single child's head from
nobody In particular. | was once
brought in contact With a boy who,
being an only son and only grandson
in an enormously wealthy family, n
given all the money he could spend
and more, never seemed really to care
for anything. l a led 70 study the
case, and came to the conclusion that
the only pleasure left to him in any
of his possessions was that of novelty.
He never got the good out of anything,
because the instant that the first gloss
was worn off, he looked round to see
what new thing he could buy. In u
day. when playthings-we e said
toys-books and other implements Of
amusement were rarer, we got far
more out of them, ven though they
bore less cost.
OF course, in what / have said OF
Christmas / am speaking of Unitarian
and Congregational families. The Epis-
copalianS began a more general celebra-
ton of Christmas much earlier. In my
own case we had an Episcopalian aunt,
| and we had no sort of objection to shar-
ing her Christmas dinner, and getting
presents from her Christmas tree. In.
the Cambridge schools in 1850 the in
dividual holidays not absorbed in va.
cations, besides the Fourth of July and
the ancient and honorable artillery cleo
ton, on the first Monday in June, were
Christmas day, May day and Fast day.
/ can just remember the floral process
sion" on May day in Boston in 1S46,
when a large number OF young girls,
clad in dresses far more suited to Au-
gust marched through Beacon and
other streets to the Common, wearing
and bearing various construction Of
flowers. Indeed, the parade of small
bands of children, who looked rs If
that word ought to be spelled with a
double /, on the first of May lasted a
good deal later. 1t seems incredible that
ii should take New Englanders more
than two centuries to find out that the
weather of our first OF May is several
degrees les genial than that of
S~hakeSpeare's England, whose celebra-
ton war ten days later.
The Fast day of q hundred years ago
must have been rather severe; there
were two services In every church; and
the regulation dinner was boiled veal
and tansy pudding, which was sup
posed to commemorate as nearly as
! possible the bitter herbs with which
! the children of Israel ate the passover
at the same season. / am happy to
say I was not born till those appetizing
dishes had one out.