The Yale expositor., 1909-12-10

son OF the south makes
Itself felt through the District of Co
lumbia, through Maryland and well in
to Pennsylvania. Here it is still the
Christmas of the candlelight and OF
the blazing log, the Christmas of the
distinctive old England cheer.
1t is probable that there has been
a Christmas tree in the White House
at every holiday season in every ad
ministration excepting that of Theo-
dore Roosevelt. Old residents of
Washington say that even the bach
elor and the widower presidents had
Christmas trees TO remind them of
their own childhood, or to be used as
an attraction for specially invited chill
dren guests.
Charlie" is of Christmas tree age
and inclination. Both the president
and his wife are young in heart, and
the Christmas tree has always had
place in their holiday merrymaking.
The presidents two older children,
Robert and Helen, are in college, the
one at Yale and the other at Bryn
Mawr. Like all other college students
who can make the journey home, the
presidents older children are with
their parents.
Christmas in the White House Is
very much like the Christmas in the
homes of all American families. When
there are children in the great colon
tal mansion stockings are hung up,
and the expectation and excitement of
Christmas eve are just as great as
they are in any of the humber homes
in the land. Christmas is a home
day for the president and his family.
All business is given over, and the
White House clerks and employees, to
say nothing of the cabinet officers and
the senators and representatives who
make daily journeys to the presidents
office, know that on Christmas day OF
all the days in the year the president
wishes to throw off the cares of state
and to have the same privilege that
any other American citizen may have
the privilege of enjoying his family
and of partaking with it undisturbed
of the Christmas cheer.
1t has been said that there was no
SLl AolAldo llCG at INC w nIlG I1OuSe III
the holiday seasons when Theodore
Roosevelt was president. There were
six children in the Roosevelt family,
all of them of Christmas tree age
when the colonel of Rough Riders be-
came president. There were always
happy times at Christmas in the
Roosevelt household, but the Christ
mas tree was barred because the pres
ident being a strong advocate of the
preservation of the forests, thought
that it was little less than a sin to
cut down trees and of necessity kill
them, in order to use them for merely
decorative purposes.
1t is said that on one occasion the
youngest boy of the household had a
tree give nhim, and thinking that in
asmuch as it was already cut down
he might as we'll keep it, he put it in
the closet off his room and there sur.
reptiously trimmed it. 1t is also said
that his father discovered the tree.
but the historians of the household
know, or at any rate do not say, wi
pened then, and so the end of one 81
former Christmas tree celebration IL
ecutive mansion must forever remain |
In this Potomac river section where
time Virginia Christmas spirit still dive
is an openness about the holiday ths
the openness of the Virginia home. F
but here the ready doubter probably v
pose obiection--it is the transmitted
the old days still indwelling in the
the inhabitants-the spirit of the cav;
generally made too free with his mea
ward cheer, but with whose vices" c
ways kept pace.
The war did not kill Christmas in
It survived battle and poverty and 1t
py and lusty to-day as it was in the
when the slaves brought the oak loi
firing. It is the great feast of the S
of the northern country which lies ad
the Mason and Dixon line.
Washington is on the dividing line
most things northern and southern,
Washington Christmas is wholly of
The markets of the city are fat and
The marketmen sell and sell, and yet
of Christmas things seemingly never
II is the season of game. Washington
the rule of New York and Chicago
day markets give the quail and the CA
the places OF honor, while the cnlchel
turkey stay in the shadow.
It may be, and probably is true, thai
ducks no longer darken the water of
Potomac with the close-iying flock
mer years; 1t may be that the quail
ginia partridge, numbers its kind by
where once It numbered 1t by thou
may be that the Virginia deer, the dc
woods of eastern North America, Is
ing; but no evidence of an approach
accomplished scarcity is to be four
markets of the southern cities or In {
of southerners who keep Christmas
forefathers kept 1t.
The Christmas Of that part OF Virgi
lies close to washington is still the
OF other days. but warning has cor
change Northern capital and mortimer