Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-12-25

Z
Il lonesome Christmas, and provided the
surprise packages for us.
n reformed rounterfeitcr, whose ways
have been turned toward earnest cndeav-
or and who credits Chief Wilkie of the
secret service with the impetus toward
Lis reformation, gave Mr.. Wilkfe one OF
the pleasantest Christmas surprises of his
life.
We prosecuted the man the second
time for counterfeiting seven or eight
years ago and he was sentenced to term
of five years. says Mr.. Wilkie. About
six months before lie was to be released
he wrote me saying that he was In a
position to furnish information and evil
dence upon which the conviction of other
counterfeiters could be secured.
HE said that he wanted to help the
able to furnish information of value con-
corning men with whom he had been as
sociated. AT the expiration of his SEN
tence he said. he wanted an appointment
to the secret service force, where he
could be sure of a living, and where his
information could be of aid in the ap-
prehension of other criminals.
IT wrote the man that the government
time for the violation of federal law, or
whose past would not stand the closest
scrutiny, for if he ever appeared in court
his testimony might be. impeached I
to be good citizen. and urged upon him
that the thing to do was to go to a place
where he was not known. secure work at
his trade of stone cutting and start life
again in an honest and upright way.
He sent back letter of thanks for
my encouragement, and said that al
though he was disappointed at not being
able to get into the secret service, he
proposed to do his best at his own trade.
FIR turn
Then. Just at Christmas time a bulky
letter with a foreign postmark came to
my desk Out Of 1t l took bunch of
pictures aid letter from the former
countarfeiter.
ut was a Christmas message such as
had never had before. The man had
gone over the border into a neighbor1nS
country, had taken up life anew and had
made connections which assured his flu
ture prosperity. He begged me to accept
pictures Of himself. his wife, their home
and familiar scenes in the surrounding
country.
"A few days later there came package
with the same pOstmark, which found
to contain a Christmas present of con-
siderable value, with the card and Christ
mas greetings of the man 1 had so vigor-
ously prosecuted a few years before. The
card bore these further words:
Il hope this will sometimes remind you
of man who is on the square.
Frof. Wilfet NJ. Hays, assistant secre-
tary of agriculture, spent his youth in
an undeveloped part of Iowa, where
neighbors were few and Christmas fes-
Invites brought them all together. A
Christmas tree was always provided, and
the job of Santa Claus was passed around
from year to year among the well pro-
portioned young men of the country. On
one occasion Mr.. Hays was picked for the
place. He rugged himself out in a bor-
rowed buffalo coat. and painted and dis
guised himself until he felt sure he would
not be recognized.
"a
1T was considered the best Of sport"
says Secretary Hays. both for the au-
dfence and the Santa Claus, to accom-
pany the delivery Of each gift with rum
ming comment as to who might have
given it; what a certain young man
thought of a certain girl, and lot of
other neighborhood gossip of a most in
innate character.
My disguise succeeded so we'll, and l
felt SO sure that nobody recognized me,
that 1 went too far with the familiar re-
marks. / forgot that a time of reckoning
must come. when I took off the Santa
Claus disguise When that fact occurred
to me. it was too late. ] saw that several
able bodied young men whom / had con-
sidered good friends. were preparing to
handle Santa Clause roughly as soon as
the buffalo coat disappeared
AS l finished up the distribution OF
gifts, I made hurried exit through a
back door. 1t was not more rapid than
that of some of the other fellows out the
front way, but j had the advantage of
being near the horse sheds. With a rush
/ made for my own cutter. united the
horse, gave him a slap. and landed in the
Sleigh i'm true Santa Claus fashion. The
chase didn't last long. for / had a good
start and got away; but as I think of the
celebration that ! was forced to miss, L
have always considered that Christmas a
distinct failure
The joys of a Norwegian holiday sea-
son as his parents and Norwegian neigh
borS celebrated it in Wisconsin when that
state was young remain to Senator Knute
Nelson of Minnesota as the happiest rec
objection of Christmas.
x x
For thirteen days after Christmas we
did no work except the chores on the
farm says Senator Nelson. Even the
wood had been split up for two weeks
before Christmas arrived. Day after day
We gathered for feasts at the home of
some relative or neighbOr. The young
folks piled hay into a big wagon box set
il on runners and went for long hay
rides, and We danced to neigibOrhood
music in the living rooms Of the various
farmhOuses.
THE Yankees and the Scotch in the
neighborhood didn't keep this long Christ
mas. but our Norwegian friends chung
TO it. We began Christmas eve, with a
feast that almost eaualed the Christmas
dinner For two or three weeks we had
been butchering and preparing the win
ters supply of meat, and for q week be-
fore Christmas the woman folks were
busy with the baking and other prepa-
rations for the two weeks of festiyity.
The Christmas eve dinner always
started with prayer and the singing of
hymn. Then came dish of rice pOr-
ridge. something We all loved. After it
cafte baked spareribs, picked pigs feet,
head cheese, sausage meat, Goldfish pre-
pared in the Norwegian style. slaked with
weak lye of wood ashes; potatoes, tur-
nips and other vegetables and pies and
buildings.
We had no turkey and seldom had
chickens or other fowls but to us that
Christmas eve dinner and the dinner that
followed next day We're feasts to be
looked forward to for months. Usually
only the family attended the Christmas
eve and the Christmas dinners. Christ
masc day We all went TO church and then
spent the rest of the day at home.
After that il was q round of visiting
and a succession of dinners almost as
hearty and elaborate as the first one
We worked hard in those DAYS and snent