Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-01-17
miscellaneous Rsadina.
ONE DAY IN HISTORY.
Some Great Events Which Happened
on Christmas.

Some Great Events Which Happened
on Christmas.
In the centuries that have passed
since the coming of a little child
! changed the history Of the world, the
day, the people have chosen to cele-
brate as that of his birth has often
been distinguished by other events
than that one far off divine event.
. Other children have been born on De-
cember 25 and bewailed the fact, be-
cause it meant but one set of presents.
Empires have been established, kings
crowned, state policies defined, battles
fought and won and lost. A royal mar
riage or birth or christening more
than once seemed to overshadow for
the moment the oder. greater fact.
But for moment only. Always as the
years, and with them the men and
deeds that make them, recede into the
mists of the past, the lesser happen
ings fall into a truer perspective, be-
comes subordinate to the great central
event, which for years has illumined
and glorified December 25, making it
the most radiant, the most nearly uni
versal holiday of all the days which
men celebrate in joy and gladness.
But there is one notable Christmas
day other than the first great one
which every American boy old enough
to have passed into the grammar
grades can recall, as the date of an
historic fact destined to cast long
shadows into the future. 1t is safe to
say that even the most forgetful of
their fathers, those to whom dates and
events are antipathetic, can also recall
a popular steel engraving Of a picture
illustrating the event, picture so pop
ular that there are many middle aged
men who have but one mental image OF
the Father of His Country and that one
based on the picture in which he
stands in martial pose in small
storm tossed boat under which is in
scribed the legend, Washington Cross
ing the Delaware"
1t is not so safe to say that those
same fathers could tell the year in
which the Hessians, making merry the
holiday, were surprised and routed by
the Continentals. Some of them could,
perhaps, calling to their aid the revo-
lutionary ballad:
"On Christmas day in seventysiX
Our ragged troops with bayonets fixed
For Trenton marched away.
The Delaware see, The boats below!
The light obscured by hail and snow!
But no signs of dismay."
Not a cheerful way in which to pass
the holiday, even the commander who
ordered the move admitted in letter
to his brother. Before it took place he
wrote to this brother of his intention:
christmas day at night, one hour
before day, is the time fixed upon for
our attempt on Trenton. For heavens
sake keep this to yourself, as the dis
covery may prove fatal to us. l have
ordered our men to be provided with
three days provisions ready cooked,
with which and their blankets they are
to march"
After il was over he wrote: The
evening of the 25th ordered the troops
to parade back of McKinley's ferry,
that they might pass as soon as II
grew dark. But the quantity of ice
made that night impeded the passage
of the boats so much that it was near
four hours before the troops took up
their line of march.
Il ordered them to push directly into
the town, that they might meet the
enemy before they had time to form.
The number that submitted was %
officers and SS6 men.
IN Justice to the officers and men !
must add that their behavior reflected
the highest honor upon them. The diff
ficulty of passing the river in very
severe night and their march through
a violent storm of snow and hail did
not in the least abate their ardor, but
when they came to the charge they
seemed to vie with each other in press
ing forward"
Nine hundred prisoners make very
good Christmas present for fighting
men, even though not delivered until
the day after. This Christmas day. OF
1875 was frightened by the victory.
That of 1777 was not warmed by the
ardor inspired by success.
Seventy seven was the dreadful WIN
ter at Valley Forge during which the
courage and endurance of all the pa
triots were tried to the utmost and
when Christmas brought no such tri-
umph as that of Trenton, when many
of the men were unable to stir on ac-
count of hunger, when the commander
in-chief reported to congress that p
S9S men are now in camp UNFIT for duty
because they are barefooted and other
wise naked. Numbers have been OBJ
liged to sit up all night by fires on
account of having no blankets. 1t is
much easier thing to find fault with
the army in a comfortable room by a
good fireside than to occupy a cold,
bleak hill and sleep under frost and
snow.
For seven days there has been lit
tie less than a famine in camp. A part
of the army has been a week without
any kind of flesh, and the rest three
or four days. Naked and starving as
they are, we cannot enough admire the
incomparable patience and fidelity or
the sOldiery."
War seems more of what Sherman
said il was when it takes from men
their brightest holiday and dooms them
to such suffering.
Those at Valley Forge were not the
only ones who denied themsel| - tie
simple, natural joys that this nation
might be born. The first Christmas
passed by the Pilgrims III the New
World the men went on shore to fell
timber, some to saw, some to carry.
So that no man rested all that day,
but all helped in starting the house
which was to be the community nome.
The mothers, some of whom from the
years spent in Loyden had retained
love for the festive occosion, were de-
termined that the children should not
be entirely robb ID of their Christmas
ioy. Though a few objected Elder
Brewster consented that they should
have a celebration. Wreaths OF IVY
and holly which they had brought in
barrel from England were hung about
the cabin of the Mayflower. There is
a story current that Massasoit, CHIEF OF
the Wampanoags, having been told
what the day meant TO the strange
white people, brought on board two
squaws and six little boys and girls
gayly bedecked in paint and feathers,
wrapped in scarlet blankets and with
rabbit skin caps on their heads. TO