Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-12-25

dhg the kindliest light of all the
year. little boys and girls the
world over kicked off the bed
clothes and shouted:
Wake up, it's Chrlstmas,"
Ana so II was-the dawn of "the very
best day i'm the year To use the day
Alright you must have the best thoughts.
the kindest heart and the happiest smile
1t is day full of music and praise and
thankfulness in the churches Ii is a day
or bringing families together. and the
good old custom of having a big ChHet-
mas dinner with all the ones you love the
very best sitting around hasn't shown any
sign of dying out this year
FIRST OF all. ii is day given over TO
those little white-robed people who stole
downstairs so early this starl;t morn TO
see what had happened i'm the night.
They had hung their stockings by the
fireplace. If there was one, and by the
mantelpiece in homes where the steam
radiator has given way to the old yule
log. but somehow or other Old Saint
Nicholas is just as good to the little lad
and little lassie who are warmed by steam
heat as he used to be to the picturesque
little people of Merrle England who came
riding into the great hall on the yule log
and who made Christmas for twelve long
and boisterous days and nights.
outpouring of Gifts.
Perhaps he is kinder to the boys and
girls OF today. At any rate. the great
toy shops seem to have poured out a
greater number of wonderful things than
ever before; the forest of Christmas trees
seems to have been thicker and greener
than ever before. The plum pudding wom-
an, who has mixed puddings for a thou
sand years, says she never had so many
calls for her special brand of commodity
before: the fellow who makes the icing
for fruit cake says he has made miles
and miles Of that delicious white stuff
sn't looking; the lad who bends red
and white candy into canes says his arms
ache from his hard work; the chauffeur
who holds the reindeers when Santa
Claus stops at house says he never
saw so many stockings filled before.
All that is the children's part OF Christ
mas. and any one who denies that this
is not the greatest day in the year for
those little fellows must be an odd sort
of a citizen. There is on record only
one man who said .'Out upon Christmas.'
His name was Scroose. and if any one
wants to know what nearly happened To
him all he has to do is to read that won-
derful Christmas Carol written by Charles
Dickens good many years ago.
Scrooge had positively the most awful
nightmare the world has ever known any
thing about, and so great was the stress
and strain of ii that he woke up q
changed man.
Cheer for the Grownups.
Christmas has come for the grown-up
children, too. 1t is day of blessed hap
piness for so many millions of happy
fathers and mothers who saw their chill
dren asleep last night-Christmas eve
with the smiles that bespoke wonderful
dreams in anticipation of the morning.
Whether it is better to be a child or a
father mother Christmas is still "A
vexed question. True. the fathers and
mothers have one advantage Christmas
eve. They do not have to go TO bed
early. No one comes and tells them 10
''go right To sleep with dire threats of
utter annihilation of Christmas il they
are bad. Parents are allowed to stay up
in those mysterious. adventurous and col
orful hours, when there is much doing
downstairs and which no one can learn
about until he reaches the age where the
secrets of the stocking are laid bare.
Folks can have just as fine Christmas
as they could a great many years ago.
before the Christmas packages began to
be delivered by automobile. In those
days it always showed Christmas, the
pond was always frozen over, the roads
creaked with cold, there We're jingling
sleigh bells instead of automobile horns.
and people played snap dragon as re-
ligiously as they say merry Christmas
now.
Recognize the Snap Dragonp
Snap dragon: Don't you know what
1t was? Well, if you We're an old chap
with a sporting print countenance and a
deep mellow laugh you would remember
an old-fashioned, mahogany furnished
dining room, where tall slender silver
things were set about in marvellous pro-
fusion. There would be also a walnut or
oak finished library somewhere. with "a
fireplace that was real one. None of
YOUR gas logs. but a fireplace into which
Won could put bed, If necessary. And
a bowl of brandy stood on one OF the
tables, into which some one put raisins
or nuts.
The fire was blazing Of course, In the
hig fireplace and some one reached
down. lighted a taper and held IT over
the surface OF the brandy until a dancing
blue flame burst forth. The nevery one
had to try to pick out a raisin or nut.
People went to see each other I'm great
big chaises, too, in those days. and all
hands drank toasts and indulged I'm old
ia shioned dances. In fact, those were
what are now called ''the good old days."
and it is the business Of everybody now
to keep up the goodness and have just as
much fun, and do even moro good on
Christmas.
Oh Of course, much Of the Christmas
spirit has descended fro mthese afiuent
and effete days. There is that mistle-
toe custom, for instance. They still hang
up the magic little berry. just ~ they
did thousand years ago In the great
halls of medieval England. They still !
have plum pudding. and instead OF tho
roast goose they have q much better biro