The Cordova daily times., 1914-12-19
ST. NICHOLAS, THE yULET|DE SAINT
Generous Friend of Children Criticism Cannot Annihate Him Nor Shake the Faith of Children in
 Their Beloved Myth

| Nicholas, Kris Kringle. or whatever the name by which the benifcent saint of Yuletide may be called, is the one legend that cannot be swept from the faith of childhood. It is a myth that will not be explained away by prac tical historians or iconoclasts. He comes but once a year and he glad dens the little folks in nearly every land under the sun, and even those who scout the story of George Wash ington and his famous hatchet, or who even declare against the history of creation as told in the Bible. do not dare to try to destroy good old Kris Kringle. He Is in the hearts of the children to stay. There may be some doubt advanced as to whether the whale swallowed Jonah, but there is nothing strong enough to shake the childish faith in Santa Claus, and the person who tries to do away with that beloved saint only runs up against a wall of perfect faith.
 No Santa Claus" a million childish voices would echo. Why every Christmas brings the proof that there is one"
 And that certainly ends the argu- ment.
 Santa Claus, the real Santa Claus, is both young and old. His pictures show us a jolly fellow, with a beard suggesting the venerable, twinkling eyes, bespeaking bounding youth. And young in feeling and action, if not in years, he must be to get over all the world in one night, without missing one house in which lives a deserving child. He Is different in every coun- try, ranging in years from the beauti- full Christ child that the good children of France adore, to the jolly old fel- low to whom he American youngsters VOW allegiance.
 Santa Claus, as we know him in this country, is less than a century old, but the real Santa Claus, the original of them all, goes way back to the re mote third century. His present name-Santa Claus, or Kris Kringle- is derived from St. Nicholas, the very incarnation of all that was good and generous. St. Nicholas, destined to be worshipped in various forms by the children of scores of centuries. was born in Patara, a town of Lycia, in Asia Minor. From his earliest days he showed a religious inclination that destined him to take a high place in the church.
 As a young man he entered the mon astary of Sion, and in time he became abbot and later bishop of Myra. His great sanctity and fearing made him shine even in the most illustrious com pany and he was one of the most not able figures at that wonderful gather ing of SIS bishops who met at Nicea in SIS to condemn the heresy of Ar ius.
 While St. Nicholas became famous in the councils of the church, 1t was still more as special friend of the children that his fame spread One of his earliest miracles had to do with the restoring to life of two or three children.
 There are two accounts of the story One says that an Asian sent his two sons to Athens to study. Enroute they fell in with villainous innkeep CT. who, to get their valuables, slew them and cut up their bodies into bits which he put into his brine barrel tc sell for pork. Then St. Nicholas, hay ing seen the crime in a vision. came tc the spot and restored the children tC life. The other version says that there were three children. and that their would-be murderer was a butch CT. In either case St. Nicholas per formed the miracle of restoring then to life.
 This was the first act by which St Nicholas proved his love for children liThe second bore still more strongl, on the Santa Claus idea, for 1t was { favor which he did at Christmas time A certain nobleman of Patara was SC poor that he was unable to give a DOT ton for his three daughters, and il l seemed imDOgsih1a that aoy os ,h,