The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1916-12-30
MICHIGAN
ANTHONY
A Christmas In Which In.
dams Took Part
By F. A. mitchell

DID you ever stop to think why 1t Is
that Santa Claus comes down the chin
ney to deliver his gifts? have thought ,
about 1t good deal. In these days |
when chimneys are small and some |
OF them are not opened up for fire.
places 1t must be very hard for man,
and q very fat man at that, such as
Kriss Kringle is pictured, to come down
at all, and when we consider that he
carries large pack Of toys with him
It would seem that it must be harder
still. 1t would be much easier for him
to leave the gifts on the porch or in
some other place easily reached.
I'll tell you why, think, Santa Claus
comes down the chimney with his
pack. He began to bring little children
gifts many years ago. At that time
chimneys were very different from
what they are now, and the freplaces
were different too. The chimneys were
SO large that chimney sweeps would go
down into them and clean out the &C
cumulated SCOT. The ireplaces were
deep and wide. There were in those
days no cook stoves in which to pre-
pare meals. The cooking was done in
the fireplace. There was an iron i'm
plement in every fireplace called a
crane, on which the kettle was hung
and could be swung over the fire. An
other implement was the spit, some
thing like big arrow, which was stuck
into the meat so that the cook might
hold it in position to be cooked.
In those days, too. the houses, es-
pecially Of the great mass Of poor peo-
| pie, were low, and the chimney top was
much more easily reached than now.
I can conceive of a snowdrift against
| the side of a PEASANTS cabin forming
| perfect slope with the roof to the
| ground, and when packed hard or in
| crusted Santa Claus might drive his
| RENDERS right up to the chimney top,
and nothing would be easier than for
him to let himself down into the great
fireplace and leave his gifts there.
I have told you these things about
how Santa Claus got into the habit of
descending the chimney with his gifts
"a habit that seems to have stuck to
him-because am going to tell you
a story about family who lived sew.
eral hundred years ago in the Dutch
colony which is now the state of
New York-in one Of those low houses
with big chimney. The people OF
the colony were mostly Dutch, and
they called Santa Claus st. Nicholas
he being their patron saint.
| Schenectady, now city, was one
Of the first settlements in the NORTH
and west part of the colony, and the
inhabitants made their living by trap
ping wild animals and selling theil
skins. Sometimes the Indians would
bring In the pelts, as they called them
and sell them to the whites, who
would sell them again. On the othel
side Of the Mohawk river from Science
tady is a place where the Indians used
to torture and burn the prisoners TAX
en- In war.
In Schenectady lived a fur trader by
the name of Van Schoonhoven, with
his wife and several little children
the Oldest Of whom was girl seven
years Of age, named Katrina. One
day Van Schoonhoven was returning
from q trapping expedition with pelts
and coming to the river bank opposite
the settlement he found q number Of
Indians in the act Of executing some
captives. They had tortured and burn.
ed all the prisoners except one person.
. warrior whose wife and children
were bidding him goodby before be
went to the stake. Van Schoonhoven,
filed with pity for this family, offered
the savages all his pelts for the cap
lives life. The offer was accepted.
and the released man and his family
went with the white man to Science
tady. They were taken to his cabin,
where they were given food and would
have been given shelter IL they had
not preferred to remain In the open.
These Indians were Mohicans, and
since the family name was unpro-
nounceable they were called Mohican
Anthony, Mohican Mary, and so on,
each being given a name. They re-
manned q long while in Schenectady
and learned much of the white mans
customs. OF course they were very
grateful to the man who had saved
the fathers life by giving a whole sea-
sons catch of pelts, which he would
| otherwise have sold for more than
f10O, or $500. 1t was winter when the
family came to abide with the Van
Schoonhovens, and they spent a Christ
mas there. Katrina Van Schoonhoven
tried to explain to them how st. Nicho-
! las would come down the chimney on
| Christmas morning, but they could not
! see how he could drive his sleigh up
/ on to the roof of the cabin.
But when on Christmas eve the chill
dren were told to hang their moccasins
to the chimney piece and the next
morning received them full of toys
they believed what had been told them.
The Van Schoonhovens, father and
mother, were much amused one Christ
mas morning to find that the Indians
had placed boards against the side of
the cabin so that st. Nicholas could
drive his RENDERS up on to the roof.
In the early spring Mohiean An
thony, his wife and his children, the