Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1917-01-04
MICHIGAN |
ANTHONY !
A Christmas In Which In 4
dams Took Part
By F.. A.

ney to deliver his gifts? l have thought
about it q good deal. In these days
when chimneys are small and some
Of them are not opened up for fire
places it must be Very hard for Il man,
and a very fat man at that, such as
Kriss Kringle is pictured, to come down
at all, and when we consider that he
carries q 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
zones down the chimney with his
pack. lie began to bring little children
gifts many years ago. At that time
chimneyS were very different from
what they are now, and the tireplaces
were different too. The chimneyS were
so large that chimney sweeps would go
down into them and clean out the ac-
cumulated SCOT. The %tireplaces were
| days 10 cook stoves in which to pre-
pare meals. The cooking was done i'll
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 W. the fire. An
other implement was the spit, some
thing like Il 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.
1 can conceive of a snowdrift against
the side of a peasants cabin forming
Il perfect slope with the roof to til"
ground, and when packed hard or in
cruSted Santa Claus might drive his
reindeers 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.
l 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 I am going to tell you
a story about Il family who lived sew
cral hundred years ago in the Dutch
colony which is now the state of
| New York-in one of those low houses
with q big chimney. The people Of
the colony were mostly Dutch, and
they called Santa Claus st. Nicholas,
he being their patron saint.
Schenectady, now q 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 their
skins. Sometimes the Indians would
bring in the pelts. Is they called them,
and sell them to the whites, who
would sell them again. On the other
side of the Mohawk river from Science
tady is a place where the Indians used
to torture and burn the prisoners TAX
al in war.
In Schenectady lived a fur trader by
the name of Van Schoonhoven, will
his wife and several little children
the oldest of whom was a girl sever
years OF age named Katrina. One
day Van Schoonhoven was returning
from a trapping expedition With pelts
and coming to the river bank opposite
the settlement he found a number OF
Indians in the act Of executing some
captives. They had tortured and burn
ed all the prisoners except one person
a warrior whose wife and children
were bidding him goodby before he
went to the stake. Van Schoonhovcn
filled with pity for this family. Offered
the savages all his pelts for the cap
tive's 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 if they ha(
not preferred to remain in the open.
These Indians were Mohicans. an(
since the family name was unpro
nounceable they were called Mohical
Anthony, Mohican Mary, and SO on
each being given a name. They re
NAMED a long while in Schenectady
and learned much of the white mans
customs. OF course they were very
grateful to the man who had saveC
the fathers life by giving a whole sea
sons catch Of pelts, which he would
otherwise have sold for more thar
f10O. or $500. 1t was winter when the
family came to abide with the Var
Schoonhovens, and they spent a Christ
mas there. Katrina Van Schoonhovel
tried to explain to them how st. Nicho
las would come down the chimney or
Christmas morning, but they could no
see how he could drive his sleigh III
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 neX1
morning received them full Of toys
they believed what had been told them
The Van SchoonhOvens, father an(
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 Oh to the roof.
In the early spring Mohican An
thOny, his wife and his children. tht