New-York tribune., 1919-12-25
John K. V00r/ais Recalls
Ne1O York Yuletide of 4Os
Election Board President Longs for Taste of the
o'd'tashioned Candies, Jingle of Sleigh Bells
and the Tang of the ChristmasTim Cider

plenty of sugar and spice; put it in a
applejack on top of it. Myl Ny!
That was a seductive lure. About
thlee was all body could stagger
under. But my mouth waters when |
think of them. Applejack, you know.
is distilled from cider.
Can't seem to get any real apple
jack any more. l take a little poison
once in while. Not much. Just to
XIII the germs. Our system is filled
with animalcule, battling with one
another for the privilege of killing us
irst think that Rockefeller Research
bureau is the greatest institution Of
our time. But to come back to Christ
THAT baked apple in the toddy must
be soft; don't forget that. Another
drink the Dutch used to have for
CHRISTMAS callers was hot rum punch,
with specs and butter floating on top
When He Scoffed Santa
- got taste of those things after
! stopped hanging up my stocking but
think the Christmas | remember most
wildly was the one when | was eight
years old: | had announced that |
didn't believe in Sanity Clause, but ]
hung up my stocking just the same.
christmas morning it hung there as
empty as when | hung it up. They
told me if I didn't believe in Sanity /
needn't expect to have my stocking
filled. ! guess had been little noisy
and expressed my disbelief in the hear
ing OF some of the younger children.
" hen New Years Eve came along l
hung up stocking again and thought
maybe Sanity would have change of
heart, but nothing happened, and I
never hung it up after that
II got presents, Of course. and gem
orally they were usef~l clothing
or something of the sort. Folks couldn't
afford to give the sort of presents that
are exchanged now. There we're no big
department. stores in which to shop.
either. | remember when R. H. Macy
started the first one. He had a little
store down in Sixth Avenue. Then he
got another in the side street and he
kept adding to it and adding until-well,
you know what it is like now He had
been sailor and the back of his hand
was tatooed. He was ashamed of those
india ink marks, and when he talked
to You he always held the palm of his
hand up so the tattoo marks couldn't
be seen. That was about '65, though
Old Village Customs
"ln the Village at Christmas time
boys, in groups of two and three and
sometimes half dozen, used to 90
from house to house ringing bells and
wishing the inmates Merry Christ
mas, and hoping for the sixpence or
sailing that was usually forthcoming.
Invariably there would be snow on the
ground at Christmas time then. Every
lAlx 4 -.
business and pleasure. Sometimes the
snow remained en- the ground from
thanksgiving to the middle of March.
Wheels we're taken off most all vehicles
and runners substituted. Sleigh bells
sounded almost constantly. Now dim
and faint, now loud, now growing
FAINTER, as the steaming horses ap-
preached and passed at a trot or a
gallop. The snow remained white, too,
for there wasn't so much factory smoke
to mess it up with SCOT.
"Ihe shifting of the Gulf Stream
they tell me, is responsible for winter
arriving month to six weeks later
these days. 1t certainly is true that it
comes later and stays longer than it
used to. We don't have nearly so much
snow, either, and the average tempera-
ture is higher
Nhi iiSLiildS Ody NNlneS
The chimes in the Episcopal church
used to ring at Christmas, remember
but in our church. the Dutch Reformed
there were services. but not a single
decoration. 1t would have been con
sidered sacrilegous. Why, it wasn',
so very long ago that it was decided
that pipe organ wasn't proclamation
OF the house of God,
ne Catholics used to go to church
Christmas Eve and then stay and pray
all night. Some of the Protestant de-
nominations did this also and others
mad services that lasted most all day
Christmas.
The children didn't get any electri-
caily propelled or operated toys The
boys were given sleds or skates and
the girls doll cradles and dolls. The
dolls were primitive looking affairs.
too: | remember wnen the first ones
were offered for sale as talking dolls
You pressed them on the stomach and
they went 'whee." and everybody
asked what wonder would come next.
Dutch Influenced Customs
Greenwich Village was highly re-
spectacle community and fashionable,
too. It's got name now that il
doesn't deserve. Much of this deviltry
IS blamed on Greenwich Village, when,
as matter of fact, it's Washington
Square foolishness. The true bound
aries of the village are Sixth Avenue
on the east, Carmine and Clarkson
streets on the south. Fourteenth Street
on the north and the Hudson River on
the west Don't blame the village for
anything that happens outside-and
Washington Square is outside.
Many Of the Christmas customs of
New York to-day are the result of
Dutch influence. My ancestors on both
sides, maternal and paternal, were
Dutch. No adulteration whatever NV
fathers name really was Van Voorhis.
Some way the Van was dropped. They
used to tell me that long before my
fathers ancestors came to America,
about 1920 or 1880, they lived at the
front of a ia rrn in tho Na$harlard do