Milford chronicle., 1925-12-04

PereG tales of that strange night
traveller who drove re deers instead
OF oxen, and carried a pack from
which ne distributet enchanting
gifts to those boys an h girls whose
high standard of cOndN let made them
worthy objects of his benevolence.
Standards were high In those days
and it is recorded tlkt sometimes
there was little bes des a stout
switch to greet young lager eyes on
Christmas morning.
Thought flies away rom such
painful scene and pref IS to picture
a cabin, before Chris pas, dimly
lighted by the flames o the hearth,
children sound asleeI n trundle
beds and mother and ia er working
quickly and quietly at leir home
made toys and gifts. N V'ubtless in
most cases the picture would not
D.. ~or~ "lete without. the dislpDroV-
ing presence of grandfather, grand
mother, or maiden aunt, busy at
some pioneer handcraft, but not too
busy to reprove the evilneSs of such
ways with curiously applied texts
and the dimly remembered warn
ings if still earlier days.
Very little money was spent on
Christmas gifts. Careful calcula-
tion was required in order to Stretch
the family income so it would in
clude paying for few pieces of the
crude candy of the day and \ also
perhaps pay the nearest blacks mith
for shaping iron runners tOj fit
wooden sleds and skates made by
father at home. Mothers did not
require such aid. When the poke
berries and the walnuts and all the !
other forest materials for making !
dyes were ready, she had thought |
ahead to Christmas time and pre- |
pared the gay yarns which later she
knit into scarfs, wristlets and nit
tens. These same dyes put roses
into the cheeks of the rag dolls and
furnished gay coats and trousers for
the clumsy jumping jacks. The last 1
seemed to have been favOrite toys. Il
Besides these there were dolls tea
sets made of acorn cups, fearsome l
witches and fairies whose heads
were carved hickory nuts and whose
bodies were shapen of wood and
wire. Indian crafts were adapted to
meet the pioneers needs. Dyed
hedgehog quills made gay strings of
beads, wild turkey feathers formed
juvenile war bonnets, and the hands
that made clumsy Jumping jacks and
skates showed marvellous skill in
shaping small bows and arrows for
the use of, maybe, some future hun
ter of fame. Had the year been un-
usually prosperous, these before
Christmas preparations included the
purchase of crockery mugs out of
which the children drank on high
days and holidays, but which at
other times stood on shelves well
out of reach of youthful hands.
A few of these things have come
down to us out of tha thine. Here
and there is an old American home,
now and then behind the glass cases
of museums we can see them. Espe-
cially do we find specimens of the
cups. The pottery is coarse,
the shapes are not elegant, and the
cOlOring is crude indeed. For ex-
ample, one shows blue man driving
a blue yoke of oxen hitched to a
blue plOW, and the owner is ad-
mOnished by a blue motto from the
Book of Proverbs to GO to the
ant" etc. Another little cup has
woman, straight as a stick,
carrying a mulberry pail and walk
ng down a mulberry path, all to
ldorn a mulberry motto from Poor
Richard" having to do with the sad
ate of those who fail to take the
mt for their guide in industry. Per-
laps these piOus verses helped to
make possible some of the compro-
nises with conscience that those
men and women found necessary.
'uch gifts served the needs of those
hildren who would have fled in
Orror at even a dim vision of the
Oy automobiles and aiTplanes Of to-
ay. Such as these would have con-
rmed the worst that had been said
s to Christmas toys being the in
ention Of that evil one supposed to
ITk behind Santa Claus white
AS may be guessed, other compro-
Uses with conscience were also
ade. We are told that now and
len grandfather, who had quoted
KITS and scolded every step in the Y