WISHING ALL A MERRY CHRISTMAS
THE WAYNESVILLE MOUNTAINEER
The Mountaineer
Published By 1
THE WAYNESVILLE PRINTING CO.
Main Street Phone 197
Waynesville, North Carolina
The County Seat of Haywood County
W. CURTIS RUSS Editor
MRS. HILDA WAY GWYN .... Associate Editor
W. Curtis Kuss and Marion T. Bridges, Publisher
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FRIDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1939
THE CHRISTMAS STORY
Luke 2:8-16
And there were in the same country shep
herds abiding in the field, keeping watch
over their flock by night.
And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon
them, and the glory of the Lord shone round
about them, and they were sore afraid.
And the angel said unto them, Fear not:
for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great
joy, which shall be to all people.
For unto you is born this day, in the city
of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
And this shall be a sign unto you : Ye shall
find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes,
lying in a manger.
And suddenly there was with the angel a
multitude of the heavenly host, praising God,
and saying.
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth
peace, good will toward men.
And it came to pass, as the angels were
gone away from them into heaven, the shep
herds said one to another, Let us now go
even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing
which is come to pass which the Lord hath
made known unto us.
And they came with haste, and found
Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in a
manger.
CHRISTMAS NIGHT
It is not merely because men forget the
meaning of Christmas night that they ob
scure it and overlay it with pomps and cere
monies. It is because human hearts have
not opened to take in the greatness of it.
Of Mary, the mother of Jesus, we know
little. We know that she must have had a
concept of God which transcended that of her
contemporaries; and we know that she was
akin to her cousin Elisabeth, could confide
in her, and tell her something of her great
vision of the fatherhood of God, tell her of
the Saviour that was coming to bless and save
the world.
But of nearly all else in regard to Mary
we are ignorant. We see, for a moment,
flashed across the page of history, the gem
like story; we see the mother raising the
babe in her arms to show the wondering
shepherds ; and then we see her fade into
silence and into obscurity, emerging only a
few times into the blazing radiance surround
ing her sen.
Yet it is thi3 trembling picture that holds
our imaginations at Christmas-time. How
ever little men may understand of the hap
penings on that Christmas night, they feel
that here is something greater than them
selves. Their hearts, begin to melt a little
in compassion for suffering ; they forgot,
even if only for a moment, their selfishness,
their persecution of others, their hardness ;
they get a glimpse of some holy world into
which they have stumblingly strayed.
There in that dark stable, with the gentle
animals shifting quietly in their rude stalls
amongst the straw, the mother's vision of
God as the Father of man wa3 translated
into terms computable by mankind.
What is our lesson today? Is it that only
in gentleness and affection can we reach the
peace of that night? "On earth peace," sang
the angels; and on earth peace came, as it
comes today, to any who will receive it The
road to peace is not easy. Even Mary, travel
ing the long rough road from Nazareth to
Bethlehem, could not have found it easy;
but her vision sustained her. We can see
the light of that journey and follow it.
CHRISTMAS MUSIC
The first Christmas was heralded "with
songs from the lips of angels. Since that
time, music has played an important part in
the observance of the occasion, and the an
nual community sing here Sunday is in keep
ing with that blessed event of 1940 years
LETTERS TO SANTA CLAUS
The hardest task of the year for the staff
of The Mountaineer i3 handling and publish
inrr lmnHrpds and hundreds of letters to
Santa Claus.
Although a difficult undertaking, the en
tire force gets a thrill out of the work, and
would not miss it for anything.
Many of the letters have to be pored over.
Keen and understanding eyes have to decode
many of them, and often, several people pass
on one word before it goes into cold type.
Nothing instills in an adult the true spirit
of Cnristmas- quicker than a child, and the
thoughts of a child in a letter to Santa Claus
are so real, so genuine, that it rekindles the
spark of childhood enthusiasm in any of us.
The entire force of this newspaper enjoys
handling the hundreds of letters, and if you
are one who finds it difficult to get the spirit
of Cnristmas, we will gladly call you in about
the first of next December, and share with
you the joys we get in acting as Santa's
secretary.
THE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS
There was a trumpet in the heavens and
the star burned red upon the road to Da
mascus. But in the stable the child lay like
another, small and red, without the golden
halo or glory or any other mark of his royalty
upon him, and whimpering a little as the cock
hailed in the lonely dawn. The animals in the
adjoining stalls stamped and sighed, quite
undmindfu! of their nearness to the babe.
The mother slept, with no other beatitude
upon her face but the tired peace and glad
ness of those who have given birth. Watch
ing beside them, the father nodded. And
the shepherds who trudged in from the fields
were very urea men, haggard ana unkept.
Weary, too, and travel-stained were the three
old men who came riding in from the east,
for the road from Medea is a very long road,
and travel by camel is slow and dusty travel.
In some such fashion, at least, we like to
think of the scene. Men have delighted for
two thousand years to exalt the kingly state
of the Child and the Man, to set Him about
with pageantry and purple and fine linen.
And with that we have no quarrel, for this
story is a story of a thousand facets a sort
of figuration of all the yearning and striving
for beauty in the spirit of man. But before
jplll Christmas to .
Wj. .Vv.tV .-M. -a, TI 1 V-'. :: W-"VlCaW I 1
T'V-rt If ?$m. 1 vT" Mrs
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 22,
7Z 01.
OP THE
(Continual
state of evr.;i. ... .
VVUll-,,, tha. ...
can
uiaus lfp-o iti,.,. 1
. " V"t 1 saw an ,
nn l:.. ' ne C.
."luiurv. ,,,, ,
w "t-WUCU 10
a peep, but she
Who slenf
..... . , tne room
I liiTI ri . I
..v. UUL QI h ,
aim i,.
get ud ...
waked ths
me
out of hm)
ZJXr UWn for the rMt
W. L. M,rv...i.
member getting Up in
after Santa C:aus h,i . Z.
"-" vwe, where th
"U"S- i knew th ....
siuujl 01 mv il,,..l-:
1.1. . -ai ai
,.u lve, .
r-v..6ta , tne 8t0fkin.
1
me a
bed satisfied that Santa
really come."
W. Curtis Russ, Editor "To the readers
and advertisers of The Waynesville Moun
taineer I send my heartiest wishes, along
with my appreciation for your cooperation
during the past year. May the true spirit of
Christmas touch you and yours, and bring to
you that deep satisfaction that comes at this
season from the joy of making others happy.
J. T. Bridges, linotype operator "For 48
Thnsi whn edit, write nrint. and mail Th M nunfaineer for th nftv-three issues a ' 'heson "Mv .
year, send individual greetings to our growing list of readers; and running true to form 1 wa .hni. . tl3tm m
iiic luitc uses omujj iau w vajh voo iutiuici t G3 wuv ptn t j a SunHjiv
I Chrutmas program and on
tara Jt nave uccii setttiiK i-yyc xui auc iu.tu-
taineer. For 48 Holiday Seasons I have set
type Wishing You A Merry Christmas, and
while thoughts and the words are old, the
feeling is heartfelt when I say I hope this
Yuletide Season will be your very happiest."
Hilda Way Gwyn, Associate Editor "May
this Christmas be a 'special edition' of hap
piness for you and may the good things that
come your way in the year ahead 'make head
line news' in your life."
Roy Blackwell, compositor "I trust that
when everything is 'assembled' that you will
find joy and merriment in every 'column' of
the year."
wmi. 1 iorgot the piece I
say."
Corinne Wagenf eld, Bookkeeper and proof
reader "May this Christmas bring untold
everything else it is the story of the beauty j happiness, with nothing but the decorations
of the simple and the humble the essential in 'the red' and may the 'copy' of your Yule-
Winston Davis, pressman "May your
'impression' of the Holiday Season be neither
too 'dark' nor too 'light' but will come through
with a 'gloss' and the 'right side up'."
marvel and glory of the common life of our
humanity. And the day we celebrate as His
birthday is before everything else the day
upon which we fall back most fully into the
tide need no 'corrections',
M. T. Bridges, foreman of mechanical de
partment "I trust that everything is "all
simple and humble spirit and give ourselves set" for a joyous Christmas Season, and that
up to the homely, gentle sentiments which' good luck, good fortune and good health will
Ralph Price, sterotyper "As I 'cast' about
for an expression for this season, I would have
the joys 'high' enough and throughout the
year the surface would be 'smooth'."
bind us together.
Many streams of tradition come together
in this day, indeed. Men of the western world
celebrate it or some day approximate to it
for long centuries before the Child was born
in gladness of the fact that the sun was
returning again from the south and that our
common motner, the earth, was about to en
ter once more upon the cycle of Spring and
Summer and Autumn, cf flowering and ripen
ing and harvest. And though we have f or-
run as smooth as our new big press, and that
you'll never have a 'deadline' for much happiness."
Adge Smyre, janitor "I am making a
'clean-sweep' in wishing for you lots of good
luck and the best kind of Christmas."
The Christmas Days Of A Haywood Boy
By TOM P. JIM1SON
The Charlotte New
Santa Claus is powerful real to me. I first
knew him back in the Haywood hills, up where
gotten much of that, particularly we who the heavenly planets get so friendly with
dwell in cities, yet something of the old
aboriginal gladness for the returning mira
cle perhaps still rises up from the secret
depths of our minds to make a part of our
sentiment on the day. '
But the day is most of all the day of child
hood of the breathless, believing wonder of
the small ones for whom all things are pos
sible, And our pleasure in their pleasure
and our remembering of our own childhood
all the Christmases we have known. The
smiling pleasure of our mothers and fathers
before us, and the smiling pleasure of all the
fathers and mothers everywhere.
And all the gentle, kindly, everday ser
vices all the tired hands of the world contin
ually render to those who come after them.
The things that 1 make us one with another
and with the holy family in the stable that
long ago morning.
SOME "DONTS" FOR A SAFE CHRISTMAS
Here are a few "don'ts" for a safe and
Merry Christmas recommended by safety
authorities:
Don't give small children toys involving
alcohol, kerosene or gasoline engines. They
may tip over and set the house on fire.
Don't permit small children to run electri
cal toys without the supervision of an adult,
earth that the stars seem to get tangled in the
branches of the trees on the summits of Big
Balsam, Crabtree Bald, Rock Face and Cove
Creek Mountains. But I have also found
Saint Nick far up in the great Rockies of
the Northwest, on the plains of Texas, in
the swamps of the deep South, and down by
the surging sea. He is swift as light, as
benign as the sun, as universal as love. He
is found wherever goodwill is found.
From away back yander, in fact, ever since
I quit wearn' hippin's, I have hung my sock
in the chimney jamb on the night before
Christmas to receive the bounty of good St.
Nick. And nary a time has he failed me. I
mind that there was one Christmas back
yander in the happy hitherto when my wool
en socka were so perforated with holes that
they wouldn't have held an orange. In fact
I was forced to wear toe-rags (a device un
known and unsung by this pert generation)
to keep my pedal extremities from getting
trostbitten. Well, I jes dnv a nail in the edge
ing in Haywood, and still is. We exchanged
simple gifts, but neither for show nor for
hope of reward did we do this. It was for
the sheer joy of the thing. Santa Claus, by
his benevolence in fetching us a few simple
presents from his store in the frozen North,
made us all feel kindly toward the whole
world. Any unfortunate family in the com
munity was deluged with backbones and
spareribs, fruit and candy, middlin' meat
for seasoning garden sass, and the head of
the family was given a few swigs of good
mountain rattlesnake milk to make him feel
rich and important. Them was great times,
brethren, V
Yes, 'tis Christmas up in the Great Smokies,
and the youngsters are a-havin' a heap of fun.
Some of the oldsters will have headaches and
some of the young 'uns will have the belly- lookin uo at the surs u
ache from too much imbihino' and ton much from my bedroom !
Bin. E. J. RobeH(mi"ii.:
. u(fr
Rfivprnl thin. . .
" fta aoouuHtPn Wit
nrsr raitn tn ......
... . . tOns
i mm 01 the happmes, ,
mannas stocking which
filled with small inexpensive
cwau mat oia Unce
- ii ie, came to the
as be did tn c,m. .it...
-"v uiiirii 1
a unnstmas eun. H
" - -'""JJ
a toast, Happy may you live,
ma V Vnn nrntna, -J i
" . 1 oiju wnp
die.' Havn ho J...11-.
, . jvui uwejiiiig
1 recall nmto , in, u.i u.
Christmas I can rfmemW
Uiaus brought me a chi
- - wmjJ iiflii r
A hammAr I frtL. w. l
oroke the doll's hud ud
rreved'to tears over it."
Dr. R. P. Walkcr-"The
recollection I have of Chru
my father
ihe hrst thing at'.ur we got
bed, before breakfast."
Fred Yearoul The iirsi
I can remembt'r about Chr:
is going to town. to '.see
Claus. He was much larger
he is today. 1 remember'
picked me up ami gave me
of horhound stick candy,
ular brand of the day."
Hester Anne Withers
recollection is that everythitJ
frosty and peeping throng;
banister I remember seeing
ed candles, and .everything si
glowing and exciting."
Alvin Ward "1 remember
a knife absolutely the finest
in the word two ...bour
Santa Claus had brought it toj
Elizabeth Henry "My in
collection of Christmas wai
worry over the fact that I
not write. I was afraid to
did hot write my letter 4
that Santa Claus would ml
to our house."
Mrs. J. C. Kwe-"I res
rhrictmnii mgnt wonaenng
if Sant
. m CUU1U SCC tilt same
And regardless .01 ... hin. Anl that sanu
how
my
me.
comes but once a year.
toddies and egznogs. made of peartenin brought me, and
which was manufactured from sunkist apples she gave me after christo
. I M, r;toi. tressed
and 'homegrown corn, and b lied in a copper
still away back in the lonesome coves where
the whing-whangs flap their phosphorescent
win era while whanirdoodles mourn for their
- w, j. v.. . u iiau m LilC CUgC " " t t nllimS 8-'-
of the fireboard and tied up one of my bro- firstborn, when the shadows of eventide have . fuI' of auef p , w;, the
grown into black night, paterfamilias wiui . ki r had
can the members of the household about the
Mr, Harrv Roth-"I
first recollection is of W.stl
grans. Next morning it had in it the custo
mary orange, apple and four sticks of striped
candy. And hard by was a nickle package of
firecrackers with which to make merry.
Of course that all seems pitiful small to
the youngsters of today, to the urchins who
Don'twear inflamable costumes, especially ,3, Tffl
Santa Claus beards, without fireproof ine
them.
Don't use inflamable ornaments and ever
green decorations together.
Don't use candles or light extra fires, with
out being extremely careful, especially with
candles.
Don't permit small children to use toy
movie projectors without using safety film
which burns slowly.
no need of sich largesse. Ma made plenty
of sweet cakes and pies, cooked up some
domineckers, and had yittles which Would
tempt the palate of a king. Then I harl
hearth where roars a great log fire, will read
again the story of the Babe in the manger,
and will reverently and sincerely ask that the
God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob guard
the home and guide their own stumbling feet.
For up there in the big hills they have seen
His star in the East.
Yea, brethren, I believe in Santa Claus,
and the pair of socks that I borrowed from a
calves to break, colts to ride, a gun to shoot, fr5end hang in the chimney corner as I pen
and game roosters to fight. The elders had these lines. Santa will fill 'em, and I shall
a few swig3 of peartenin', and Christmas keep the faith which I learned as early as I
really meant sump n. learned, "Now I lay me down to sleep." Both
"Christinas gift" was the customary greet-
were learned at my mother's knee, and she
was always right. Christmas gift I
ever ee11
had any presents fdon1
. - u :,.. fM "
Der inem, n i
tnai iinpi t-cu
W. C. AIlpn-'My
t. t r:,n'.tma 'M '
dreary one if I remember f
I was four yea
Christmas morning
.I.L- Vlort anil &
failing, Btt0ri
if I couia see --. .),
ting up inhis, c a jr.
for W J.:
old.
away,
tin
inere w .
the back door.
I forfrj
water and PXfiV
wet all over.
SOCk Wltn
handed me."