The News and Observer.
VOL. XLVII. NO. 89.
tan ill i oiii mmm haiues 11 tins mi ■ cm*! ion.
B" •- <• •• ifiLcWfi ’
The Christmas Tree.
It is said that Christmas trees were
used to place gifts upon as early as
1(532. France adopted the Christmas
tree about 1840 and Prince Albert in
troduced it into England the first
Christmas after his marriage. The
Queen still keeps up this custom, hav
ing a tree lor her own gifts, one for
her children and grandchildren, and
one for the household. Since then the
custom has become world-wide. The
“Tree of Candles,*’ i. of more ancient
date. There is an old French romance
of the thirteenth century iu which the
hero sees a tree whose branees from
top to bottom arc covered with burning
caudles, while on the top is a figure <>/
a child shining with n still greater ra
diance. ibis tree symbolized humanity
the upper lights being the souls of the
good, those below, of the wicked, while
the child represented Christ. Tim poetic
idea of the Christmas tree as a symbol
of the renewed life of nature which be-
gins with the lengthening of the days
comes from Germany. From the Norse
mythology comes the suggestion of the
Christmas tree as typical of the new
born sun in that it was bedecked with
lights, and was an emblem of spring
on account of its rich green. Probably
the Norse mythology was the origin of
the “tree of candles” more than of the
present. Christmas tree. On the intro
duction of Christianity the Christmas
tree, although not known then by that
name, became the type of Christ.
The following quotation from L. P.
Lewis gives these emblems of the
Christmas tree:
•'Tin* tree itself, stately and tall, was
symbolical of ilis majesty and gran
deur; the green, of His godliness and
immortality; the lights, of 11 is glory
and of the Star in tie East, and the
angel on top (which*was then never
omitted), of the angels who gave to the
shepherds the words still spoken each
Christmas Day, ‘Peace on earth, good
will to men.’ ”
Self Culture for December.
RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA, SUNDAY MORNING, DECEMBER '
The Pickaninny’s Soliloquy.
I s des a little pickaninny, black as any
j^tk,
An some folks keeps a-teasm me I* v
say in’ “Missin’ lank,"
An’ some ole pious folks dey say I
\ hain’t no ’mortal soul,
Par 1 needn't mine do troubles dat
•’round my head may r »'l;
But I thank de Eawd t >* one thing—l 11
It ell yon es you pans—
One thing Pse like de white folks :U--
I’se got a Shuty Clause.
I always ’gins to inis;So when de
Fitristunts days cones nigh,
’Cause 1 wants to make some pennies
to buy a ’possum pie;
I likes to have a nick or two to buy
dose poppjn’ tilings
An’ rockets dat gods *‘S-w-o o-s-Ii
an’ (lies —and den a top dat sings.
An’ Piins-mus Eve I takes a wa!>< nit
threw de sto’s 1 .strolls
An’ den 1 hangs my stockin’ up, al-
dong'll it’s full o’ holes.
Perhaps I’so des a tiny coon without a
sign o’ soul;
Perhaps I won’t git way up dare to
hear ’em call do roll:
Peril:iivs dero’s luiffiu’ l kin do ’cept
sing am’ dance an’ -a «v; ;
Perhaps d’ere’s muffin’ I km git ’cept
lickin’s es I shirk
An’ yit. dcre’s one conelu non dis picu
nninny draws:
l*s got a soul or snmp'u —’cause Pse
got a Sanity Claus*.
Brother Dickey's Philosophy.
Des erbout de Chris'nrus season is do
time ter give good gifts*. De only trouble
is, ums’ er us waits for de yuther folks
ter give ’uni.
l)ey do say dat troubles never comes
single. In In '. 1 alius did think dey wuz
'ii de married state.
He dat gives ter de po’ leu’s ter de
Lawd. But some folks thinks dat de
Lawd is too fur oil ter trust.
Old Fashion Christmas Dinner.
One ol’-fasliioned Chris’mas dinner’s
wuth a dozen now-a-days,
ThatV delivered by instalments, in the
sleek new-fangled ways.
Take me back, (> almanac! to the time
when sev’ral “courses”
Come together in a bunch, an' united all
their forces!
’Twas a time when, j’ined together, old
an’ young an’ saint an’ sinner
Could be found all liratlured round one
old-fashioned Chris’mas dinner!
1 Thus said Ahab Adams, merchant,
from a stress of thought to free
him,
To his brother Shubal Adams, who had
come from Maine to see him.]
Oft I Iliipk that dinner over-how once
nurre I'd like to try it!
But, yon see, it can’t be managed: all
my money wouldn’t buy it.
Can’t fetch back the old-time frame
work; can’t arrange the proper
meetin’;
SECTION ONE—Pages I to 8.
PRICE E'’ o v%
Most of all the folks I’d ask here, long
ago has quit their eatin’.
First I’d want a slice o’ winter that
would fetch out what was in you;
Air a slutlf o' glitterin’ blades sharp as
if they meant to skin you;
Froze-up cloud-boats near the hills,
trying’ hard to make a landin’,
frees with snow-white blankets on,
sleepin’, like the bosses, standin';
Fences peakin’ through the drifts, clear
plate-glass across the river—
All the chimneys breathin’ steam
crawlin’ upward with a shiver;
Sun a yellow chunk of ice: failed to fur
nish any heatin’,
An’ remains for nothin’, ’cept to be
present at the meetin’;
Critters in the barn sharp-set as they
was before you fed ’em;
Snow and frost unusual sassy—yell out
every time you tread ’em.
That would be a val’ble mornin’, wuth
the trouble of appr’isin’!
{lad that Christinas happened ’round,
on a day so appotizin’l
ilieii I’d want our Dad on deck—up an*
down as last year’s eider —
Made us too the mark, you know—but
a fust-class good provider.
Alien he slung his banner out—“ Come
an’ hev a Chris’mas dinner,”
ivery one that got the word knowed
his stomach was a winner.
How they hus’led through the snow!—
horses kep’ their bells a-ringin’,
{miners creakin’ like a sign—gals a
cacklin’ an’ a-singin,:
>l’ folks wrapped up double-bulk—
baby-bundles half a dozen —
Dogs that wouldn't have thanked the
dogs of the king to call ’em
cousin!
So I’d hev 'em come an' come, ere the
morning hour was through with:
ome in wagon-loads on runners —more
than we knowed what to do with!
Mother —wouldn’t I liev her there?—
would I! —well, somehow or other
l hain’t learned .so I kin speak stiddy
yet, concernin’ Mother.
1 see times that 1 wohid give half my
days of growin’ older,
’or half an hour of her, with her gray
head on my shoulder.
Thus said Ahab Adams, merchant,
proud of his success, with reason,
\ud bis good financial prospects grow
ing brighter every season.]
Vill Carleton in Frank Leslie's Popu
lar Monthly for December.
Vhen Boys go Home For Christmas.
A’hen the boys go home for Christmas
won't they have a jolly time!
Won't the cabin Hours be sandy, an’ the
fiddles sing in rhyme?
Yu’ from Billvilie up to Glory won't they
all be feelin” prime—
When the boys go home for Christmas
in the mornin'!
Vhen the boys go home for Christinas,
don’t you know that they will meet
Phe friends they' knew in youth-time,
when the world with flowers was
sweet?
They’ll know the hearts that loved ’em.
by the music of their beat
When the boys go home for Christmas
in the mornin’!
When the Isays go home for Christmas,
many hearts they loved they’ll
miss—
Songs that were ever sweeter than a
dreamer’s song, like this!
Sven hearts that heard their own hearts
—and lips they loved to kiss,
When the boys go home for Christmas
in the mornin’!
Vhen the boys go home for Christmas
from here and everywhere,
Let them leave behind life's lonesome
ness—forget the vacant cliiadr;
May they see the tranquil! spirit of the
Christ who made it there —
When the boys go home for Christmas
in the moruin’!
—F. L. Stanton.
A Christinas Greeting.
You think of tile dead on Christmas eve,
Wherever the dead are sleeping.
Ynd we from a land where wo may not
grieve.
Look tenderly down on your weeping.
You think of us far, we are very near.
From you and the earth though parted;
We sing tonight to console and cheer
The hearts of the broken-hearted.
Pile earth watches over the lifeless clay
Os each of its countless sleepers,
Yml the sleepless spirits that passed
away
Watch over all earth's weepers.
We shall meet again in a brighter land.
Where farewell is never spoken;
We shall clasp each other, hand in lmud
Ami the clasp shall not be broken.
We shall meet again in a bright, calm
clime,
Where we'll never know a sadness.
And our lives shall be tilled, like a Christ
mas chime,
With rapture and with gladness.
The snow shall pass from our graves
away,
And you from the earth, remember;
And the flowers of a bright, eternal May
Shall follow earth’s Decemlber.
When you think of us, think not of the
tomb
Where you laid us down in sorrow;
But look aloft, and beyond earth’s
gloom,
And wait for the great tomorrow.
—From Father Ryan’s Christmas Chant.
Willie’s Text.
.After tivc-ycar-old Willie had gone to
bed on Christmas eve, his mother went
into the room to set* if he had hung up
bis stocking properly for Santa Claus.
Much to her surprise she found that the
little fellow had appropriated one of
hers for the occasion and had attached
i slip of paper on which he had printed
hi a bold hand one of the Sunday
School texts: “ThE Loßd LOvvKtT
a CheaßfnLL GiVveß. "—Chicago
Daily News,