Newspapers / The Valdese News (Valdese, … / Dec. 21, 1949, edition 1 / Page 12
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LET’S STOP MONKEYING WITH SANTA By CYNTHIA LOWRY AP Newsfeatures Writer There are more people around today doing bad imitations of Santa Claus than there are peo ple doing bad imitations ofeHilde garde, A1 Jolson and Bette Davis. This is a very serious situation, as can easily be seen, which is making it difficult even for adults to believe in Santa Claus. Personally, through long prac tice, I am able to spot a phony Santa Claus from a distance of two blocks or the length of a de partment store. But even before I was an expert in the field, I was never taken in by skinny characters in dirty cotton beards and outside suits soliciting Christ mas alms on street corners. The tip-off, of course, is that they stand on pieces of board or wear regulation galoshes. Santa Claus wears boots and his feet never get cold. I have known people, how ever, who believed anyone in a red suit trimmed with fur was Santa, no matter what he was do ing. Of course, I have met the good Saint Nick in stores many times, but I have also encountered some bad actors pretending they were Santa. Imposters usually can be detected by a bored attitude and a certain lack of interest in the whole subject of toys. Some people are even making a profitable business out of imita ting Santa, which is pretty re prehensible when you realize that this is his busy season and he can’t take time out to protect him One man has opened a school to train people to become better imitation Santa Clauses. He has classes on how to paste a beard on properly, and how to stroke it thoroughly without its becoming loose. He warns them not to smoke anything but a hookah because ©f the fire hazard. He teaches them how to laugh so their abdo mens “shake like a bowl full of jelly”, but what’s more important he teaches them how to counter feit Santa’s laugh. The proper guffaw’, as I understand it, is “Ho ho-ho-ha-ha”. Seems untrained Santas are apt to go just “Ha-ha ha-ha.” I’m against this trend. But I’m more opposed to the way certain enterprises are implying that Santa Claus has changed his tra ditional methods of operation. Santa Claus has made no changes these many years except that in cities he will enter apartment dwellings without fireplaces by coming in a handy door or win dow. I also understand he had a bad time recently by landing in the middle of an oil burner, and is being a bit more careful about all types of chimneys these days. Any time you see a purported picture of Santa riding in an air .»■* "Yes. indeed! "Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been af fected by the skepticism of a skeptical age — they dp not believe' except what they see — .they think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. "All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. "In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge. "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. "He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion ex ist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no en joyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished. "Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! "You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chim neys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what’would that prove? No body sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus — the most real things in the world are those neither chil dren nor men can see. "Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there — nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders that are unseen and unseeable in the world. "You tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise Inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, or even the united strength of all the strongest men, that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside the curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. "Is it all real? — ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding. "No Santa Claus! Thank God! — he lives, and he lives forever — a thousand years from now. Virginia, nay, ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood," One December day in 1897, Virginia O'Hanlon wrote to the New York Sun: "/ am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says,'If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.' Please tell me the truth—is there a Santa Claus? The answer to Virginia O'Hanlcn's question, written in a moment of deep spiritual insight by Francis B. Church, stands even today as a testament reflecting two thousand years of faith. It has been reprinted here because it always will deserve to be read again. plane or automobile of any type, it is an unauthorized portrait and the central figure probably is one of the Santa imitators. Santa Claus is an ageless, good humored man who wears an un usual costume, lives at the North Pole, travels by sled and reindeer through the skies and brings toys on Christmas eve to good children. COSTUME TRICKS Have you ever Heard that you can narrow the appearance of wide hips by paying careful at tention to your gloves? It’s true, says Good Housekeeping magazine. Gloves that contrast too strongly with your costume — white with black or navy, black with very light colors—emphasize the distance be tween your hands. If you happen to be wearing gloves that contrast strongly, hold your purse under your arm so that one hand is up. I At this Holiday Season we desire to express cmr sincere appreciation for otar pleasant relationships and extend to yon and years best wishes for a c L C n r happy CHRISTMAS VALDESE FLOWER SHOP Johnsie Crowe - Phone 199 CjReeTiNGs® AND A SONG OF' V good cheer ( BECKER'S VARIETY STORE Star Of Bethlehem Continues To Puzzle Modern Scholars Once again Christendom sees the Star of Bethlehem and, like the Wise Men of old, rejoices with exceeding great joy. Astronomers have discounted possibilities that the star may have been a natural phenomenon since such phenomena occur too far from the earth to serve as any sort of local guide. Modern opin ion is, however, inclined to hold that there was a Star—although the story probably has been pouch ed by Oriental imagery. St. Matthew suggests that even the Wise Men may have lost sight of the star while they were in Je rusalem; hence they rejoiced when it reappeared to their vision as they approached the Manger of Bethlehem. Come to think of it, astronomers have sought an astronomically au thentic star — and found it not; historians have sought an historic ally human Jesus of Nazareth— and are still arguing whether or net they have found Him; even zealous theologians, striving to harmonize messianic and eschato logical theories with the illusive historical and human Jesus, have sometimes lost sight of the Ba’oe in the Manger Who from His lowly stable draws unto Himself all wlio are weary and heavy-laden. Pressing close to that sacred Manger, Christendom glimpses the Star of Bethlehem dhee more and rejoices in the light of (i'ighteous ness and1 peace which has con quered every tyranny that evil men could think of, the light that shineth in the darkness and shall not fail. YELLOW TOMATOES POPULAR Yellow tomatoes have had con siderable popularity in farm and town home gardens and in recent years have been growing com mercially to some extent as a sohree of juice for canning. Valdese Plumbing & Heating Furnaces Bring ■ at Lower Cost to Your l/chetk the Many Features ^PERFECT COMBUSTION ex tracts every ounce of heat from every drop of oil t££^?STAT,C con. TROLS bring you an effort i !ess s“PPly Of heat the year round. ^ KLEER-KLEEN tailored to fit your individual heating requirements — in capacity from 50M to 85M BTU output. . *M!;e\UG£' electric. WELDED Heating Element for a Long Life of Service. Only $169*50 up, plus installation On Convenient F. H. A. Terms VALDESE PLUMBING & KEATING GO. “When You Need Plumbing or Heating.You Need Us” , PHONE 255 Above The Hullabaloo By LYTLE HULL ONE MAN COULD STOP IT! The whole world is marching gaily backward through the pages of history; back to the days of ihe great feudal barons who ruled their subjects with a “hand of iron”; yes backward toward the dark ages which were ushered in with the fall of the Roman em pire in the fifth century. ‘ Russia got a head start in 1917 and is now an absolute despotism ruled by the prototypes of the ancient tryants. Every nation “be hind the iron curtain” is in the same sad state. China is fast fol lowing in the footsteps of these countries, and within a short time all southeast Asia and later Japan will do likewise. England has suc cumbed to the siren songs of in experienced theoreticians. Western Europe is teetering up on the brink of state socialism and wdthout moral and financial help, already vrould have succumbed to the dictatorships v:hich this con dition eventually entails. It is now merely waiting for us to hand the anti—Communist government in Spain over to the Reds and or for1 a dictatorship to take over in Eng land. When the New Deal first real ized that the American public was composed principally ol‘ people who voted “emotionally” and not “thoughtfully,” it became con vinced that a few in government were more capable of running a nation than the people themselves. So "with the help cf a docile con gress it usurped many cf the pow ers which belonged to the people. This progression has gone so far now that even congress is slighted by the New7 Dealers. Outright state socialism, under the pretty name of the “welfare state,” is now only a few steps away. The new dealers are fostering these steps toward the end of personal freedom. Many millions of gullible Americans want it; many millions don’t want it. The millions of dum-bells in between keep on voting away their own freedom. One man alone could stop the fearsome trend—the President of the United States. Is there any hope that the man wrho occupies that position today w7ill see the light in time? CHRISTMAS TREES Christmas trees are ready for market at eight to 15 years of age. depending on the species, soil conditions, and the size desired. BLACK TO B^ACK Blondy Black, starijlhalfback for Mississippi state’s 'T1941 team, caught his own pass fc'r an 18-yard loss against Alabama! that season. Holt Rast, Alabama ;end, tackled Black just as the bal( jvas thrown, the pigskin going almost straight up in the air. Blondty recovered in time to catch the bail but for a loss. Try A Want Ad For Results Present our best wishes once more 1 PHONE 284 INSPECTED MEAT Meat production under Federal inspection for the week ended De cember 3 totaled 332 million pounds. PLYWOOD I\ Plywood has been 'N manufacture since S was first used f™. a. 1830, was first used fortun!!30,' to prevent pin5 Here are our three Yuletide wishes.... may they all come true for you! GOOD HEALTH! GOOD CHEEfi! GOOD FORTUNE! RUTH'S BEAUTY SHOP WATKINS Auto rARE YOU CRACKED, LADY-THAT'Sl THE FIFTH CAR YOU'VE CLIPPED. ONLY FOUR, officer one OF THEM I HIT TWICE. DON'T BE , RIDICULOUS! WHO'D \S5UE ME A LICENSE? £<q 1 IT'5 UNFORTUNATE THAT « ARE SO MANY DilZY DPIV-S? but st is fortunate oup TOWN CAN BOASTCF WATKINS AND TKE1R COMPLETE REPAID AND SERVICE DEPARTMENT. THEiR WORK IS i THE BEST AND '.THEIR PRICES ARE ^RcASOKASlEj 7M Lffil lEtt'l' H AMERICAS FmE<T AUGWMtNT5ERVICE»BEt HHEl COMPUTE AUTOMOTIVE SERVICE * GET A FOR HUNDREDS -THAN ANY OTHER EIGHT CYLINDER CAR IN AMERICA Yes, the silent new 100 horsepower V-8 you get in the ’50 Ford is priced far below all other EIGHTS—eveia hundreds below most “sixes.” Fo^d alone in its field offers you 8-cylinder power—the V-8 power found in America's costliest cars. Or, if you prefer, an advanced 95 h.p. “Six” is available. ~ J LESS IT’S THE ONE FINE CAR IN THE LOW-PRICE FIELD It’s the “Fashion Car” . . . more beautiful than ever . . . more comfortable than ever with new non-sag front seat springs with foam rubber seat cushion . . more head room with new headlining bows . . . (more hip and shoulder room than any other low-priced car) . . . Ford’s famous “Mid Ship” Ride in a 13 way stronger “Lifeguard” Body . . . Heavier sealing in 41 areas for added quiet and protection ... 11 new colors . . . sparkling new fabrics . . . push-button handles for new silent-secure door locks. IN THE 50-WAY SEE... HEAR... AND FEEL THE DIFFERENCE.;; AT YOUR FORD DEALER’* WALKER MOTORS, Inc. VALDESE, N. C.
The Valdese News (Valdese, N.C.)
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Dec. 21, 1949, edition 1
12
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