SANTA'S PROBLEM PUP
; CHAPTER 3
By Bob Boyle
N , After lunch Juniperperper (
' and Jinkersnipes helped Mrs.
; Claus clear away the dishes.
Santa was at the huge table
; enjoy ins his after-dinner pipe
s' ful of tobacco.
"Hey. where is Peako?" Jun
. iperperpersaid.
"I don't know, where is he?
Jinkerenipes asked. J
Mrs. Claus looked in the
kitchen and couldn't find him.
; "Now I wonder where the
pup could be," she said.
The three went back into the
wood-paneled dining room.
' v "Hey. there he is." Jinkere
nipes said. "Look, he is
stretched out across Santa's
feet and isleeping."
"He really looks comfort
able," Juniperperper said.
"Well. I think that dog
should stay in the kitchen,"
- Mrs. Claus said, -
She gave a low whistle.
- Peako perked .up his ears.
She whistled again and Pea
ko lifted his head. 1
. , She whistled and whistled
, : again.
But Peako didn't move.
"He wants to stay with San
' ta," Juniperperper said.
v "I guess fie is tired after a
busy morning," , Jinkerenipes
said.
"Then we'll let the little dear
' sleep right there until Santa
i finishes his pipe," Mrs. Claus
. said. ,.; :,
"You know I think Santa is
Peako's favorite," Juniper
perper said.
"And it's no wonder," Jin
. kersnipet replied.
"Did Santa ever have a dog,
Mr,s. Claus?," Juniperperper
asked.
"Oh, I guess he has had
. thousands of dogs," she re
plied. "Of his very own?" Juniper
perper asked. .
"No, none that he ever
- kept," Mrs. Claus said.
"Why not?" Jinkersnipes
&skcd '
"Well Santa has the rule
that all puppies must be given
out on Christmas," she said.
"He loves dogs so much that if
he started to keep one for him
self, we probably would have a
hundred."
Just then Miss Kay Nihn.
' the kennel keeper, came burst
ing into the kitchen.
"What's going on here?
What's going on here?" she
said.
"Hello Kay." Mrs. Claus
said. "What do you mean?"
Merry
; hristmMs!
' ' . . pT 4 j , Santa himself, we've a pack j'i
, '- f -' ' of good wishes for a
.-tk V xJaZX Jr' 's holiday season that will long -ff
i " I t. Jv?yjp?r y '!:' be remembered for f
, ; I -r j its good cheer, ,
' ' V ' and its enduring
I iQrUorid. Harduare
P: Supply. Gompany:;;:
3 sT"-,
Miss Kay Nihn put a leash
J'Mrs. Claus, you know right
- well that I am the keeper of the
dogs here in the North Pole,"
she said.
VYes.I know that Kay."
Mrs. Claus said. "Why?"
"Well I understand that a
couple of the male elves have a
dog in this house," she said. "1
don't approve of that at all. I'm
in charge of the dogs."
"Oh, Kay, don't be such a
fuddyduddy," Juniperperper
said.
"Did you hear that, Mrs.
Claus," Miss Kay Nihn said.
"Juniperperper called me a
bad name. He should be pun
ished." "You are a fuddyduddy,"
Jinkersnipes said.
"Him too, Mrs. Claus," Miss
Kay Nihn said. "They both
called me a bad name and I
want them reported to Santa
Claus. He should punish
them."
Just then Santa came into
the room.
"What's going on here?" he
said. "What's all this noise?"
"Santa, I am glad you're
here," Miss Kay Nihn said.
"These two elves used bad
words and I want them pun
ished." "Tsh, tsh," Santa said.
"What do you have to say for
yourselves?"
"Santa, she is a fud
dyduddy," Jinkersnipes said.
"That isn't nice," Santa
said. "But what is the problem.
Miss Nihn?" Santa asked.
"I understand that there is a
it -ill
on Peako and led him away.
dog in this house,'" Miss Kay
Nihn said. "And I am in charge
of all North Pole dogs. I want to
know if it is true that there is a
dog here, who brought him
here, and why isn't he in my
kennel."
With that Peako came
bounding in.
"See, there is a dog here,"
Miss Kay Nihn said. "Where
did he come from and WHAT
is he doing here?"
The boys here found him be
hind a snowbank," Santa said.
"And they brought him here."
"A likely story," Miss Kay
Nihn said.
"It's true," Juniperperper
said,
8am- satisfaction that "on
"Well, Santa, give me the Christmas day everybody
1?u!&&; as
am ili nr- atiH nlonaoH unth Vior.
self. During the next two cen-
"To the kennels?" Juniper- turies, Boorstin continues,
PerlPfrsai1d- . . , ... Christmas remained a
Kay Sft'SkL "A.1 dogl folk holiday mark-
belong in the kenneU." ed by no grand religious
"Not Peako," Jinkersnipes observance with little com
said. mercial significance."
Miss Kay Nihn is right.
said Santa. He scratched Pea
ko behind the ear and said.
"Well, boy, you have to go to
the kennels. It is a rule."
"Oh shucks," said Juniper
perper. "Fuddyduddy," said Jin
kersnipes in a whisper so soft
that he wasn t heard,
Miss Kay Nihn put a leash
on Peako and led him away.
(Continued on Page 8)
.. - - j l VJ
Old-Fashioned
Christmas
. During " this Christmas
week after, the hustle and
bustle and crowds of shopp
ing, and as we enjoy the
decorations, gifts and fami
ly gatherings North
Carolinians may think that,
in a world of almost instant
upheaval, Christmas is the
one thing that changes little. ,
Not so. '
Christmas as we know it
the "commercialism" that
many deplore, and even the
lavishly decorated
Christmas trees in homes,
stores, and offices are all
primarily inventions of the
late 19th and 20th centuries.
As a matter of fact, early
New England Puritans even
viewed Christmas as
"Popish idolatry." In The
Americans-The Democratic
Experience, Daniel J.
Boorstin explains that in
1659, the General Court of
Massachusetts passed an
act punishing with a fine
"anybody who is found
observing, by abstinence
from labor, feasting, or any
other way, such days as
Christmas day."
The law was repealed by
1681, but even as late as
1685, the diary of Judge
Samuel Sewall noted with
satisfaction that
USUai.
Typesetting was laborious
and costly and the mainly
institutional-type ads in
newspapers remained the
same for months at a time.
Any mention of Christmas
at all was simply the word
'gifts" or "a good stock of
toys available."
But by the end of the Civil
War the fabled American
enterprise entered the pic
ture. On a cold December
day, Macy's store in New
York stayed open until mid
night, grossing its largest
day's sales ever. A few
years later, the same store
offered Christmas window
displays, which quickly
became an annual tradition.
Woolworth's is credited
with being among the first to
offer Christmas-tree or
naments, which, of course'
are . now a multi-million
dollar industry. Boorstin
notes that the inventor had
to persuade the reluctant
Woolworth to stock a few of
the ornaments only $25
worth as a trial.
1 Each enterprising mer
chant added something to
the festival. In 1899
Woolworth was the first to
offer a Christmas bonus to
employes as a hedge against
a strike during December,
which was fast becoming
the biggest sales month of
the year.
Mail order houses, also
becoming very big business,
began to issue special
Christmas catalogues;
newspaper advertising and
subsequent buying reached
a peak during December
and the annual "Christmas"
rush was on.
And the effect shows no
signs of slackening. Only the
fluctuations of the economy
seem to have any effect on
the recurrent mania,
despite perennial pleas for
"sensible observances" and
"less commercialism" and
repeated appeals by some to
"put Christ back in
Christmas."
Even Santa Claus, the jol
ly old elf who surprises good
children with toys and gifts '
children with to
0f all kinds, had
controvert
his share of
s y . l n e
Democratic Experience
traces the development of
the character from the real
St. Nicholas, a fourth cen
tury bishop in Asia Minor,
who became the patron
saint of Russia, and
mariners, thieves, virgins
and children.
But, as he crossed the
oceans to America, Santa
became transformed into
the hero today's children
recognize. "His earliest con
spicuous appearance in
American literature,"
Boorstin explains, "was in
Washington Irving's
Knickerbocker's History of
New York (1809), where St.
Nicholas traveled through
the skies in a wagon, and
began to acquire some of his
other features." Santa
Claus's "rotund figure, jolly
mien, and white beard were
conferred on him by
Thomas Nast,
IIS
1 (1
His
brlhcbv
The Perquimans Weekly, Hertford, N.C, Thursday, December 25, 197Mag 7
Holly 'Tis The Season
The Christmas holiday
just wouldn't be the same
without the favorite plant of
the season, holly.
This plant's association
with Christmas is so strong
that at one time it was the
only Christmas tree. That
was before the , growth in
popularity of pines, spruce,
cedar and similar
evergreens.
For those who are not
satisfied with the quality or
price of holly they can buy,
the plant can be grown at
home. Holly is found around
many Tar Heel homes, but
some people object to it as a
yard plant.
For transplanting, most
people prefer to buy nursery
grown hollies rather than
selecting a wild specimen.
Wild speefmen become too
big to move safely from the
woods without special equip
ment and very small hollies
have a large proportion of
unproductive (no berries)
trees among them.
There are special holly
varieties that bear even
more heavily than the wild
kinds. One of these Burford
holly has become very
popular because the foliage
CHRISTMAS
WE WISH YOU
THE MERRIEST
OF HOLIDAYS!
South-17
Drive-In
Elizabeth City
is glossy and thrifty, and the
berries are even more
numerous than those of the
wild holly. -
Also, every plant will pro
duce berries, there being no
"drones" in Burfords.
Hollies should be
transplanted in sheltered
AS JOYFUL CHURCH BELLS RING, WE WISH
YOU ALL THE HAPPINESS THAT CHRISTMAS
TIME CAN BRING.
FARMERS
FEED & SEED
206 W. GRUBB ST.
I
places for best results. They
need protection from the
wind. The most familiar
kinds, those with red ber
ries, are generally too large
for a base planting except at
large buildings.
A1
'
HERTFORD, N.C.