Yule Tree Lights Traced To Luther Decorating the Christmas tree 'Wtth lights is a custom that some historians trace lack to Martin Luther, the Reformation leader, Encyclopedia Americana resear chers say. After a walk one Christmas Eve under a (brilliant starlight sky, Luther returned home and tried to reproduce the scene for his family by lighting candles on the Christmas tree. Wishing you all the joys or AH OLD FASHIONED The Arthur Hay Agency “All Kinds Of Insurance” Phone 739-3659 Hired Farm Labor To Feature Survey Special questions on 'hired farm labor will be asked in the Decem ber Current Population Survey, it was announced today toy the U. S. Census Bureau. The special farm labor ques tions will include inquiries on the number of days worked dur ing 1961, cash wages or salary re ceived during the year, and the ■type of work done such as with livestock, with machines, or hand labor. The farm labor informa tion is being collected for the U. S. Department of Agriculture and the U. S. Department of Labor. The questions on hired farm labor are in addition to the reg ular inquiries on employment and unemployment which are asked each month in the Current Popu tion Survey. The Current Population Survey will 'be conducted here and in 332 other sample areas of the country during tile week of December 18. Information will be collected lo cally by Mrs. Frances C. (Hedden, 508 Orescent Hill Road, Kings Mountain, N. C. Census 'Bureau activities in this area are supervised by Joseph R Norwood, Regional FieM Direc tor, 212 South Tryon Street, Charlotte 2, N. C. In Norway preparations for Christmas traditionally start six months before December 24. The Christmas celebration itself lasts three weeks. The period, accord ing to Book of Knowledge re searchers, is known as the Jula fred, or the Peace of Christmas. *WE -W^LISTT TO “IZSTISEC YOU ALL A MERRY CHRISTMAS V JBLNTD TO EXPRESS OTJR SINCERE GRATITUDE FOP?. GIYTHSTG XJS THE OPPORTUNITY TO SERVE YOU. . . CITY PAINT STORE GASTONIA AND KINGS MOUNTAIN 0 Come, All Ye Faithful o*°* gOtf HYHWTR.BY mOl«KK>AiaiEY»802 1880 J. t. wade-ith-vt** ^ J conve_ ye, u come ye to Beth . -J - I l J--4_ i le - Kem\ X ■ yj Come and be - hold Him, Born the —i of an - \ v come,let us a ■ dore Him, 0 come,let us . . jnK, =* come,let us a dore Him,, Ch^CL & * "ADESTE FIDELIS", O Come All Ye Faithful, one of the earliest Christmas hymns, is now one of the most popular — said to be sung, around the world, more often than any other. It is sung to the tune of "Cantus Diversi", published in 1751, and it probably existed much earlier. It has been translated into 120 languages, from the original Latin. One of the 40-some English versions, the best known is this ono by Frederick Oakley. There'sCaroling Everywhere. Bat Start Of Custom Obscure “Oh come, all ye faithful, joy ful and triumphant.” “Silent night, holy night..” “God rest you merry, gentle men.” “It came upon the midnight holly” “O little town of Bethlehem.” “Deck the halls with boughs of clear, that glorious song of old.” “On the first day of Christ mas.” Wherever people gather, the glad sounds of hymns and carols ring out at Christmas time, as they have for centuries. (Although the words and music of favorite carols are well known, the meaning of the word “carol” itself is obscure. One explanation holds that it comes from the old French word, “caroler,” mean ing “to dance”. The first carols were often sung by worshippers dancing in a circle. There is 'also the belief that “carol" comes from the Greek word for flue player, in compli ment to the musicians Who played for the Christmas ring-dances. Still another thought is that ca rols originated with the songs of the Roman Saturnalia. The name, “Father of the Chris tmas Carol,” is often given to Francis of Assissi. At Greceio in 1234, he arranged a Nativity scene and led the singing . of songs of praise to the Christ Child. Although carols had been sung earlier, this act by St. Fran cis gave impetus to the idea of happy singing at the Christmas season. Early carols in Latin. As car ols gained popularity during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuri es, many people preferred to sing in their own languages, and new carols were developed. The growth of carols was help ed along by "wassailing” or “goo-, ding” expeditions. Children went from house to house, singing songs and receiving treats. Wynkyn de Word, apprentice I to the famous English printer, Oaxton, issued the first printed book of carols in 1521. Later. English people learned carols from printed “broadsides which sold for a penny. When the Puritans abolished holiday obser vances in the seventeenth centu ry, the broadsides were still prin ted and “bootlegged” to the pub Ic. . . Students of Christmas stories^ , c. E. WARLICK INSURANCE AGENCY PHONE 739-3611 Sharing Ideas Was Seal Origin That familiar Christmas seal appearing on so miany packages and letters during the holiday season owes iits origin to an A merican Physician, a Danish pos tal worker and a kindJhearted la dy from Delaware. The doctor, Edward Livifigston Trudeau, was stricken with TB Shortly after graduation from medical school, says The Ency clopedia Americana. To help other people with the disease — bother his brother and his daughter had it — and to test his own ideas, Dr. Trudeau set up the first successful tuberculosis hospital in Saranac Lake, New York. When the National Tuberculo sis Association was founded in 1904, its first president was Dr. Trudeau. About the same time, far a cross the sea in Denmark, a Dan ish postal worker, Einar Holbo ell, had the idea of selling penny seals to put on packages at Christmas, to remind people to help sick and needy children suf fering from tuberculosis. The Ring of Denmark approved the idea and the world’s first Christmas seal sale took place in 1904. Meanwhile, on the banks of the Brandywine River in Delaware, a group of doctors had built a small hospital to be used for treating tuberculosis. When it became apparent that the project would die for lack of funds, a cousin of one of the doc tors came to the rescue. Miss Emily Bissell, a Red Cross work er, had read a magazine article about the successful Christmas seal idea in Denmark. Miss Bissell set to work and drew the design for the first A merican Christmas seal. Around Christmas time of 1907, the first stamps went on sale in the Wil mington, Del., post office. might be puzzled whether it was a case of carol singing or carol stinging in an English legend. According to the legend, bees us ed to gather on Christmas eve to hum carols. GURNZGOLD WAYS Pronounced GURN-ZEE-GOLD Now! Ice Increases Driving Hazards Five percent of fata] motor ve hicle accidents and 10.7 per cent of all motor vehicle accidents in 1960 occurred on snowy icy roads according to reports of 25 state traffic authorities. Reduce driving speed and in crease The distance between ve hicles when snow or ice are on roads and streets and be practic ularly careful on bridges, ad vices the Insurance Information Institute. It takes 3 to 12 times as far to stop on snow and ice as on dry pavement, according to the National Safety Council’s com mittee on Winter Driving Ha zards. At 20 m. p. h. (miles per hour,) stopping distance is 60 feet on loosely packed snow and 195 feet on ice. The recommended technique for stopping quickly and with full control of your car is a fast up-and-down pumping of vour brakes. Greeting Cards Express Sentiment Friendly, merry, reverent, grateful — Christmas sentiments find expression in greeting cards at the holiday season. Just when the sending of gree ting cards first began is a ques tion that may never be settled, especially since it is always pos sible that early examples of printed Christmas greetings are waiting to be found among pri vate books and papers. The Cole - Horsley card is con sidered by many to be the first published Christmas card. It was designed in Britain in 1843 by John Oaleott Horsley, a well known artist of the period, for Sir Henry Cole, director of the Victoria and Albert Museum. The card bears the now-univer sal greeting, “A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to You.” It shows a joyous family seated at Christmas dinner. A copy of the card, discovered in England in recent years by a representative of Hallmark, is now part of the Hallmark Histo ric Collection, housed at the gree ting card company's headquarters in Kansas City, Mo. (Louis Prang of Boston, an art loving lithographer, published the best known early Christmas greetings in the U. S. He conduc ted art and literary competitions for greeting card material, and published cards of outstanding high quality. Statistics and common sense tell us that driving at night is mare dangerous than during daylight hours. During these winter months, the nights are longer than (the days. The North Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles says an alert driver and a mechanically safe car are dou bly important during the winter. Mystery Of Magi Leads To Legend [Familiar to all is the visit of the Magi to Bethlehem — and yet little is known about it. In the 'books of the New Testament only St. Matthew reports the vi sit. St. Matthew called them “wise men from the East’’. In the leg ends that have developed, they are sometimes called “Magi”, be cause this word, meaning “aug ust”, was the name given the priests of the ancient Modes and Persians. Tradition says they had heard that a bright new star would an nounce the coming of a Saviour to the world. After years of wat ching, they saw the star and set out from Babylon to find Him. In Bethlehem, they gave the Christ Child gold in a shrine shaped casket, a sign that they accepted Him as their King; frankincense, a symbol of His deity; and myrrh in a golden horn, a prophecy of His death. Wright Aboard USS Kitty Hawk SAIN DIEGO, Calif., (FHTNC) Clayton L. Wright, seaman, j USN, son of Mr. an