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T H T? DAVIS NEWS
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Best Christmas
for a' Boy
’
By DOUGLAS MALLOCH
Q 1120 WMtro Nwpapr Union)
S ONE boy to another—
for I have never gotten
over being one although
I am getting aa gray
aa a billy-goat around
the ears— I want to give
It aa my opinion that a
Christmas anywhere but
In the country la no
Christmas at all I
A city Christmas Is a
make-believe a hollow
motnciy a talse alarm an Imitation
I have tried both kinds and so 1 know
A city Christmas has all the tin and
tinsel and that Is all By the time
you get as old and feel as young as
I am you find most of the plate worn
off
Honestly boys (and girls) I don’t
think Santa Claus himself ever feels
very much at home except on a rural
youte I He has a mighty poor Job In a
big town with flues Instead of chlm-
' neys and everything And It Is bard
to see where be gets room to turn a
elelgh and eight reindeer around tiny
reindeer though they may be He'll be
pretty certain to bump Into a hydrant
or tip over on a curb
And with twenty families all using
one flue (and what Is worse a soft
coal flue at that) bow In the world
Is the most experienced Santa going
t to And which Is Brown’s and which Is
' Smith's and where the Greens live?
Even If be dared rap and ask (which
no Santa Claus Is ever supposed to
do) nobody could tell him For per-
haps the Browns and the Smiths have
never “met" and the Greens might!
live across the hall for a month be-
fore anybody thought to Inquire their
name
For that ls'one thing you don't get
much of In the city — neighbors Some-
times when the woman across the
read keeps running In Just when your
mother Is canning or baking or treat-
ing a shirt-bosom kindly but firmly
with a flat-iron your mother may al-
most wish that they weren’t quite so
plentiful In the country — but she
wouldn’t She would miss them Just
the same as you would miss having
the same boys to play with year after
year -For
In the city you are always get-
ting a fresh lot of playmates — and
sometimes they are a mighty fresh
lot- too Of course there are some
good kids also but It always seems
that Just when you get to liking some
fellow up the street or across the alley
the landlord boosts the rent and his
folks have to move and you never see
him again He may move only from
one side of the city to the other hut
It might as well be to another state
It Is five or ten or twenty miles-
tones of houses no miles of flats and
streetcar tracks and railroads and
factories — and you never see him again
or any of his folks
The boys you know this Christmas
prqbably won’t be around at all next
Christmas If you live In the city That
Is a funny thing about city' folks:
- they are always going somewhere and
never getting anywhere Why even
if the landlord didn’t raise the rent
October 1 or May 1 or whenever the
tense expires they might move any-
way) People who live in flats Instead
of homes are alwayl looking for some-
thing better and getting something
worse They have1 the most wonderful
collection of rent receipts but not a
foot of ground not a roof or rafter
they can call their own
Now I don’t know what you think
but I think that every family ought to
have a bouse of Its owu a house It
lives In year after year That Is of
course unless the father has some
sort of Job that makes It necessary for
him to move to some other town every
other year or so But It Is a great
thing to live In a home not just a
house and that Is about the best place
and the only place to have a Christ-
mas a real sure-enough honest-to-goodness
Christmas
Most of you boys who live on the
farm and In the small town have that
kind of home and I wonder If you
know how lucky you are? Wouldn't
you hate to wake up Christmas morn-
ing and look at the celling and realize
that someone else owned It and then
get up and go but In the front yard
and realize that someone else owned
that too— why you’d get so after
awhile that everything you saw you
would wonder who owned It I '
I tell you boys It's a great satisfac-
tion to have a back yard and to know
It’s yours and that you can Invite
people Into It or Invite people to stay
out of It Just as you please Why that
Is what brought the Pilgrim Fathers
to America— they wanted a spot they
could call thflr own I don't say that
It was exactly a back yard they want-
ed but what they wanted was some
place they could play ball and no
landlord of a king could come along
and tell them to atop because they
might break some of the royal win-
dows You know old Ring George did
come along and try to make them stop
—and you know what happened to the
royal windows Ram I '
And then there Is this matter of
snow You know some people don’t
think It Is much of a Christmas with-
out snow Now I know quite a lot
about snow because I’ve been ac-
quainted with a lot of It 1 have
tramped through It up In the Hudson
' Bay country and I’ve wallowed around
In It lu the summertime on top of the
Cocky mountains And I want to tell
you that there Is a great difference
In snow— that Is there Is a great dif-
ference between country snow and
city snow
We may not bave snow this Christ-
mas but we’ll just suppose we do
Isn’t a good old lively snowstorm
great? Perhaps It Is one of these lazy
snowstorms with the big white flakes
just floating down like feathers and
slowly turning the roads and roofs to
white like a coat of good white paint
Maybe there will be enough of It to
make good coasting on the bills and
good sleighing on the roads
And by the way do you know
'there are boys In the big cities who
have never seen a sleigh? Because a
sleigh Is getting to be a scarce article
In the cities You see as soon as a
little snow qomes the Btreet-cleanlng
department gets busy and 'sweeps It
up before It gets a chance to melt
Into slush
In the country the winter wheat
needs It and the ground takes care of
It But In the city It Just means slop
and slusb So they sweep It up and
carry It away and uncover the ugly
pavement aa soon as they can
But they let you keep your snow In
the country When a warm wind
comes along It will pack fine and you
can have your snow-men and your
snow forts and your snowball battles
(Only please don’t use your artillery
on older folks or girls or me)
Or perhaps this snowstorm Is one
of the bllzzardy kind with the -wind
zipping around the bouse and piling
Snowballs Through Royal Windows
the snow up In the corners — why that
kind of snow doesn't seem to come
down at all but just goes slanting by
until It runs up against something It
can’t pass
I remember being on a night train
one time and when we woke up In
the morning and the train was run-
ning over the smooth prairies a little
girl from a big city In western Penn-
sylvania (I won’t tell you what city
it was but maybe you can guess) ex-
claimed as she looked out of the
window: '
“Look Mammal The snow out here
Is whltel"
I don’t need to say much about the
Christmas dinner But If you bave
your Christmas dinner In the country
the turkey perhaps Is one your folks
raised or that was raised In the
neighborhood— anyhow' It Is pretty
likely to be a native and not a resi-
dent of a cold storage plant some-
wherA Or maybe you’ll have a goose
or a brace of chickens Anyway you’ll
know their pedigree and' that they’re
fresh and good
And it will be the same way all
down the line — vegetables and pies
and everything And cooked I— cooked
to a turn — Just long enough — Just
short enough — Just right
And you will more than likely have
one thing that they won't have at the
Christmas dinner In the' city because
you know the cost of living just now
s mighty high In town especially for
both rich nnd poor So you will have
one thing that the city boy probably
will not have—
Enough I
So I could go on and show you a
dozen other ways In which a Christ-
mas In the country puts It all over a
Christmas in the city but I am going
to mention Just one thing more: the
Christmas tree
Of course they have Christmas trees
In the city In New York trainloads
of them come down every season from
the Adlrondacks and In Chicago boat-
loads come from Michigan's upper
peninsula You can buy them for fifty
cents or a dollar and they make very
good Christmas trees Indeed '
I don’t know what you think about
this either — but 1 have always thought
that thldgs I did myself and for my-
self were Just twice the fun of things
I bought myself or hired myself And
I think that especially about a Christ-
mas tree If you are lucky enough
to be able to go out and pick your
own tree and chop It down and bring
It In— well that’s what I call a real
Christmas tree I i
Because that Is really and truly
your Christmas tree You selected It
with your' own eye and chopped It
down with your own axe and brought
It borne with your own muscle The
Christmas tree— that Is your Job:
Bringing In thfe Tree
Father set the turkey
Mother makes the pie—
Each one has a Christmas Job
To do and so have 1
Bister strings the popcorn
To decorate— hut geel
I have got the biggest Job—
Bringing In the tree I
’ Turkey Is Important
Pie and such are great
Popcorn strings you have to havo
When you decorate
But I guess a Christmas
Christmas wouldn't Im
If you didn't hava a boy
Bringing In the tree I
v
Please Please Dear Santa Claus
YULETIDE FESTIVITIES
IN OTHER LANDS
N ENGLAND Christmas
celebrations of three or four
hundred years ago charm us
with their quaint and simple
jollity The English always
remembered everyone from
their neighbors down to
their servants “In the
country an English gentle-
man always Invited his neighbors and
tenants to' his great hall at daybreak
on Christmas morning There they
were regaled npon toast sugar nut-
meg and good old Cheshire cheese”
The house was decked with Ivy and
other greens
Under the title of a “Christmas
box" the general English custom
which still prevails to some extent a
small gift of money was given to post-
men and other delivery men the day
after Christmas which was called
“Boxing Day”
In 1100 Henry I granted a charter
to London making It a city and the
Christmas celebration It la recorded
consisted of a feast for rich and
poor The people gathered In the
streets around blazing bonfires sing-
ing and dancing after feasting upon
oxen deer ale and mead The wassail
bowl spoken of so often In many
books describing Ehgland at the time
of the crusades was another evidence
of the ever-ready hospitality that the
English offered to all comers
Id Russia on Christmas Eve every-
one dresses — or at least they used to It
Is hard to say anything definite about
bolshevlst Russia — for a gay mas-
querade Each ooe was supposed to
represent some animal the Idea be-
ing to commemorate the fact that
Christ was born In a stable among
the humblest of the animals
Peasants among the Bulgarians
Germans and others have a legend
that animals are conscious on Christ-
mas Eve Some people believe tliat
“at midnight the sheep awake and
march In a procession that the cattle
15
kneel In their stalls while by a holy
miracle all the beasts f re able to con-
verse together But It Is a mortal sin
for a man to attempt to overhear them
a sin punishable with sudden death”
Holland has many festivities promi-
nent among them a skating or Ice
carnival In Switzerland the ski and
toboggan hold away
An Interesting practice takes place
In Serbia on Christmas Eve The
younger men and boys of the family
early In the morning go to the forest
After crossing themselves three times
as Is the custom of the Greek church
or saying a prayer they select a tree
then known as the Badnyl They
greet It “Happy Buduyl to you” Theo
one throws a handful of wheat which
has been brought for the purpose on
it J another chopslt down very care-
fully as the tree must fall toward the
east Just as the sun god rises It Is
then cut Into two or three pieces The
first chip that falls Is brought borne
as particularly precious
Then the logs "are taken home one
to each side of the door The mother
breaks on the longer log a small wheat
cake of unleavened flour called poga-
cha ’
The day passes In preparation for
the feast the following day At sun-
set one of the men fitted out with'
new woolen gloves brings In the log
Ae he passes the threshold the mother
throws at him a handful of wheat
from a bowl In which also the chip j
has been kept all day
Then the log Is lighted and Imme-
diately the young folks run out and
“celebrate’’ noisily by firing oft guns
and pistols It is Important to keep
the log burning all night
There are no holidays In Scandi-
navia to which both young and old
look forward with so much pleasure as
the days of Yule These days In ye
olden times were also celehrid by
the followers of Thor and Odin
Christmas and the days following
are legal holidays la the city and
there Is much merrymaking but it Is
not to be compared to what one wit-
nesses lo the country In many dis-
tricts of Sweden and Norway among
the peasants and farmers these con-
tinue for thirteen days and are called
the “tretten Yule days” (thirteen days
of Yule)
The day before Christmas In the
afternoon everything Is ready for the
big feast The house has been thor-
'oughly cleaned and leaves of Juniper
and fir are strewn on the floor When
the work Is finished the family gener-
ally go Into the bakehouse wlilrlf has
been made warm and each member
takes a thorough wash from head to
foot or a hath lu a large tub This Is
the only bath many take during the
whole year
In some places old-fashioned ways
still exist Young men often paint or
blacken their faces put queer crowns
on their heads or hats wear Urge
stars on their breasts nnd generally
carry long wooden swordA One man
la furnished with q large pouch and
the men then visit each farm and so-
licit contributions for a frolic Now
and then they Indulge In great mis-
chief and fun If they find out that s
young rellow loves a girl of the village
they visit her house and itng to bet
the old Herode’s song
J Under the Holly Bough
"Ye who bave scorned each other
Or Injured friend or brother
In this fast fading year
Ye who by word or deed
Have made a kind heart bleed
Come gather here I
'Let sinned against and sinning
Forget tlielr strife's beginning
And join In friendship now
Be links no longer broken
Be sweet forgiveness spoken
Under the holly-bough
"Ye who have loved each other
Sister and friend and brother
In this fast fading year
Mother and sire and child
Young man and maiden mild
Come gather here
“And let your heart grow fonder
As memory 1 shall ponder
Each past unbroken vow
Old loves and younger wooing
Are sweet in their renewing
i Under the holly-bough”
'—Charles Mackay
f
Origin of Quaint Traditions
of the Yuletide
HE holiday season recalls
quaint Ideas and Christmas
fancies of old even back
to the ancient days of the
Druids — a time when the
mistletoe Sprig as a po-
tent mascot was presented
as an omen of good for-
tune as a symbol of
health wealth and prosperity and In
those days long ago the house that
sported a f branch of mistletoe at
Christmas would never bejinlucky
- It la from the Druids that the cus-
tom of decorating our churches and
homes with evergreens comes for they
believed that all the sylvan sprites
flocked together on these boughs '
there to remain until the warm leath-
er came In midwinter the Druids
sent around sprigs of Ivy and mistle-
toe to rqmlnd the people to decorate
their dwellings with evergreens In
order to propitiate the sylvan sprites
and secure protection from frosts and
wintry blasts Holly berries long have
been considered as giving wonderful
power when yorn In the shape of a
wreath which must be made and worn
In Imitation of a sacred crown of
thorns and of berries and the wearer
of this crown must go nlonfe at mid-
night on Christmas and sit In the
dark and lu accordance with that
ancient tradition when worn on
Christmas eve the holy wreath will
evoke visions of spirit forms coming
In the air to sing their Noel songs and
all the beasts will be seen to kneel
down In worship
The Yule cake and Yule log too
have their important part In this an-
cient Saxon tradition for the Christ-
mas festival seasou The cake had the
same powers as the bride cake has on
Christmas night The Yule log was
used to light the Christmas fire the
next year because It preserved the
house from fire during the year and
subdued the spirit of the flames
Its powers were bestowed In the days
of the Druids when the belting -fires
were lighted and the brands secured
from the fire to light the Are the next
year The ancient Saxons burned the
Yule log as a symbol of the turning of
the sun toward spring
Even the moon contributed Its
share to Christmas superstitions for
ns the legend runs If Christmas comes
during the wnulng of the moon we
shall have a very good year nnd the
nearer to the full moon the better
Holland perhaps hns the prettiest
custom of all nations for the Christ-
mas festival On the night before
Christmas In commemoration of the
star of the east the young men of
their towns assemble and carry
through the dark streets a large
bright star all the people go out to
greet and give to the bearers of this
"star of Bethlehem" as It Is called
alms for the poor
Seven days before their New Year
the Chinese worship the Kitchen God
by preparing dishes of candy and vari-
ous sweets with which they smear his
mouth Later they burn him amid the
firing off of crackers the deity being
sent up In a chnrlot of smoke nnd fire
to a conference with the king of the
celestial regions The Idea of smear-
ing his mouth with sweets Is that he
may not say anything but honey-
ed words or that Jils lips may stick
together and so prevent his talking
too much ’
The Kitchen God according to story
had been III treated by Ids brother and
sster-ln-law who were very rich and
bud many servants buMillowed their
brother to work with thd servants and
have dinner with them Their cruefty
developed day after day uittil at Inst
they treated him heavenly by seating
him In a sedan rlmlr made of paper
The creation of giving gifts at
Christmas came not from presents of
gold and silver given to the Christ
child as many believe hut from an
old custom of priests putting on board
of all outgoing ships a box of alms
This box was opened at Christian!
time and masses said (or the gtvert
of the alms and was called "Christ
mass" hox and from this has come
our custom of Christmas boxes an(
gift giving
Important to Mothero
Examine carefully every bottle of
CASTORIA that famous old remedy
tor Infants and children and see that It
Bears the
Signature off
In Use for Over 80 Years
Children Cry for Fletcher’s Castori
In the Depths
There's a rugged two-flsted oil man
who has made hls millions suddenly
He used to be a driller and he talks
In the Jargon of the oil fields The
other day he appeared at a lunch table
very much agitated He was asked
the trouble ‘
"Jones" he said “has Just fell plum
front the top of the derrick” — meaning
that he sunk to the lowest depths of
degradation
“What happened to him?" chorused
the crowd
“By gosh I was In the Waldorf and
saw him a slttln’ there wearing spats”
—New York Times
Cuticura for Pimply Facet
To remove pimples and blackheads
smear them with Cuticura Ointment- 0
Wafh off In five minutes with Cuti-
cura Soap and hqt water Once clear
keep your skin clear by using them foi
dally toilet purposes Don't fall to In-
clude Cuticura Talcum — Adv-
It Must Be Love
Father was giving the fair young
daughter a lecture about her beau
He exclaimed: “Dies be know who
pays the light bills? Doesn’t he know
enough to go home at the right time?”
The daughter replied “Yes ho
knows enough to go but he was sick
last night” v
With that father started In again
“Don’t tell me that a big husky fel-
low like him was sick What on
efirth was the matter with him?"
As the fair young daughter started
for the door she sang back “He has
heart trouble"
How's This?
HALL’S CATARRH MEDICINE Will '
So what wa claim tor It— cure Catarrh or
Deafness caused by Catarrh We do not
claim to cure any other disease
HALL’S CATARRH MEDICINE Is a
liquid taken Internally and acts through
the blood upon the mucous surfaces of
the system thus reducing the Inflamma-
tion and ‘restoring normal conditions
AU Druggists Circulars free
F J Cheney A Co Toledo Ohio'
s'
Nervy - i
“Pardon me miss Although a per-
feet stranger I must tell yon that
you are beautiful” f
“Sir I shall call a policeman"
“I am sure he will agree with me"
—Detroit Free Press '
SQUEEZED
TODEATH
When the body begins to stiffen
end movement becomes painful it
is usually on indication that the
kidneys are out of order Keep
these organs healthy by taking
COLD MEDAL
The world’s standard remedy for kidney
liver bladder and uric add troubles
Famous since 1696 Taka regularly and
keep in good health In three sizes all
druggists Guaranteed as represented
keek for the lame Geld Medal ea every bee
end eeeept ae haltetiea
ViirrERSHrm’s
111 (BillTohic
SOLD FOR 50 YEARS FOR NAT ARIA CHIUS
ARD FEVERe 41m FIm GtstrA Stwathaii TbiIc
At All DrvgSUm Artkir NUr A At totitTlllit Ky
Hides Are
Cheap
So now Is the time to
have coats and robes
made of your cattle
and horse hides
Write us for particu
lars and prices
We hare a full line
of traps and Crowd us
animat bait Write
for prices
While there Is no
market at present for
furs we would like to
have your name on
our mailing list
Crewdus Bros
Bide t fur Company
4 Nerlk Sllln SI
Oklakea City Okli
HORSE and MULE
Dealers Attention
1000 to 1500 horses and mules at auction Big
opening sate January 17th to 2Sd and every
Thursday New management All stock con
signed to be sold for high dollar Send address
for market letter DENVER HORSE A MULE
COMPANY Union Stock Yard Denver Colo
Clean Your Clothes
to look like new at largest place in
city Wrap in paper send Parcel
post we do the rest promptly
420 NORTH
BROiOWiT
OKLAHOMA
gm'll'l-ll''iM'M CITY
GOOD N ARKANSAS FARMS ranches and
fruit lands cheap Fine climate water soil
RUSSELL LEONARD Mountain Home Ark
Keep This Ready
At the first symptom of a cough or
cold breathe Ilyomet The best people
always have It In the house nnd end a
cold before It gets deep-seated Soli
by all druggists
L