The Anderson News, 1929-12-26

BISHOP ORIGINATES STOCKING All over the world on the 25th of December Christians of all creeds and sect celebrate the birth of the Mes Messiah - siah Messiah with the festival of Christmas - the Mass of Christ But only in coun countries - tries countries whose traditions and culture de derive - rive derive from Teutonic sources do folk cel celebrate - ebrate celebrate the duy by giving presents In Italy France Spain the nations of South America and other countries where the - Latin culture prevails Christmas is celebrated as a great church festival but nobody thinks of giving anybody a present at Christ Christmas - mas Christmas time New Year's Day is their great gift time The Great Gift Season In Germany and iu all the countries having the Teutonic background which includes Norway Sweden and Denmark Austria Switzerland Hol Holland - land Holland Belgium England and the Brit British - ish British Dominions anil the United States Christmas has become the great gift gift-making - making gift-making season of the year especially the time for giving presents to chil children - dren children Santa Claus' himself however is an American ! The children of England have never heard of Santa Claus unless they read American stories The jolly old chap with white whiskers who tills the stockings secretly on Christmas Eve is known to the little ones of the British Empire as "Father Christmas" "Kriss Kringle" German children call the stocking filler "Kriss 'Krinklc" and by that name he is known in some parts of the United States and elsewhere ' Kriss Kringle" is a corruption of the German "Christkindlein" the Christ Child The peasant folk of Germany have come to believe that the giving of Christmas presents is symbolic of the bringing of gifts to the nuinger at Bethlehem by the Wist- Men of tne East But that is not the source from which Christmas giving originated Secret gifts to children are a tribute to the memory of St Nicholas just as the name of "Santa Claus" is an Amer Americanization - icanization Americanization of the Dutch name of that good old father of the church "Sun Niklaas" as the early Dutch settlers of New York called the isitron saint of children scholars merchants and sail sailors - ors sailors sounded like "Santa Claus" to the ears of the English children who learned of him from their Dutch play playmates - mates playmates And Santa Claus he has been ever since to generations of Americnn children though up to forty or sixty years ago it was not considered digni dignified - fied dignified by the grown-ups to refer to hint except by Ills full name St Nicholas The Origin of Santa The figure of St Nicholas as a lit little - tle little fat man in n fur-trimmed coat rid riding - ing riding in a sleigh drawn by reindeer and slipping down chimneys wit li a pack on Ills back to fill tlie stockings which hung from the mantel of the open fire fireplace - place fireplace was given Its present lixisl form by Clement C Moore whose oein be beginning - ginning beginning " 'Twas the night before Christinas" was written nearly a hun hundred - dred hundred years ago Mr Moore did not call him Santa Claus but entitled his poem "A Visit From St Nicholas" Who was the real Saint Nicholas? Why is he associated with the giving of presents to children? Nobody knows very much about him Like some of the other leaders of the early Christians a mass of legend and tnvtli lias grown up about Ids name but the records are strangely silent First Santa a Bishop All that is known definitely is that he wns the Bishop of Myra a town in Asia Minor about three hundred years nfter Christ Nobody knows how the legends about him started but he wns

held in such high esteem that within u century or two after Ills death thou thousands - sands thousands of churches were named for him In England alone there were at one time a thousand churches of St Nicho Nicholas - las Nicholas and he was established as the pa patron - tron patron saint of all Russia away back in the Middle Ages Pictures of st Nicholas usually show him standing in a tub with three boys The legend back of this is that lie miraculously restored to life three youths who had been killed by an inn inn-keeper - keeper inn-keeper and their dismembered bodies packed in a salt-tub But the story of St Nicholas which associates his name with secret gifts is that he learned of a poor mail with three daughters who were unable to get liusluindK because they laid no dowries Their father was planning to kill the daughters and himself when St Nicho Nicholas - las Nicholas slipped into their cottage by night and filled the stockings of tlie daugh daughters - ters daughters with gold Day Fixed 500 Years Ago St Nicholas Day is December 0 and for a thousand years the Eve of St Nicholas December 5 was the date ful fulfilling - filling fulfilling the stockings Christmas was not fixed on December 25 until the Christian church was nearly 500 years old In some parts of the church it was celebrated on January 0 else elsewhere - where elsewhere on 'March 25 There is of course no record of the date of the birth of the Savior But the Angles the ancient German people whose blood and traditions still rule tlie Eng lish-s leaking world ns well as the Ger German - man German laid a pagan festival on December 25 "Modranecht" or Mothers' night when their New Year began and in the course of centuries that festival came to lie celebrated as tlie anniver anniversary - sary anniversary of the greatest event in the life of the greatest Mother of all time Mary the Mother of Jesus IVas a Religious Festival Christmas was still however dis distinctly - tinctly distinctly a religious festival Si- Nicho Nicholas - las Nicholas Day remained tlie day when the children had their innings until tie tie-sixteenth - sixteenth tie-sixteenth century On St Nicholas Day it was tlie custom to elect a Boy Bishop wlio appointed other boys to (lie offices of tlie church and tlie young youngsters - sters youngsters ruled their towns (since in those days the church dominated everything) until Holy Innocents Day December 28 In some parts of Germany tlie Buy Bishop ceremony persisted until 17JH1 But in England Henry VIII : abolished it in 1542 Queen Mary restored it in 1552 and Elizabeth abolished it finally a few years later Forbidden At Times Tlie festivities which had been a part of St Nicholas Day then began to be transfered to Christinas though there was a time when even Christmas celebrations were forbidden in Eng England - land England That was in 1044 when Crom Cromwell's - well's Cromwell's Puritan Parliament passed an act forbidding any merriment or relig religions - ions religions servires at Christmas on tlie ground that it was a heathen festival! Tills feeling against Christmas per persisted - sisted persisted among the Puritan settlers of New England down to the nineteenth century Tin exchanging of gifts by grown grownups - ups grownups on Christmas Day is a very mod modern - ern modern idea indeed And children today know where tlielr presents come from : they no longer lielieve in the good "San Niklaas" who fills their stockings se secretly - cretly secretly by night Perhaps the world was happier when Christmas giving was less of an obligation and more of a joy and the little ones still believed in fairies and Santa Clans

MANY GOOD GAMES TO COME The two local high school teams have finished the pre-holiday part of their schedules with a record of five wins and two defeats To date notli notli-1 - 1 notli-1 ilig startling lias luipiancd unless it lie I the unexpected win of City over Paris and the uniformly smr playing of both schools iu tlielr last games No outstanding players have shown their wares hut it is too early iu tlie season for anything like that to appear Later in the season some of the hoys who are coming along slow may suddenly show greatly improved form to rank favorably with tlie stars of past years' teams Compared with the team's last year tlie present squads have not shown to any advantage but then It must In- remembered that tlie teams of both Kava and City have been of high rank for tin- past couple of years Both teams lost the hulk of their last year's players and tin- coaches of both schools are faced with tin- dilliculty of building from the beginning City Bats 5(111 City started tlie season off by taking a beating at Owentnn 2(i to in and lowered tlielr colors here to George Georgetown - town Georgetown 18 to 12 Going to Paris for what was thought to lie another beat beating - ing beating they surprised by taking the Grey Greyhounds - hounds Greyhounds into camp by two points They fin i -tied tlie 1P2P part of their sched schedule - ule schedule by winning a inorly played game from Versailles Pi to pi To date they have batted an even five hundred win winning - ning winning two and losing the same number Adams is well pleased with this record as it was thought that Versailles was about tin- only team of the first four that City stood any chances of beating The City Squad have been allowed to break training during tin- Christmas holidays all practice sessions ! icing called olT until school starts again Now that best one of many years Four days later January 10 Owenton comes licro for a return game and the fur should fly as City will lie out to wipe out tin first game defeat ' Kava Has Clean Slate Kavanaugh shows a clean slnte for the three games played to date They have won from Good Shepherd of Frankfort 21 to 111 Woodford tti to 10 and Willisburg 12 to 8 The last game is the only blot on tlie Orange and Black record they Mug outplayed by the Washington countv boys and win winning - ning winning the game through some lucky breaks Kava uncovered a strong de defense - fense defense in tlie Woodford game and gave every indication of being a hard team to Is -at as tlie season progressi-s Their clean page may go iu the nsbean Fri Friday - day Friday of this week when they hook up with an Alumni team The two Sale boys White tin- Towles' brothers and a couple of other former stars will op oppose - pose oppose them and it is m sure tiling lint what the regular team will come out on the small end of the score To Open With Woodford Kava lias an open date at the be beginning - ginning beginning of the New Year part of the schedule and if tills is not filled the Hornets will journey to Woodford School January to to ohii tin year ! and incidentally give that school a chance to even tin- count for the loss here Then comes tlie M M I game here January I t and Ibis game should provide plenty of excitement for tlie spectators as it is said that the mili military - tary military school lias a strong fast team this season With both teams having soini fine games hooked for tlie latter part of the season basketball lovers of tills sco sco-tlon - tlon sco-tlon can look forward to some real sport after the New Year

LOCAL BOYS TO BE ON RADIO RADIO 10:30 SATURDAY A M If radio owners of Anderson county will tune in on WHAM Ixiliisville next Saturday morning Deceinlier 28 at 10:30 they will have an opportnn opportnn-lty - lty opportnn-lty to listen to anil enjoy tlie ierfnrm ierfnrm-anee - anee ierfnrm-anee of two Uiwroneeburg hoys Tlie youthful performers are Paul and Thomas Husband sons of Mr and Mrs Will Husband of this city Tlie two young musicians are well and fiivorn fiivorn-lily - lily fiivorn-lily known throughout tills section Known as tlie Husband Orchestra they linve played and sung nt church so socials - cials socials iNilitieal gatherings and parlies and almost everyone in the county have at one time or another enjoyed the two boys' performances Listen in on the air for them next Saturday at 10:30 a in wagon Out near Fox Creek somcone crowded the Pontiac off in the ditch and busied up one side of it Not be being - ing being easily discouraged and also feeling sure t lint his run of laid luck was just about over William tried it again next day and proceeded to prove that he wns-all wrong about tlie luck tiling by breaking an axle nnd having to walk FOUR MILES to complete tlie delivery of (lie mail That declared William was just utmut the climax He is seriously considering tlie pur purchase - chase purchase of an airplane to cover his route in but is afraid tlie Jinx might he riding omtlie tail of It and cause the wings to drop off while William Is a couple of miles straight up To date his rcair bills for the past week have reached around tlie hundred dol dollar - lar dollar mark and the only way Santa can square himself and restore William's faitli is to drop down the chimney to tonight - night tonight and leave a check some place where it will not be easily overlooked

game spieiiotis by Its absence most of the) time anil tlielr ofTeuae was fully as bail If the Washington county lads bail taken a little more time at the I baskets ami been able to avohl a few penalties they would have gone south j with the util ball game The visitors presented the local fans ! with a lanky forward surrounded by four midgets that allowed the crowd some real sliced Several times one j if I hone midgets would race the ball down the Ilnur and loiilrun the entire Kava team only to lose out in the niixups at tin- basket Tlie visitors' sp-eil took Kava o(T her guard at the start and Dot li teams battled desicr desicr-atelv - atelv desicr-atelv all during the first half the score being deadlocked at six all when I lie half time whistle blew Getting over tie- shock between halves tin- Kava boys i-anie back to scon- six points to tlie visitors' two in 'la- last pari of the game but bad to -'ti on be gas all lie time and tint fur Willisliurg's inability to cage baskets mi numerous occasions would have bad to go still faster to win Each team scored half of tlielr points on fouls Tu one of the niixups at tlie basket Bote Ilollehin toiiok a llise dive into the wall and was knocked dizzy for a couple of minutes lie left the game but after a short rest came back on tin tin-floor - floor tin-floor in tin- last quarter Veto starred for Kava getting six of Kava's twelve 'mints while Tyre a lightning fast little forward rang up five of tin- vi vi-ilors' - ilors' vi-ilors' eight markers The score will go down in the record books as a win for Kava bill tin- Orange and Black tl entertain a hcnltliv respect for the little school down in Washington comity The lineups and scoring follow: (Continued on Page 81

all over with the City basketball squad If lie holies to save City some embar embarrassments - rassments embarrassments and defeats lief ore the s a a-son - son a-son is over The court representatives i of City seem to have the same failing Unit the football squad had taking tilings easy when they tiling they have I a soft game They won from Ver Versailles - sailles Versailles last Friday night 1(1 to 10 but according to spectators tlie Bulldogs j should have won by about 40 to 0 Perhaps the tough game against j Purls the night before had something to do witli tlie listlessness of the Bull Bulldogs - dogs Bulldogs but It was not entirely that That old over-confidence was the main fault1 Versailles was playing their first game of the season and playing it with a green team and City just figured It wns only a workout But for their getting tlie jump on Versailles in the first half it would have boon a sad "workout" One onlooker declared that the City III Midgets could have run up a better score than the first team At the half City was balding by a 7 to 1 count Versailles' scoring etforis being con confined - fined confined to a single foul goal In the sec sec-oed - oed sec-oed half City loafed so much on the job that Versailles bad as they were umuliged to keep step and both teams scored nine lsiints That's the whole story City won lint they are doing little cheering about their victory Tlie lineups and scoring follow:

The other morning when we cnnie to work we found a very peculiar looking letter stuck in tin- ollice type typewriter - writer typewriter The pas-r on which il wu wu-written - written wu-written wns some of the kind that we use everyday lint the Ink and the way il was written was very odd lo say tin tin-least - least tin-least Around the edges of tlie sheets were drawn a multitude of tiny Christ Christ-iiiiis - iiiiis Christ-iiiiis Trees all green with red and yellow decorations The words of tin tin-letter - letter tin-letter were written in a silver colored ink with lit III1 each letter for all tlie world Icicles It was a puzzle for a moment and t lien a glance at Hie signal un unsolved - solved unsolved t In- mystery On the last page in flowing letters were the words S Claus None other Ilian our old friend St Nick Turning back to the front page we started reading tin tin-latest - latest tin-latest word from tin- busy Old Christ Christinas - inas Christinas Saint You see we knew that In In-bad - bad In-bad been here nt tlie office during the nlglit and it made us feel badly to

think thnt we bad missed 1dm when he cane Here is what the letter saiil : Dear Old Ink Slinger: Unexpectedly passed through Law Law-renceburg - renceburg Law-renceburg last night and having a few minutes to spare thought I would drop in and see If you bad followed out my Instructions that I gave you on my last cull of course you didn't ns I found a hunch of letters in your desk which should have been mulled I via Hie Fire Fairies and Chimney fringes bunging from Elves each night (The Old Felhpv lin'd like liny plenty of nerve lo go rooting around our desk wit bout prmlsidoii) But then you are like a lot of others think thinking - ing thinking so much about the affairs of grown grownups - ups grownups dial you neglect the more impor impor-t - t impor-t Mill affairs of the little boys and girls Don't you know that tit this time of the year only the children count? Still you did publish (hi- list of names I gave you on mv last visit so that goes (Continued on Page 8)