-'DECEMBER 15. 1951

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Good health and pros- perityr. . . all of God's bountiful blessings be upon you in the Christ- mas season and in the new year to come.

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Service Stcitionip MONTAGUE

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r r "' r (Continued from page 6) N. 5.. to oeorgetown. P. E. I. "You will note that this trip was back in March of 1909, and aswell as my emory now serves me we left Pictou on the Saturday morn- ing just after Easter Sunday of that year, and we had quite a few people on board who were return- ing from an Easter visit to Hall- isx, Saint John. Boston and New

York.

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urday morning we went along nicely until we were just off Pic- tcu Island. and there we stuck hard and fast in the ice until the following Saturday afternoon, at which time a change of tide and wind loosened up the ice. and we turned around and headed back to Pictou to take on more . and freight. We pulled out on Sunday morning and had clear go- ing right into Georgetown. and landed lncharlottetown about 2.30 pm. that same Sunday afternoon.

"On that trip we had a man and his wife with several performing bears, and they were booked for a week at Mrs. l-logg's Picture Thea- tre. Charlottetown.

"The writer was pretty well known in many, parts of the Marl- time Provinces, having worked in all three Provinces from Septem- ber of 1907 until the Fall of 1931.

"Sorry I cannot give you the name of the chap who composed this. I think he was a school teacher but from what part of the Island I do not now remember.”

W. A. FLAVELLE.

The lighted Christmas tree was introduced into England by Prince Albert. a German, shortly after his marriage to Queen Victoria.

The custom of the lighted Christmas tree was introduced in- to the United States by German immigrants.

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THE GUARDIAN. cnaxnorrcrown

(By Gordon Stowell)

It is an exaggeration to say. as people sometimes do. that Dickens invented the English Christmas. Yule logs and mistletoe boughs, wassaii bowls and waits, and the whole twelve days and nights of high feasting and high jinks- these were part of a tradition much, much older than Dickens; oider.indeed, in many of its inani- festations, than Christianity itself

Nowadays, our Christmas cards like to look back nostalgicaily to the eighteenth-century as a time when Christmases were particu- larly merry; and though this ten- dency may be hased on a senti- mental misconception: it is incon- testable that by the time Dickens arrived on the scene in the nine- tcenth century the English Christ- mas had long been widely accept- ed as a season of great good cheer as well as of great good will

Dickens described such aChrlst- mas for us in his first novel. The Pickwick Papers. the famous Christmas of Dingley Dell. That was a festival alter a pattern al- ready old when Dickens was still young: the Christmas of. the Eng- lzsh countryside; of hospitable squire and happy peasant; the Christmas that Sir Roger de Cov-

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It is an old happyucustom and it warms the thearts of giver and receiver -- so we

erley knew; the Christmas of ,4 Washington Irving's Bracebrldge I-fall. Although Dickens brought unprecedented zest into his de- V . E Ylllllllllillllllililillliilllill i if it if I I And is H Hcppv l NEW YEAR - May all good things come to you at this Christmas season - may good fortune i follow you through all the New Year. Montague Montague Garage - MONTAGUE it 4 -- 1 AI: msxlnli If g" Up I Oh Liil 5 5 , l 3 Sta r of I Bethlehem i w ! if - ll if

HE'LL as Liaavmo CPRETTY soon . . .

. . . with all kinds of

--and you.

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BEST WISHES" . H or in: season

Christmas

From us to you - and you.

May this holl-

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To our friends and pa- trons- ' ' May yogr days be filled

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. . . for the holiday and- coming year! '

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Dickens and the Christmas Tradition

plcting of it, he did not need to invent any of it.

Nevertheless, it is true that he did contribute to our Christmas tradition something which, having survived two world-devastating wars, may be considered as reas- onably lmporishable. What was it?

To put the matter at its most obvious, he contributed A Christ- mas Carol. That in itself was no small contribution, for. there are many-perhaps more today than ever-to whom this familiar story. this unique blend of hilarious fairy-tale and solemn sermon. has become an indispensable ingredient oi their Christmas celebrations. If they do not all make a point of reading at least part of it every Christmas Eve. and probably read-- ing it aloud, they like to keep their ears alert in the hope of hearing a radio version.

Challenge to the "Bleak Age"

But the impact made by Dick- ens upon the Christmas tradition, through this one little book alone, goes very much deeper than that. Those who value what is best in the Christmas tradition may well be grateful to him. He may not have invented Christmas; but. for good or ill, he undoubtedly saved it for us.

Remember the era in which he grew up. By the 1840's. the coun- tryside had already entered upon its long decline. England was be- coming ever more urban. ever more urbanised. in all its occupations and all its preoccupations. Seed- time and harvest had begun to be of less moment in the public eye than the price of railway shares. The Manchester School was emerg- mg, grimly utilitarian, calculating- ratlonal. unanswerably logical: and the reverse side of the picture re-

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HOLIDAY GREETING3 i

To One and All!

"God rest ye merry" and let nothing you dismay on this most wonderful of all days. May you have 11 happy Christmas!

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vealed the spreading of squalor and cruel poverty in the name of progress; the Bieal: Age. it has been called. The ways things were shaping threatened to leave no room for anything so uneconomic as a merry Christmas.

Then in l843 came A Christmas Carol. the that and best of Dick- ensi fivel all-but-annual Christmas books, and the only one of them that really is a book about Christ- mas. Not only does the entire ac- tion of the story take place be- tween the afternoon of December 24 and the morning of December 26. but the whole theme of the book is Christmas and nothing but Christmas.

You know the story. of course: how Ebenezer Scrooge, miserable old tight-list, fitting symbol of the Bleak Age. declared Christmas to be all humbug, and was magically converted overnight to a some- what exces 've enthusiasm for the opposite view. In effect, Dickens put the question: is the old tra- dition of a merry Christmas com- patible with our new kind of civil- isation? In fact. he demonstrated. triumphantly and for all time. that the answer, against all the evi- dence. is an emphatic "Yes".

Into that harsh. ugly, mechan- ical new world that was still in the process of shaping itself he

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Tlini Santa will luring you lots of wonderful presents . . .

Gml will bless you in everything you

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are happy to wish you the 3”” ff? "ICE MR5. merriest of all Christmases f:::1(:er;"1t:JiSl:;;"fOr:,ws: and a Happy New Yeah Merry Christmas. JO-ANNA DRESS MucLEAN'S SHOPPE Barber Shop MONTAGUE MONTAGUE , ' -a a. Qreetings '1' .. nr.1.nav(m-- as-six ' ","'?'9"'9'0'Cn V V : True Christmas Joy comes C'E”' "9'”""""l p from within the heart -- W" W" "I "'9 lg may yours be light and - "';"'i"' khd 0! i . , filled with happiness this C riumao and M R R Y Christmas - may the New '”'PP3tOl New Year be bright and full of Year M R accomplishment. - ( vane BECK Deluxe llry P l S "L0 c. and SON claims To our friends and patrons. May your tlnys be filled MONTAGUE MONYAUUE with notes of good cheer . . . for the holiday and com- hr S ing yearl E in

he the best ever . . .lliiit

do in the New

CIIXEIII :

flung an audacious paradox; and he did it so vigorously, and withal sq deftly, that it has stuck there for good. This persistent paradox- is the paradox. still annually re- newed by all of us. of merriment ir- a world replete with misery. and good null towards men we really hate the sight of.

Merriment Amid Misery

It found perfect expression in poor Bob Cratchit, Scrooge's clerk. On fifteen shillings a. week he and his family celebrated the day with a gusto as great as any displayed at Bracebrldge Hall; nor did he neglect to drink to the health of

founder of the feast".

-his legacy to us-is not s ro- mantic dream of coaches and snowbound lanes and bells from

the Christmas of Dingley Dell; it is concerned with fog and damp pavements and urchins bawllng carols through the letter-box; it took over from the older tradition as many of the trimmings ascould be contrived-the Christmas tree, the holly and mistletoe, the tur- key, plum pudding. and other rich things to eat and drink. and the idea of the convivial family party.

Yet these are only trimmings. The Dickens Christmas depends less on the warmth of blazing logs than on the warmth of human hearts. It was Dickens' particular glory to show that these could. and should; glow in the town no less than in the country. in the nineteenth century no less than in the eighteenth, among the poor no less than among the well-to-do. among the lonely and isolated, the sick and distresed, and any oth- ers with every reason for being unhappy no less than among those with every reason for being happy.

In other words, the Dickens Christmas is the ridiculous and still frantically iliogical Christmas that we all know and cherish. But without A Christmas Carol one may doubt if it would ever have survived. Though the story of Scrooge's sudden conversion may be difficult to swallow. the great historical fact remains that thous- ands of potential Scrooges in real life, if they were not converted by it. were at least persuaded to pause and reconsider. And so Tiny Tim did not dlel

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We Wish You

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of it! Food. gifts. 5

Heaps lhvc and laughter -- all the

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things it takes to miike Christmas the day of fam- ily rejoicing we all love to make it.

C. R. BOEHNER JEWELLER MONTAGUE

his skinflint employer as "the 3 The essential Dickens Christmas .

the village church; it is not even ;

PAGE SEVEN A

"yo CIiri'slma.4 134, "J

Puritan disapproval of Christmas celebrations disembarked from the Mayflower with the Pilgrims in 1621 and, accordingly Governor Bradford issued a statement pub-

' licly rebuklng a certain young man

who declined to work on December 25. ”ye clay called Christmas."

This first new England Christ- mas-or non observance thereof-- should not be credited as the first Christmas on American soil, since Leif Erikson spent a. winter or two on the North American continent around the turn of the 11th cen- tury.

Leif was a Christian, and it is likely that members of his crew were Christians, too; although it is quite possible that some had ac- cepted the faith without remodel- ing their pagan natures. since King

Olaf's methods were ruthless and his command "Be Baptized. or else!" left them little choice. Undoubtedly. flagons of crude, raw wine fermented from the grapes of Leif's vinland were

passed around and the celebration may have been rather boisterous, but in all fairness to Leif-who, ac- cording to excellent testimony, was it sincere convert-it is reasonable to assume that there was a trace of religious observance.

Perhaps Leif remembered the few words of .LStl!i prayer ho learned at the time of his conver- sion and recited them in honor or the birthday of the Redeemer he had accepted - Thus, the first; sgldl'lSi;X!'lBS in America was obser-

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Legend not only has ideiitlfied and Belthasar. it has crowned them and given them the king- doms of Tarsus, Arabia and Ethiopia. It has symbolized their gifts as symbolic of what Jesus was to become-gold for a king. ii-ankinccnse for a high priest a.nd. myrrh for a great physician.

The Gospel text's specific wise men from the east logically identi- fies them with Zoroastrlanism-an ancient monotheistic religion of Persia. Zoroastrian priests were called Magi: they were Wweriul in public and private life since they. and they alone, p- sessed the priestly mysteries involved in the worship of Mazda -- who repre- sented the' Zoroastrian power for good. .

The Magi may or may not have been fabulously wealthy: St. Mat- thew does not elaborate their treasures nor the amount of gold, franklncense and myrrh which they presented to the Christ Child. The gifts may have been mere tokens of their treasures the sum and substance thereof.

And it they were soothsaysrs, mystics and possibly clairvoyant! they were also truly wise -in as murh as they did not return to l-Ierod, but kparted into their own country by a different route.

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LEGENDS assocum-: Mona. GENTLE CAMEL or JESUS WITH GIFT-GIVING ccsrom

Syrian V legends have associated the Magic Mule and the Gentle Camel of Jesus with gift-giving. for reasons that are at once dif- ferent. and yet similar in their association with the Christ Child.

It seems a certain traveler tied his mule to a tree when he went into an inn for refreshment on Epiphany Eve. Just at midnight, when the boughs of the tree bowed down in homage to the Holy In- fant, the mule was caught up on the rebound and found cradled high up in the branches by its re- turning master.

The youngest camel of the three l-laden by the Wise Men was ex- hausted by the pressing journey and was blessed with immortality by the baby Jesus as it lay moan- ing near the Nativity scene.

In France and Scotland many of the Christmas customs are observ- ed on New Year's Day. particularly

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MERCHANTS KILMUIR mnannnnnnnanpng

Happy the heart that looks to home with friends and loved ones

the

lug of gifts.

As the herald angels sing the great and happy news" of Christmas once many may your heart be filled- with glowing peace- May the coming year be one of. good health and achieve-, tmsnt.

the Wise Men as Gaspar. lyfeiohoir i