VOL. LXII
INDIANAPOLIS, DECEMBER 21, 1907.
NO. 51
Christmas   Yuletide.
Editor. Indiana Fanner:
Yf Crystmas day, the Sothe do say,
Fall upon a Wodnysday,
That  yere  shalbe  a  hard  wynter  and
strong,
Anw many hydeous wyndes among,
The Somer merry and good shalbe,
That yere shalbe wete great plenty.
Ins't that a quaint old rhyme. It is
as Old as the Old English style of spelling anyway. Sounds odd to hear Wednesday pronounced Wod-nys-day, and put
y where i should be, and make one word
out of shall be, and Cryst mas. That
was right. We are the people who pronounce the word wrong for it should be
pronounced Christ's Mass yet Why
we've even got it down to Xmas now. X,
the unknown quantity.
But, farmers, notice. If Christmas
falls upon a Wednesday you see what is
to happen, and this is one of those years.
Christ-mass. That is very modern.
How many thousand years since primitive
man began celebrating this time? Crawling from his primitive home in the tree-
tops and caves, after he could build fires,
he built fires to the return of the Good
Spirit who dwelt in the Sun. He had
gone nearly away from the Child Earth,
but now he was coming back again—the
days were lengthening, and so it came
to pass that nearly every primitive people
held its Great Fire Festival on these
days.
As the ages rolled along, we see the
winter solstice held by different names in
different  countries. The  Winter   Fes
tival, in the North Land among the
Norseman; they called their great god
Odin, and they had a legend of a Tree of
Life, which was symbolized by the Cypress tree, some of which at this time were
lit with torches and surrounded or hung
with gifts. In Italy it was the saturnalia. In Judea it was the Hanukka,
or Festival of Light. No difference
where or how old, we find fire and light
its symbol, making it one of the greatest
of the Fire Festivals, one of the yearly
greetings to the Sun, wherein as the many
of these ancient people believed, especially the Saxons, dwelt a spirit called good,
or Gott in their language, and the last
few centuries changing to the name we
now personify a Great Source beyond us.
Egypt, too, in these ancient days held
a Festival at this date, and the new
year born was represented by a new born
child. Every family must cook a goose
on this play. A goose stood as a symbold
of a mother's brooding kindness.
On Old England's soil was kept Yule-
tide by the Druids, the oak, the mistletoe and a Boar's Head playing a great
part in these ceremonies, along with the
lighting of great fires.
And yet before the Druids it had been
kept, and as the land passed under Saxon
rule, still the Festivals i.f the olden
time went on, bnt not with bloody rites
indulged iu by Druidic superstittition.
After awhile came the Roman conquer-
ers, placing a new religion by law upon
Albion's people, and turning the Fire Festivals into days nf li.>ti<>r to their spiritual
Leader or the Saint*, and thus the greatest of these Fire Festivals tpppik on the
name of Crystmas, or the day when
Mass was snip! particularly in remember-
anee  of the  birth of Christ.
For a long time they kept up the cere-
nony of burning the Yule log. Yet in
he kind's winter palace Christmas is kept
»ith some of the olden ceremony attend-
ait on  cooking and   feasting,  by  feasting
ou the boar's head.      It is kept also    at
Oxford University.
We still keep the mistletoe out of
Druidical Ancient of days. We decorate with evergreen out of Saturnalism
days. We keep the Christmas tree of
life out of the far, far away days of Odin
worship. We accepted1 the goose as a
Christmas dish out of the Egyptian Festival days, older far than the Pharohs.
We get our idea of plum pudding and
mince pies out of this last olden festival.
A plum pudding signifies gifts. The
mince pies in Egypt were made in the
shape of cradles—to receive the new born
year.
teacher argued that the family did not
know very much. Even the little houses,
that seemed to» be overflowing with children were joyfully put in good trim, a fine
supper prepared and "Teacher" invited
to come. The children were filled with
mingled pride and awe as they proudly
escorted the teacher home, and before the
term was ended every home had been
opined to receive the pedagogue.
It is a pity the pleasant little custom
eer died out, but since it did, let us rejoice that many neighborhoods are reviving it. The spare room is opened and
warmed, the good supper prepared and
once more the proud youngsters are lead-
your fireside. You will be repaid a hundred fold, and your children will receive
lessons in courtesy and fairness that they
could not otherwise. Teach the boys
and girls that the teacher is there to help
and encourage them, not to punish and
be on the lookout for faults, and then
prove your teaching by making the children better acquainted with her. May
the time soon come when every home will
delight to honor the teacher, and the
good old custom of entertaining her at
least once each term be a settled fact.
Absurdities and legends grew about the
day even after it took on the new name
of Christ's Mass. It was kept in feasting and idleness finally for forty days,
and men gave away fortunes in gifts to
insure themselves long life, great future
honor and increased wealth. After
awhile, by kingly decree it was limited to
twelve days, the last day. January fifth,
being celebrated as "Old Christmas,"
which it is yet in remote places. There
was also a belief extent that quarrels and
all differences of opinion must be made up
and forgotten at this time. This has
eome down to us io the "good will" part.
But no difference what the origin of the
day, it is a day the world should never
forget. The world ean never get t<><>
wise for it's Christmastide. Its blesseil
lesson of love aud remembrance. What
would the children do were ever Christmas to be abolished? One of the keenest pleasures known to childhood—yes
born into childish life by the transmitted
centuries, would be darkened. Christmas began with the crude birth of knowledge, and it must remain while humanity
remains to ring out its joy bells to that
which giveth life.
Ida M. Shepler.
Revival of a Pleasant Custom.
By Hilda Richmond.
A generation airpi the teacher in, the
country distiip-t fully expected to Ise in-
vinil once to every home in the neighborhood "for supper and to stay all night."
Indeed  not  to shp.w  this courtesy   tpi  the
ing "Teacher" home with them. In this
\\ ay the parents get in touch with the
schools, for few parents can be persuaded to visit the schools, and the children
find out that the young man or woman in
charge of the school is not the natural
born enemy of the boys and girls after
all. It is a pity that so many country
homes are never opened for company. An
evening spent with a pleasant refined
young lady, is worth more than a week
of schooling to the children, and the
table manners of the guests are eagerly
copied without a bit of prompting.
And when "Teacher" is entertained is
such a good time for the mother to ex-
plain certain little difficulties the boys and
girls have had. The vulgar talk on the
play ground, the sly work of the school
bally, the word of commendation for the
help the teacher has given backward
.lohnny and all the other things that have
been on the mind of the busy mother can
be unburdened to the teacher. Not in
a fault finding way, of course, but rather in the spirit of helpfulness. If you
have anything to explain about, try asking the teacher to come to supper and to
stay all night so you can talk it over.
If you have never taught school you can
not understand how it helps the teacher
to talk matters over in a simple friendly
manner with parents, when the parents
feel that school affairs are not going right.
If you doubt this statement ask one of
yonr teacher friends and see if she will
not tell you it is true.
So open your doors to the teacher of
your children  and   make  her  welcome  at
What  to  (Jive.
Editor. Indiana Faraer:
Now that Christmas is almost here we
begin once more to ask ourselves the annual question, what gift is most suitable
for "granma," "granpa," nncle and aunt
and brother and sister. It often proves
one of the hardest problems that we have
to solve.
Many of us hold the opinion that we
should give necessities only, that all luxuries should be tabooed. But I hardly
think that to be the proper view. Instead, that thing or that article which
vsill take us farthest away from our
everyday life and our occupations is likely
ts be what will be most appreciated by
the       recipient. In       this    connection
Thomas Fuller, the eminent English historian and divine, of the Tth century
urges as gifts "such things as will last
long; to the end that they may be in smne
sort immortal, and may frequently refresh
the memory of the receiver." Therefpire,
it seems to me, that the best gift is that
which will arouse pleasurable sensations,
by taking us away from our work, not
once, only, but many times.
I believe it was Ralph Waldo Emerson
who said: "The best gifts are books."
Why? It is because they give us relaxation by amusement; education without intrusion, nnd morals, imperceptibly. But
now comes the question "How can you
know when a book is good?" Bruyeere
has written, "When a book raises your
spirit, and inspires you with noble and
manly thoughts, search for no other test
of its excellence—It is good and was made
by a good workman." Perhaps the giver
has not the time to read every book that
he gives away. For him I beg leave to
name the following as very appropriate:
"David Harum," "That Printer of
Udells," "Hoosier Schoolmaster," "Pigs
is Pigs," "Janice Meredith," "House of a
Thousands Candles," and "Ben Hurr." A
volume of poems makes a very suitable
present. Miss   Wilcox,   John   Ha.v.   R.
W. Gilder, Will Carleton and James
Whiteomb Riley are I believe commonly
considered among the best modern  poets.
Papers and magazines make nice gifts.
They are exceeding appropriate. They
are lasting and every time they are read
they remind the recipient of the giver.
They are a source of continued pleasure.
Other gifts are likely to be laid aside, and
within a short time are almost entirely-
forgotten, but a book a magazine or a
paper will last in the remembrance of him
or her upon whom it was bestowed.
Shelby Co. C. S. L.
The annual report of the Canadian Department of Trade and Commerce shows
the total grain crops of the season of 100G
to be more than 41 .",000.000 bushels, of
which 125.000,000 hushels were wheat
and 202,000.000 bushels oats.
Sixty carloads of Canadian-made harvesting machinery have been ordered f.n-
Siberia.