Newspaper Page Text
VOL. 2.
| HOW OLD |
SANTA CLAUS
| REFORMED. | $
; By Peter McArthur, s
jj
“Get out of here I" said Santa Claus.
“Pick up your grips and walk!
I don’t intend to buy from you
And haven’t time to talk."
He chased the drummers from his house,
And then with bang and din
He turned the keys and shot the boIt9
As he went grumbling in.
.JL, The telephone receiv¬
er next
Down from ils
hook he dropped.
Then said to Mrs.
Santa Claus:
j®* ‘‘It’s time this
j* thing was stop¬
ped.
"They’ve fairly made
- * a fool of me
For twenty years
n or more,
But when they came
4*4 with aeroplanes
I showed them to
the door.
"With automobiles
and such 'trash
“GET OCT OF UERk:" And bicycles I’m
through;
My reindeer sled is good enough
For what I’m going to do.
"I’ve just made up my mind for keeps
To start the century right;
So take all that newfangled stuff
And hide it from my sight.
l a -H r=OT<L ClL!
■ sz,*iS Bjfecy 1
my. ^5
4
mwJ> 1111
fill ifII
■I
C"?
“MV REINDEER SLED IS GOOD ENOUGH.”
“The thingumbobs and ourlycuea
That silly folks contrive
I’ll never give away again
As long as I’m alive.
•Til give no phonographic dolla,
Hut ones of rag instead;
I'll let the little giris have fun.
Just as their grannies had.
“To little boys I’ll
give hut tilings m
That they can %
pound and smash; LM
)n no more toys
mechanical
I’ll waste my
Christmas cash.
‘So, missus, put the
kettle on
And make molacscs Ki*
hot,
.nd taffy candy we
will make.
Such as their dad¬
dies got. C
i aius V
Bring all the nuts i*
and raisins out,
The bullscye sweets^
and sticks,
nd in the good old AND THEN IIF. HITCHED
fashioned way HIS REINDEER TEAM.
rheir stickings I will fix."
And then he hitched his reindeer team,
Took up his mighty pack.
Tucked in the robes, shook out the reins
And gave his whip a crack.
To all his little friends he gave
Big Noah’s arks and such
Instead of pretty, dinky toys
That "Baby mustn’t touch."
r a
Nu
mum _jBJ Km I UjEED cicd a ir m si N C jrr any A f AN l\ .
/
m
r
r* 1 • Y
1 »
V
u IP IV
c* o/K'
THIS SIGN WILL meet your ky*.
And there never was a Christmas day
Siru-e grandmammas were young
When ohildren with such happy hearts
Their Christmas carols sung.
And if you visit Santa Claus
This sign will meet your eye:
“No drummers with newfangled stuff
Need any more apply.”
Tlie Toy Trust.
One gigantic monopoly there Is free
from attack, and tlmt is the toy trust
kept a going by one Mr. Santa Claus,
aid'd by about 400.000.0UO lusty sliout
ers ra nud uia and uncle may buy
Christmas glineracks from Smith,
Jones or Brown, but they won’t go
down In the stocking nor up the cbltn
ney tine until S. C. puts his trademark
on them. Call It patent right or copy
right or vested right, the grand old fel¬
low holds It in perpetuity. True, he
ioesn t charge a cash foe for the use of
ols name, but lie Is a stickler for all
tbe (dory there Is In it, and lie gets It
in full measure. Everybody plays Into
the hands of this trust. The eonsuiV
ers must have the real thing, nnd the
dealers and middlemen conspire to
meet the demand.
The Bulloch Herald
INTUITION.
How does it know-this tiny hidden thing—
Within its wilderness of tangled grass,
The hour when summer’s languid footsteps past
And southward flying birds are on the wing,
While earth is dumb with August’s silencing?
How does it know the time for purplish haze
Or guess the wondrous transformation scene
Which 6ets the field and forpst all ablaze?
let, in shrill notes, from drowsy ways of
Breaking the spell that passing summer sways,
The cricket first proclaims the autumn days.
Henry Cleveland Wood in Alnslee’s Magazine.
FREAKS IN LUNCH
Waiter CalU Attention to tlie
tive Haliit Among Patron,.
One of the amusing things to be no
ticed at the lunch counters is the habit
of iynitation. If the mam on the
studies the bill of fare and then or
ders a ham sandwich, punipkiu pie and
a glass of milk, all his neighbors
likely to duplicate his order, and soon
there will be a whole row eating
actly the same things. Sometimes
similarity of appetite causes
embarrassment. This is invariably
case If the occupants of the high
shift about the same time and the
on the end have numerous chances
set examples for 20 or 30 patrons.
the pumpkin pie or sandwiches
sure to give out before the noon hour
past.
“It’s funny how lazy people are,"
said one of the waiters at a down
town lunch place. “There nre lots
men who won’t look at a bill of fare,
and they just stare over the
and ask for anything that comes into
their heads if they don’t happen to see
another fellow eating just wliat they
want. If we have something sort of
out of the ordinary, like fried oysters,
something that can be written on the
card in ink, so it will make a good im¬
pression on the public, It’s a losing in¬
vestment if the fellow ou the end near
the door happens to pick it out. Then
every one that passes him sees the
oysters, and soon there is a regular
chorus of yells for oysters. There
ain’t a patron that wants corn beef
hash or cold cabbage. *
“People are just like sheep or geese.
They like to follow a leader if it’s in
nothing but eating. I’ve seen big word¬
ed articles about thoughts and ideas
being catching or contagious. Any
philosopher who has a chance to wait
on a lunch counter would believe in
that theory. Ideas are as catching
as tlie measles, and donlt you forget
It.”—Chicago Inter Ocean.
Alcohol nnd the Drain.
A lecture delivered by Dr.
Horsley In England on “The Action of
Alcohol on the Brain” showed how
fibers connect all parts of the brain so
that it acts as a whole. It was desired
to find out whether the brain as a
whole works as well with alcohol
without. One way of testing this was
by testing tlie reaction time, the length
taken in perceiving a given signal. lie
tried a complex experiment, showing a
signal with a number on it which was
not to he signaled back unless it was
above ten. This took longer, involving
association of ideas, and the time from
tlie very first was prolonged by alcohol.
Professor Horsley said that chloro¬
form, ether, nitrous oxide and similar
narcotics acted in the same way. Al¬
cohol produced a dissolution of the
nerve centers.
Kraepelin had tried tlie action of al¬
cohol on muscular power by means Of
the pressure dynamometer, which was
squeezed nt regular intervals. After a
rest alcohol was taken, and at first
there was a little increase, soon follow¬
ed by a notable decrease. Under tlie
Influence of tea there was no decrease
at all. Ho showed a diagram con
structed by Dr. Ascliaffenherg repre¬
senting tht? amoiiut of type set up by
certain compositors in a quarter of an
hour before and after takiug alcohol.
The amount was made less by alcohol.
—Argonaut.
Tlie Stool of Repentance.
“Any infraction of the rules at Gi¬
rard college,” says the Philadelphia
Record, “is punished with 20 minutes
ou a stool of repentance. When the in¬
stitution first adopted this scheme of
punishment, one stool was enough. As
the college expanded the stools multi¬
plied, and today no less than C4 four
legged, painless Instruments of disci¬
pline are in more or less constaut use
in a room devoted exclusively to the
punishment of those who have trans¬
gressed the rules. There Is absolutely
nothing to the disciplining except the
order to sit on a comfortable stool for
20 minutes and ‘think it over.’ Any of
the lads would sooner take a sound
thrashing and have done with It. but
the stool of repentance lias proved It¬
self an Ideal punishment, and it has
come to stay at Girard college.”
Could Take a Hint.
It was late, but be still lingered.
“I have beeu trying to think,’’ the
young woman remarked after a pause
In the conversation, "of the motto of
the state of Maine.”
“ ‘Dirigdf ” said young Spoonamore,
reaching for his hat. “and I will go,
but It will always be a consolation,”
he added, with a profound how, “to
know. Miss de Muir, that you once
called me ‘dearie!’ ’’—Chicago Tribune.
ExerHie Eiionifli,
“I thought your wife wns golug to
join our physical culture class this
year, Mr. Smythers?"
“She did Intend to. but we’ve got a
girl who has been over from Sweden
only six weeks, and my wife has to
talk to her by makiug signs.”—Chicago
Times-IIerald.
Take away my first letter, take away
my second letter, take away ail my let
ters, and I am still the same. Wliat
urn I? The postman,
The rose was an emblem of I minor
___ ______
tality among the Syrians, nnd the Chl
uese planted It over graves.
STATESBORO, GA., FRIDAY, DEC. 28, 1900.
TO i§ -J
V
jsr
/■
v; _
’"'i .1 1 Vi Is tE ilW'i ’Vu
mm 'ife
II- ,«-rs i -Ji- i
4U*
Xh^jAS ri"- - AT -'*'■>*£& THE!-FAR.M. If
T HE unmistakable man made signs of Christmas were left behind when
I plunged Into the dreary waste of snow beyond the borders of the
town for the annual-pilgrimage to uncle’s farm. Only the snow, hid¬
ing bush and fence, the white mantled trees and the cold gave a sug¬
gestion that somewhere beneath the chilling rural surface of things there were
joyous groups preparing holiday revels. Winter was too keen, too freezing, not
to have a brighter side than that which lay out of doors.
As I passed the big barn the sounds of young voices behind the huge doors
told me that Cousins Frank and Jim were inside, perhaps mending harness or
tools or earing for the live stock. The little door, framed In the huge ones,
opened to my hand, and Jim and Frank, one holding open a grain bag and the
other emptying a bushel into its mealy, gaping mouth, smiled a welcome.
Without looking up, Uncle David “struck off’ another heaped up measure of
grain and marked it down on the score. “I thought it was about time,” said
he, and I then knew that my social status at the farm had not changed since
the last visit.
The horses in their stalls stopped nosing the hay and pricked up their eare
for a minute, tlie cattle held their cuds lazily and stared; then the atmosphere
- -- resumed its throbbing stillness
S until the load of bags had been
tied and set In rows. Only this
P ; and nothing more by way of
u -p— ceremony in receiving a Christ¬
iFJfePr / mas guest. I.ater came inqui¬
CTt ries newest after doings “the in folks” town. and the
While uncle cast a satisfied
m glance at the bursting haymows,
the sleek horses and cattle and
the rows of bags Jim and Frank
& challenged me to guesses at the
remaining contents of the bins.
“You will all have another
guess,” chimed in my uncle,
“and now let’s go and see what’s
going on in tlie kitchen.” I no¬
ticed for the first time that his
linen was very fresh for a farm
———— - er at work and that the boys
each had on a brnnd new suit from wool raised on the farm. These trifles
were the only evidence of a holiday, for not a word of Christmas had been
spoken. We entered the strung out, rambling line of buildings constituting
the farmhouse, through a wood shed, into the washroom, then past a storeroom
having a faint suggestion of holding supplies that were toothsome. Next came
a summer kitchen with a positive odor of newly peeled apples, doughnuts and
spiced mince meat. Uncle led the way out upon the porch to ovoid the crowd¬
ed main kitchen, through the open door of which came hot and heavily laden
air from ample ovens and steaming kettles and pans.
Cousin Martha, the unplucked flower of a group of seven girls, rushed for¬
ward to give the first effusive greeting, and Cousin Ilattie, with Cousin Mar¬
vin’s wife, Jennie, followed suit Egp
In Aunt enough might make Harriet, sit to wish down believe looking that to Sll girlishness. the generous creation feast, i* iISFft jr. -_4 p &
whose stages of preparation Wf
were shown by stains and flour
patches extending from her eyes
to the hem of her apron, said in
kindly reproval, “You’re here, r -5r K V
but alone, ns usual.” y it-'
From tlie porch we went in¬ j
to tlie family sitting room, nnd
uncle seemed to cut loose from ii i
his following as he sat down be¬
side Cousin Tildy, whose fresh F7
widow's weeds lent a somber
key to the occasion. Jim and '/Ah
Frank gave a find in choking
silence to their mourning sister,
and I wanted to, hut had to answer for the city aunt and cousins. Two father¬
less little ones rushed In with six other sets of happy grandchildren, and som¬
berness fled from the farmhouse, for the rest of that day at least.
Cousin Marion started in to cheek her brood, but her childless sister Kath¬
erine said; “Let the young ones go it. Time enough to he sober when they get
old.” Then uncle got down on the floor and turned himself Into a horse play¬
ing granddaddy until the racket made the old house shake.
My cousins stole out and hurried nervously to the enrriage house, on the
side of tlie farm, opposite the big barn. There was life and hustle there, for
sleighbells gavP fitful melodies as they were taken off and hung up; horses
stamped and were told, with sounding slaps, to “Get over!” Cousin Marvin
was acting the host to the hrothers-in-law from tlie hill farms. He lived on a
section of land set off from the homestead and was uncle’s right band man.
WJ m SM There was a word or two of re¬
gret from the older ones for the
lamented Samuel, who had been
h r there last Christmas; then the
o group marched single file be¬
^ ) > / i i hind the narrow the stalwart snow Marvin path to over the
house.
^rr yard Floating up babel from of the voices, front
came a
tv -\F> nnd Ralph, the oldest grandson,
O, a fat, hearty lad, shouted to us
k. boys, “Come and see our Christ
nins!” As we rounded the cor¬
<v ner of the house the same tones
i A cried out, “Ready, aim, fire!”
* .
and n dozen hulls whisked past
our heads from a snow fort
manned by a troop of boys nnd
girls in mufflers aud mittens.
After this reception the garrison
scattered and began placing great rolls upon the parapet to build it higher.
A snow man as big as a giant and a rabbit the size of a Saint Bernard were
patched up with a nose and an ear, and we were asked to review the sights
of the frosty Christmas museum.
The call to dinner led to a real charge through every door of the mansion,
and when we got a glimpse of tlie dining room, as the women seated the little
ones, it presented a jumble of happy, red faces and beups of cooked tilings In
brown, white, pink and yellow.
All Christmas dinners are alike in one thing—under any nnd all circum¬
stances the guests are ravenously hungry and boisterously happy,and neither
old nor young can observe the rule of not talking with the mouth full; other¬
wise tlie feast would he silent, and with 35 mouths enjoying Aunt Harriet’*
bounteous spread that dinner was not at nil quiet. Moreover,'I didn’t regret
having turned my hack upon town celebrations for a Christmas at the farm.
G. Kenneth Gilmer.
(< I
* )
(\ (A S,»
s>
kt* Li V' o
i
I THE HEAD
ANIMAL MAN’S
XMAS.
By J. H. Connelly.
COPYRIGHT, 1000, BY J. B. CONNKLLT. ! I
He prayeth but who loveth be«t
All things, both great and small;
For the dear God, who loveth us,
He made and loveth all.
When the show reached winter quar¬
ters In Cincinnati, the proprietors were
In haste to get away—Mr. King to New
York and Mr. Lake to his Michigan
farm. The former, who was "boss,”
said to me; "Bill Crlpps, you’ve been
our bend animal man only one season,
but that’s enough for me to know and
trust you, so I’m going away with my
mind easy, leaving you In entire charge
of the menagerie. Keep the bills down,
draw on me when you want money,
and—that’s all.”
I said I’d do my best and meant It.
The circus outfit I had nothing to do
with. The menagerie was well housed
nilr jtv HE
*
It//?
m
I
w Jjm nflw
4iLll>
WB HAD A LOT OF VISITORS.
in a huge barn away out on Western
which seemed to have been built
fit it. A good big room was parti¬
off for me In one front corner.
cages were ranged along the side
with n runway behind them, and
box stalls across the farther end
the zebra, the elephant, the cam¬
and tlie sacred cow. A monster red
stove stood in the middle of tlie
space, with a large bunch light
It. Altogether it was as warm,
bright, clean nnd cheery a place as
you’d want to see, as everybody said
who saw It, nnd we bad n good many
visitors.
Caged animals become restless If left
alone, nnd I never went out more than
an hour or two at a time, but even at
that 1 took a good many long walks
for exercise nnd to see tlie city, leaving
black Sam—my helper—and the two
cage cleaners for the animals to look
at. Tlut ns time ran along to tioar
Christmas I seemed to lose heart for
going out much. Something Iu the
air made me feel myself, more than
ever before, a hopelessly lonesome,
total stranger.
The stores were brighter and gayer
than I had ever noticed their being
before; the streets full of happy fnced
people carrying bundles of Christmas
presents; tlie windows of homes adorn¬
with evergreen festoons and Christ¬
mas wreaths; the shopmen’s wagons
busy delivering good things for Christ¬
mas dinners and Christmas trees.
The Lord knows I didn't begrudge
anybody’s linppincss. hut It all made
me feel unutterably sad. In all the
world I knew of no one whose eyes
would brighten or Ups smile a welcome
for my coming. As for sharing in the
general joy of the Christmas season, I
might as well have been that ornary
camel—the meanest dlsposltloned beast
alive, to my thinking—as a man with
a heart to feel his loneliness. Every
other man had friends, even poor old
black Sam.
And what made it harder to hear
was that home and love belonged In
my past and I could not forget them.
When 1 enme back to New York after
a winter engagement with “Bentley’s
Aggregation” In the West Indies and
South America, I found my dear wife
Lizzie had been run down by a Broad¬
stage and killed. And wliat had
become of my sweet little baby girl
only 4 years old, nobody could
me. That was a dozen years hack,
but never since have 1 felt any less
heartsick and lonely than when my
grief was fresh, and In tlie winter,
about Christmas, I always feel It
most
The animals, as 1 sat brooding by the
stove, seemed to know 1 was In trou¬
ble iiml feel sorry for me. They would
still a long time looking nt me.
tlie elephant. I’m sure, tried to ask.
ills little squeals, what was the rrint
Only that mean camel screwed
his nose scorufullike, as if he didn’t
a cuss who felt bud. which he eer
didn’t.
Friday morning, the third day before
Jack Henderson, a young
dropped in. ns he often did.
happened to remark: “It seems
to he imprisoned for life without
oocnslotml happy day to vary the
Caged animals ought to
holidays."
That set uie thinking after he was
and 1 made up my mind the men
agerte under my charge Bbould, for
o*ee anyway, have a Christmas. I con¬
sidered what every bird nnd beast In
the lot liked best and mostly never
got. and all those things I meant they
should have on Christmas day 1 bat
afternoon I went out buying and laugh
#d to myself when l thought 1 was ac
tftially purchasing Christmas presents
tw a lot of folks who would he sure to
npjireclnte them. of cholct
g ;got for the birds nil sorts
fi'UHs, nice seeds, uuts’ eggs, meal
worms, nnd so on, according to tfieli
levenal tastes, aud for the
lore flue fruit, fig paste, candy
nut kernels. For the cat animals I
engaged plei ty of tender. juicy, fresh
beef Instead of tough old horse,
ordinary diet. There wusti t much
be done for the bay enters beyond un¬
accustomed oats, apples and bran
mashes, but for the elephant I got a
basket of fine oranges and bad baked a
lot of patty cakes, such as he used to
enjoy at borne iu India. The camel
didn’t really deserve any Christmas,
but 1 bought a hatful of dates for him
anyway.
I was getting the stuff In on Satur¬
day afternoon when Jack came around
agniu with a bunch of good cigars for
my Christmas, and it brought my heart
up In my throat that the kind fellow
lmd thought of me so. for no one else
had since Lizzie died. He asked what
the things were for. and I told him.
Maybe 1 said more than 1 meant to, for
my heart was full nt the time, and I
had no Idea of Ills putting anythlug lu
the paper about the menagerie’s Christ¬
ians. But he did, and really when 1
read on Christinas morning the story
he got up I was surprised.
Cat animals nre never fed on Sun¬
days and as we let all go shy of break¬
fast Monday the menagerie’s appetite
for a Christmas dinner at noon was
sure to be good. Before that time
came we had a lot of visitors, nice peo¬
ple who had seen Jack’s story, and
among them were a tine white headed
old gentleman who Introduced himself
as Dr. Illram Bid well, and his adopted
daughter—a splendid looking girl.
Luckily we were In good shape to re¬
ceive them. Sam wore a new suit I
had given him. The cage cleaners were
so washed and draped up they hardly
recognized each other and I was
up with as much «tyle ns a ringmaster
myself.
Precisely nt uoon we sprung our
glad surprise on the animals. If you
Imnglne those birds and beasts didn’t
notice any change In their bill of fare,
you are wrong. • You never saw such
Joyous excitement among feathers and
fur. They jabbered, chattered, shriek¬
ed and ronred their delight in nil their
various modes of speech. The mon¬
keys seemed half crazy, and even the
sedate elephant danced, flapped his
ears like Inns and squealed. Only
that mean camel was indifferent and
ate his fancy dates with a sneering
twist of his nose, ns If he meant to
say, “You can’t soft sawder me.”
The sight of the general happiness
gladdened everybody and none more
than Dr. Bldwell and Ills daughter,
who staid until all the other visitors
were gone, talking with me about the
animnls and. as I afterward remem¬
bered. a good deal more about myself.
Near dark, just when I was thinking
of going out to a restaurant for my
dinner. Dr. Bldwell ennie back, and
nothing would do but I must go with
him to get n glass of eggnog.
We were not gone more than half an
hour, hut by the time we returned a
transformation had been worked In
my room. In the center a big table
was set with dinner for four—the best
dinner I ever saw, with a wftiole tur¬
key, bottles of wine and all sorts of
nice things—and when I raised my
eyes from it they took iu a “Merry
Christmas,” in evergreen letters, on the
wall, and Iu a holly frame, facing me.
B
WM m f ft - m ' -sm A v ' Sf hM wmk
m W /
i n M\
% m
<
“WHATl” I CRIED, TAKING HER IN’ MV ARMS.
a life size painted portrait of my dear,
lost Lizzie. I’d never lmd the eonsola
tlou of a likeness of her. and seeing her
face, wearing the gentle, kindly smile
I knew and loved so well, gave me
sueli a turu that a faintness overcame
me, and 1 dropped on a chair, trem¬
bling nnd with my eyes full of tears.
Then that splendid girl, who had
been standing behind mo, put her arms
around my neck and snid, “You shall
never be alone In the world any more,
dear father!"
“Wlmt,” 1 cried, taking her Iu my
arms, “you—you, ray little Jennie! Oh,
is God really and truly so good to uie
after all Y”
It seemed Impossible, hut was true.
When I had grown calmer, they told
me how Dr. Bldwell, then practicing in
New York, was with my dear wife
when she died and. at her request, took
charge of her little daughter. He and
bis good wife adopted her. but always
hoped to find me some time, for her
child heart never forgot or ceased to
love me, nnd they were too good to
wish us kept apart, and at lust Jack’s
story told them where I was.
s * «
Still 1 go my way each tenting sea¬
son. old os 1 am, for show life gets Into
the blood and Irresistibly draws one
who lias lived It so many yenrs as 1;
but, wherever I may lie. never more
am 1 lonely or uuhnppy, for winter al¬
ways brings me hack to my dear Jen
n j R ^ n( j no f e this—that none of this
g ren t happiness would have come to
me ^, aL | | not given the animals a
Christmas.
A Sort of EaSlni Cksls.**
“Christmas comes hut once a year."
"Glad you think so. Wliat with sis¬
ters and cousins aud aunts ii has come
to me four butidred and forty-eleven
times already with wnlters, bootblacks,
barbers and office boys to hear from.”
NO. 48.
| THE FIRST
WEST
I XMAS.
ooBy F. A. Ober.oo
It may or may not be generally known,
but the first Christmas celebration In
America took place in the West Indies
and in the very year that America was
discovered. There was not much fes¬
tivity about It, to be sure, for the first
anniversary of the Nativity In the new
world found the participants In a
state of mind not conducive to merry¬
making or cheerful entertainment.
The great navigator, C’histopher Co¬
lumbus, who showed the civilized
world the way across the Atlantic, was
master of ceremonies, and he had lit¬
tle reason for rejoicing, for on Christ¬
mas eve. 141)2, he had lost his flag¬
ship, ilic Santa Maria, which had run
on a reef on the north coast of Haiti.
Fortunately for him and his crew, the
native Indians of the island were
friendly, and they not only came to his
rescue, hut saved all tlie wreckage of
his vessel, which they piled up on'the
beach at Guarleo, near the present city
of Capo Haitian. The Indian cacique
did all he could to allay the grief qt the
Spaniards and ou Christmas day
spread a banquet to which they were
invited and at which many of his peo¬
ple acted In the capacity of servants.
This was the first Christmas dinner
In America, nnd at this aboriginal
“spread” so many new and struugc ar¬
ticles of food were offered the Span¬
iards that Columbus made a note of
them, so we are enabled to state exact¬
ly wlmt they were. In the first place,
there was maize, or Indian corn, which
tlie Europeans may have seen in the
Bahamas, but which they had not eat¬
en before. In fnet, the golden kernels
carried back to Spain by Columbus
from this first voyage to America were
tlie first that ever reached the old
world, and it was many years after
that before brown bread and “Injun
became at all common on the
tables of European royalty.
One of the curious tubers offered the
Spaniards..that day by the Indian chief¬
In Haiti was the manioc, or cas
from which the aborigines made
dully bread. They were the orig¬
inators also of tlie cassnreep, or West
Indian pepper pot. made by throwing
places of meat of nil kinds into an
Mf
~L~Tj A
gfVpM* pi-41 "•ft ■
M'
'-I • I
-
*
W *3
ji
STJ &
y u !
_ i£>
A. nu ©b. *'■
J T
O- FVfft
FIRST CHRISTMAS DINNER IN AMERICA.
earthen vessel, where it was preserved
for any length of time by the antiseptic
properties of the manioc.
Christopher was so taken with the
pepper pot, according to a local tradi¬
tion. that he begged the recipe from tlie
native chef and took it homo to Queen
Isabella, but whether she appreciated
the article or not has not been record¬
ed. Another tuber, the yam, was also
served up after roasting in the ashes,
hut it is doubtful if the potato was oil
the festal hoard, though it may as well
have been found in the highlands of
Haiti as in South America, where it Is
said to have been discovered long aft¬
er. Anyway, there were several new
fruits, all tropical, such as the guava,
Apple, sapota mid pineapple,
ami In meats there was a great varie¬
for the Indians shot and trapped
wild parrot, pigeon, doves, agouti,
Iguana and the utia. the three last
named being animals Indigenous to the
island.
There was one function at that ban¬
quet which Columbus may have In¬
dulged iD. though he has left no record
of having been suddenly Indisposed,
aud that Is tobacco smoking. He had
seen Indiaus on the const of Cuba roll
up dry leaves of a plant unknown to
him and after lighting one end of the
roll Inhale and puff out the smoke
thereof with evident enjoyment. But
at this banquet he was astonished to
see the chief and his big men cram
portions of tlie weed into a curious
pipe, with a branched stein shaped like
the letter Y and after Inserting a stem
Into each nostril proceed to fuddle
themselves with the narcotic, to the
great disgust of the Spaniards, who
had a few vices of their own. even
then, but did not smoke. It was ouly
because they did not know bow. hut Co¬
lumbus lost nu opportunity for adding
another laurel to Ids immortal wreath,
and left to Sir Walter Raleigh the In¬
troduction of smoking into Europe n
century later.
The main object of this article Is to
point out that down in the West In¬
dies, where dwell our nearest foreign
neighbors, nnd where we have n tidy
little island of our own Iu Porto Rico,
the first Christinas anniversary in
America was celebrated and the first
dinner eaten with aboriginal Indiana
as the hosts. ■.* * *■*•-% ■»*•»,*