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2---PORT PERRY STAR -- CHRISTMAS EDITION 1970 Santa's White Beard, Who gave Santa his red suit, broad girth, white beard, ruddy c and nese, fur- trimmed hat and coat? Surprisingly enough, the donor was a political car- toonist The artist's name was Thomas Nast, cartoonist for Harper's Iustrated Weekly, whe also created the now- fameus symbols of the Re- publican elephant and the Democratic donkey The figure of Santa that Nast drew in 1863, and per- haps earlier, has proved to be the definitive one, and even today the figure as drawn by Nast appears occasionally on Christmas greetings. Nast's image of S@pta was extraordinary," says Mrs Jeannette Lee, director of design at Hallmark. "He gave Santa many of the qualities that have en- deared him to children ever since, and we wouldn't dream of tampering very much with them today." Nast first credited Santa with keeping books on good and bad children, having a Christmas toy workshop and reading letters sent to him by children. Perhaps it was the now- famous poem, "A Visit from St. Nicholas," by Dr. Clement Clarke Moore, that inspired Nast's illustration of Santa. Im this children's classic of 1823, the right jolly old elf, who looked like a peddler with a pack on his back, was te your and yours for a Merry Christmas. ROSS DUFF LTD. BLACKSTOCK "On earth peace, good will toward men." Our best wishes to you at Christmas. MURRAY . BURNFIELD PLUMBING & HEATING MURRAY BURNFIELD and ERNIE ABRAHAM +o | : PPetnee, Fé attail cites ; : LEEEaE eee Fs? ag i" bbls r EBs F g Born in 1840 in the tiny "His own childhood in far- off Bavaria has been meas- ured by the yearly visits of . . St. Nicholas . . . and the girlhood of the woman who was to become his wife (Sarah Edwards of New York) was intimately associated with brilliant and joyous celebrations. "Nast's children later re- called there was always a multitude of paper dolls -- marvelously big and elabo- rate, a race long since be- come extinct. "And these the artistic father ---- more than half a child himself at the Christ- mas SeaSon -- 'arranged in processions and cavaicades, gay pageants that marched in and about those larger presents that could not be crowded into the row of stockings that hung by the family fireplace. "It was a time of splendor and rejoicing -- the festive blossoming of the winter sea- son -- and it was a beautiful and sturdy family that made Merry Christmas riot in the spacious New York home." In Nast's day, the idea of some sort of Santa was not new to this country. He was introduced to North America by the early Dutch 'settlers and his name was St. Nicho- las. The annual visit of this kind man, who was thought to have been a fourth-cen- tury bishop, was his feast day, December 6th By 1809, Washington Irving was describing Santa as a small Dutch citizen who looked much like Father Knickerbocker. Irving won- dered ow the poor old man could get to all the homes in a growing America on his horse, so he invented the fa- mous reindeer-drawn sleigh Decorating with Cards Can Be Yule Project "HELLO, LITTLE ONE" WAS TITLE FOR this famed drawing of Santa, by Thomas Nast from Harper's Weekly. Nast, a noted 1%h century political cartoonist, was the first Santa as a bearded, red-nosed jolly old man whose figure was clothed in a fur-trimmed red suit, according to researchers for Hallmark. friends and new go our wishes tor a wonderful Christmas season. CHESTER APPLIANCES SERVICE and SALES Port Perry Variety Store