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8 T[he tanadi, m Salesnmar, !Bou "'n nilt [.itDucemb 22,9. 76 Section Three Gifts of great val1ue and beauty ivere brou glit tb bhe Christ Cliild at bue tirne of His birt/î, the Scriptures te/i us. Thî'ough the years, a ioreiy legend lias evolved about the many gifts presented to'theNewcborýn King. It seemns thât iviien ail these splendid gifts wcere 'laid at the feet of the Infant, there icas a littie drummier boy twatching sadly, beca use lie hac! no rie/hes to off el* the Christ Chiid. The on/y thirig bhe littie boyj possessed wcas bis druin, and he thought, "Perbaps the Holy Babe wcould en/o y hear- ing iny drum" . . so the littie drummer boy began to play and wcas rewarded with a smile f roin the Infant Jesus, for his gif t of/love. little-known narrative by Charles Dickens 1The tree w as brilliantly lighted by a multitude of littie tapers. nd e\ er - where sparkled and glitter- ed with- brigbt objects. Thee ere rosN -cheeked doils hidingy behind the green leaves and there were real wvatches (w ,ithi maýýveable bands at least and an encless capacitv of being xound up) dangling froun innumerable twigs. There were French-pol- ished tables, chairs, bed- spreads, wardrobes, eight- dayr d ocks and varions othý- er! aricesofdomestic fu!r- niture (wonderfully made, in tin, at Wolverhampton) perched among the boughs, as if in preparation for some f airy housekeeping. There were jolly, broad- f aced littie men, much more agrecable in appearance than many reai men - and no wonder for their heads, took off and showed them to be full of sugar plums. There were fiddles and drumis, tambourines, books, work boxes, paint-boxes, sweetmeat boxes, peep- show boxes and ail ki nds of boxes. There were trinkets for Back in the late 1800's, sending greeting cards t(, friends and relatives at Christmas came into vogue for the first time. Those early Christmas cards were quite different from the cards you receive in your holiday mail ho- day. Many greeting cards during the Victorian era feahured satin fringes. Pop- uilar designs were centered about such subjects as birds, animais, flowers, and chiltiren in grown-up poses. The first Christmas card was designed by John Cal- cott Hlorsley for Sir Ilenry Cole in 1843. It read, "T'o Uncles, Aunts, & Cousins, A merry Christmas and a happy New Year ho you.» Tire illustration featured a family cerati on, with glasses, raiset in a toast. Anotlier card of this era, featiires angels with trurn- pets andi peacock wirîgs, along with the message: "S<twith joy ye( mortals pray for Christ is 1)orn on ChristmasDa. It was publlislie( hy Louis Prang, a pluneeýr im the manîîfac- the eider girls far brighter than any grown-up izold and jewels. There were baskets and pincushions in ail devices. There Nvere guins, sNvords, and banners. w ith wiches standing *in enchanted rings of paste- board to tell fortunes. There wvere teetotuims, hui-Lming tops, neediecases, pen-\vipers, sinelling bot- ties, conversation cards, bouquet holders. There xvas real fruit, made artifi- cially dazzling xith gold leaf, limitation apples, peasan d -wablutscr- med with surprises. ln short, there, was every- thing and more. This motley collection of odd objects, clustering on the tree like magic fruit, and flasbing back the bright looks directed to- wards it from every side, made a lively realization of the fancies of childhood, and set me to thinking how A the trees that grow and ail the things that come into existence on the earth, have their wild adornments at that well-remembered time, Christmas. ture of holiday greeting cards. Prang perfected repro- ducing processes and spon- sored art competitions to stimulate outstanding de- signs for bis gree 'ting cards. Many of bis reproductions, involving as many as 15 colors, were SO accurate they couldn't be distin- guished fromn the originals. We can thank the holi- day spirit of those living in the Victorian era for one of our nices t Christmas cus- toms of all - c'heery, friend- ly greeting cards! A Christmas 'Poem The young mother (so very youn g!) Smiles softly to behold Him Andi takes a ragged swaddling cloth To tcnderly enfold Ilimi Ilis infant eyes gaze upon A wor]d of strife andi sorrow J)oes 1lie sec riow the sulent tre Awaitinig sorrîe toinorrow? Buit loving,, fingers take 11 s1) ba ri ( \Vitlî iylrîs ca ress in g; 1lie stretches infant armns to lier, As if in Surueew IiI lssing The In)otller ,1lai ghswitlî sweet deligit At this e(eaiggaine Andispeaks it for the first time: I lis svondrous, holy Naine,. liq Fred Owen cpo& I - Idv u and Entire Staff of QAf tcItoQ~ &Uotok~ Cotitce t'de I twgq~ ~if y Roy Owen e-ý