neutral, they, along with the others, are suffering from the most
terrible calamity of the century. The Norse people call their friend
Senter Klaas. He comes to them with white horses and flying sleighs that
carry him over the house-tops to drop his gifts down the chimney-stacks.
Though Senter Klaas has done his level best to visit these children this
year, as usual, he is bringing fewer Christmas trees with him--and his
bag is lighter. Instead of carrying kites, sleighs, skates, boats and
Dutch dolls, his presents include caps, overcoats, shoes, mittens,
dresses and aprons for those pretty Norse girls. Many of the Swiss
cities and towns are so high up in the cold, snow-covered Alps, that
many American children are unfamiliar to them. But this sister-republic,
which loves freedom, honor and integrity, should be extremely dear to
every patriotic little American. The Swiss are hard-working people, and
rich and poor alike in Switzerland rear their children in the same
simple, unspoiled fashion. But Christmas is a week for real merry-making
in Switzerland. Children and grown-ups alike are busy making visits to
relatives and friends. Those from the mountains come down into the
lowlands, and those from the villages into the cities. In every small
hamlet the stations are crowded with trees and Christmas boxes being
shipped in every direction. Mothers and daughters are using every spare
moment dressing dolls, and trimming dolls' houses for younger children.
While the fathers and older brothers are equally busy making watches,
sleighs and wooden Noah's arks for the younger boys. Switzerland is
world-famous for its fir and pine trees, so the Christmas trees are
often large enough to bear the gifts of several families. The trees are
beautifully trimmed with lights, gold and silver balls and plenty of
angels and grotesque figures, fashioned of wax and of sugar. The feast
and merry-making continues for three and four days in most Swiss homes.
The grown-ups and children are stuffed with goodies, including chickens,
jellies, candied fruits, nuts, raisins and cakes. When they can eat no
more they start off for a mountain climb or to skate on the ice, only to
return a few hours later to continue their feast. They are comforted by
the thought that they will only know high thinking and plain living for
the rest of the winter. This Christmas will be the harder to bear
because it is the evening star in the Swiss horizon. Switzerland is
being so heavily taxed this year by keeping her men on the frontier that
the people have little money for Christmas-giving. The tall trees will
be few, the small trees will be decorated with only a few candles and
trimmings, while the gifts will be limited to clothes and school books
for the girls and boys. The Christmas dinner will be a great deal
smaller, with fewer goodies than in other years.
Though Russia is so far away from Santa Claus' home and workshops,
Russian children get their full quota of toys, such as sleighs, skates
and dolls. Costly dolls, with real hair and handsome clothes, for the
children of the nobles and aristocratic classes, and pretty peasant
dolls for the middle classes and the peasants. Bobsleighs and skates of
different qualities for the boys of rich and poor, but this matters
little as long as they are bobsleighs and skates.
The children of Southern lands, from Spain, France and Italy, know
little about St. Nicholas and his own day of celebration three weeks
before, but to them Santa Claus means much as part of the Christmas
feast itself. In the streets and in the shops hundreds of children gaze
longingly and lovingly at the bebe or bambino in Italian. They beg to be
taken to the great cathedrals in Paris, in Madrid, in Florence and in
Rome, to see that wonderful Christ-child lying in the manger, protected
by the sheepfold, the peasants and the Wise Men. They go home and ask
their parents to give them a bambino such as they saw in the manger.
Some get handsome babies dressed in rich swaddling clothes; others are
given tiny wax dolls, but they are comforted in the thought that it is
the baby they saw in the manger. The finest of these dolls come from
France. About five millions are made every year and are sent to Paris,
where they are dressed in the latest styles. Shortly before Christmas
prizes are offered to the costumers dressing the finest dolls. In the
great shops days are set aside when this large number of handsome dolls
are shown to the children. Many a heart beats as those happy, sunny eyes
gaze on the lovely-made dolls, dressed in faultless fashion. The boys
have their exhibits of mechanical toys, including aeroplanes, trains,
motor cars and many others of the sort. These dolls are sent to all
parts of the world, and many find a lasting beloved home with little
American girls.
Santa Claus is known to be a very old man, with plenty of snow-white
hair and loving eyes, but he has different qualities and characteristics
in every land. When the early colonists came from Europe to America they
brought their different ideas with them, and together they molded a new
character. He loves old and young alike, and generous folks most of all.
He knows no difference in nationalities and creeds--he loves the
Protestant, the Catholic and the Jewish child equally. He loves American
children, nor no less than the German, French, English, Russian and
Italian children. He tells them that they are all children of one
Father, belong to one great family, and have one Home. The joys of one
are the joys of all, and the sorrows of one are the sorrows of all.
Because of this teaching, many millions of Americans are sad this
Christmas, and their prayers are that every heart should be filled with
love and peace, instead of hatred.
To make this a living promise, many an American child has asked to share
his Christmas gifts with some friend across the sea, and some have
offered all their Christmas gifts to sad, lonely children in Europe.
Though every great thinker and writer teaches us to love our fellow-men,
Dickens, more than all others, gave us the impulse of loving kindness
within and without the household bonds. He taught that each little home
was a world's great family, of which we are all children together. With
the glow not of log-fires, but of warm hearts, he scared away the
Christmas ghosts and Christmas goblin that had crowded round in the
gloom of the centuries. With an outburst of human tenderness he
challenged the cold and darkness, not of winter alone, but of the grave
itself. For, as Santa Claus kneels by millions of his children he
whispers these are all my children, one of God's many emblems of hope,
in innocence and beauty; born in human love, chosen as God's messenger
to spread the promise of peace and brotherly love.
_OTHER VOLUMES IN_
THE AUTHORS' HAND-BOOK SERIES
THE PLOT _of the_ SHORT STORY
BY
HENRY ALBERT PHILLIPS
Author of "A Complete Course in Short Story Writing," "A Complete
Course in Photoplay Writing," "A Complete Course in Plot
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and formerly Associate Editor of the "Metropolitan Magazine."
Introduction by Matthew White. Jr., Editor of "Munsey's"
_The only serious work on Plot Sources, Construction and Analysis there
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Art in Short Story Narration
A Searching Analysis of the Qualifications of Fiction in General and of
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_A PRACTICAL TREATISE_
By Henry Albert Phillips Introduction by
Rex Beach
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"'Art in Short Story Narration' is a wonder book. A constant source of
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