OLD FATHER CHRISTMAS
J.H. EWING
"The custom of Christmas-trees came from Germany. I can remember when
they were first introduced into England, and what wonderful things we
thought them. Now, every village school has its tree, and the scholars
openly discuss whether the presents have been 'good,' or 'mean,' as
compared with other trees in former years. The first one that I ever
saw I believed to have come from Good Father Christmas himself; but
little boys have grown too wise now to be taken in for their own
amusement. They are not excited by secret and mysterious preparations
in the back drawing-room; they hardly confess to the thrill--which I
feel to this day--when the folding doors are thrown open, and amid the
blaze of tapers, mamma, like a Fate, advances with her scissors to give
every one what falls to his lot.
"Well, young people, when I was eight years old I had not seen a
Christmas-tree, and the first picture of one I ever saw was the picture
of that held by Old Father Christmas in my godmother's picture-book.
'"What are those things on the tree?' I asked.
"'Candles,' said my father.
"'No, father, not the candles; the other things?'
"'Those are toys, my son.'
"'Are they ever taken off?'
"'Yes, they are taken off, and given to the children who stand around
the tree.'
"Patty and I grasped each other by the hand, and with one voice
murmured; 'How kind of Old Father Christmas!'
"By and by I asked, 'How old is Father Christmas?'
"My father laughed, and said, 'One thousand eight hundred and thirty
years, child,' which was then the year of our Lord, and thus one
thousand eight hundred and thirty years since the first great Christmas
Day.
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