INTERESTING CHRISTMAS TIT-BITS

Evening Star, Issue 20982, 22 December 1931, Page 6

INTERESTING CHRISTMAS TIT-BITS

(From the General Press Ltd.) CHRISTMAS PUDDINGS BY AIR. One of the strangest Christmastides ever spent by 10,000 Britishers was when they were besieged in Ladysmith in the Anglo-Boer War, with only two doubtful plum puddings for the lot of them. They arrived as a present from the Boers. Soon after dawn on Christmas morning two 1001 b shells landed in the camp. They did not explode, having been considerately plugged with wood in place of fuses, and they were marked “ Compliments of the Season!” For a long time “Tommy” was very suspicious. After he had drawn the plugs he was not satisfied with tho mixture inside, until he drew from it a fat raisin on the end of a pointed stick. The shells contained the commodities for several good-size puddings, but as the Boers had not thought of scalding the interiors and of removing all the bursting charges, the batter did not look appetising, so the recipients of the seasonable attentions became “ Little Jack Horners,” pulled out the plums, and ate them. NOT SO BAD—WITHOUT THE CHEESE. In 1658 Chevalier d’Arrieux wrote of the English Christmas pudding; Their pudding was detestable. It is a compound of scraped biscuit, as Hour, suet, currants, salt, and pepper, which are made into a paste, wrapped in a cloth, and boiled in a pot of broth ; it is then taken out of tho cloth and put in a plate, and some old cheese is grated over it, which gives it an Tinbearable smell. Leaving out the cheese, the thing itself is not’ so very bad. GRUESOME CHRISTMAS GHOST STORY.

Mr Elliott O’Donnell, styled “ the ghost expert,” underwent a gruesome experience at Markstoun, Dublin. “ I was invited,” said he, “ to a large, oldfashioned 'house, reported to be haunted. I was given the haunted chamber to sleep in, but nothing occurred till two or three days before Christmas, when I was in the boot, room downstairs. Looking up suddenly I saw before me a hideous old woman, of stunted growth, with wild, bloodshot eyes and matted hair. Terrified out of my wits, I seized a boot and Hurled it at her. The aim was true, but it had no effect, for the boot passed right through her body, and she still stood there leering. Then slowly she disappeared from view. I saw her on two or three more occasions, but the other guests were sceptical, and ridiculed my story.” On Christmas Eve there was a wake “ to celebrate Mr O’Donnell’s ghost.” “ Tho dancing was at its height,” to continue Mr O’Donnell’s story, “ when suddenly there camo a loud knocking, and, turning to the door, we saw the old hag again,, who beckoned us. We followed her to an upstairs room, where a terrible sight met our gaze. Prone upon f ' floor lay the form of a singularly beautiful girl, and over her stood a man garbed in Cavalier dress, his sword dripping with blood. Then came a tremendous crash, and everything disappeared. Only about half of us saw the horrible apparition, but all heard the crash, for which no one was able to account. There was no moro dancing that Christmas Eye!”

PRODIGIOUS PLUM PUDDINGS. In old chronicles we read of plum puddings of colossal size. Such a leviathan was the thousandpound pudding which James Austin, landlord of the lied Lion Inn, Southwark, London, essayed to transport to tne Swan Tavern on Fish street hill, “on a vehicle drawn by sixdonkeys and escorted by a band playing on instruments larger than them- 1 selves.” The strange procession had not accomplished half its journey when it was attacked by a largo mob. A fierce battle ensued, and the huge pudding was torn into a thousand pieces. Another pudding of "historic” interest was one weighing 5001 b, offered as a prize by the landlord of the Cock Inn in Tothill street, in celebration of the jubilee of George 111. The pudding was awarded to a team of six men who consumed the greatest quantity of tripe in a specified time! Of the monumental pudding made at .Paignton, the South Devon watering place, we read that it turned the scale at a ton and a-half; and that eight horses were required to draw it to the green. The ingredients included 6001 b flour, 4001 b raisins, 4001 b suet, 951 b sugar, 300 lemons ; 166 nutmegs, and 360 quarts of milk. The cost was only £45. CHRISTMAS TREES FOR A DOG. One Christmas a house in Philadelphia, U.S.A., took fire in the night. The inmates were warned of their danger by the howling of a dog. For several years afterwards, at Christmas, the animal’s mistress provided a tree in the dog's honour, the decorations including beefsteaks and toy rats for the pet’s consumption and amusement. “GOOD CHEER An ancient rhyme furnishes a list of delicacies which a housewife of the period was expected to provide for the Christmas festivities: — Brawn pudding and souse, and mustard withal, Beef, mutton, and pork, shred pies of the best Of pig, veal, goose, and capon, and turkey well drest. Cheese, apples, and nuts; jolly carols to hear— And this, in the country, is reckoned good cheer! MOTHER CHRISTMAS. Everyone knows Father Christmas, but it will surprise many to learn that there is a well-authenticated Mother Christmas, who, in some countries —including Russia, Italy, Poland, and Sweden —usurps the privileges and duties of the jovial saint. It is scarcely strange that this should be so. Christmas is, above all, the festival of mothers —Modra Neclit, “ Mother’s Night,” as Britain’s first historian calls it. Sicily’s equivalent of Father Christmas is an old woman. Throughout the year she is confined by enchantment in an underground castle, somewhere in the fastnesses of Mount Etna. On Christmas night she is released for a few hours. She then passes through the streets of villages and towns, followed by gift-laden mules, leaving gifts at every door. All over Italy it is Mother, rather than Father, Christmas, who presides over the present-giving. “ La Befana,” a corruption of “ Epiphany,” is _ her name. A beneficient wrinkled witch, she flies through the air, without the aid of the traditional reindeer, and down the chimney slie distributes her gifts. A beautiful and gracious “Mother Christmas” is that of Poland. ■ She is the embodiment of the “Good Star,” the Star of Bethlehem. Before her arrival a little hay must be placed underneath the tablecloth

in order that, at the Christmas feast, the humility of Christ s first birthday may be remembered. When, her presents are given, and she returns to heaven, she carries with her an infant awakened from its first sleep, to sing a carol in Paradise in' honour of the Baby Christ. .The little one will be found laughing in its sleep next morning.