INTERESTING CHRISTMAS TIT-BITS

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 4032, 5 January 1932, Page 2

INTERESTING CHRISTMAS TIT-BITS

(From the General Press Ltd.)

CHRISTMAS PUDDINGS BY AIR. One ol the strangest Ghristmastides ever spent by 10,000 Britishers was " hen they were besieged in Ladysmith 111 the Anglo-Boer War, with only two doubtful plum puddings for the lot of them. I hey arrived as a present from the Boers. Soon after dawn on Christmas morning two 1001b shells landed in tin camp. I hoy did not explode, having been considerately plugged with wood in place of fuses, and the, were marked “ Compliments of the Season!” For a long time “ Tommv ” was very suspicious. After he had drawn the plugs he was not satisfied with the mixture inside, until ho drew from it a fat raisin on the end of a pointed stick. The shells cent lined the commodities for several gov 1-sizo puddings, but as the Boers had not thought of scalding the interior- and of removing all the bursting ch ages, the batter did not look appetisirg, so the recipients oi the seasonable attentions became “ Little Jack Hon-ers," pulled out the plums, and ate them.

NOT SO BAD—WITHOUT TEE CHEESE.

In 1658 Chevalier d’Arrieux wrote of the English Christmas pudding: Their pudding was detestable. It is a compound of scraped b'scrit, as Hour, suet, currants, salt, and pep]>er, which are made into a paste, wrapped in a cloth, and boiled in a pot of broth; it is then take i out of the cloth and put in a plat-', and some old cheese is grated o\ er it, which gives it an unbearable smell. Leaving out the cheese, the thing itself is not so verv had.

GRUESOME CHRISTMAS GHOST STORY.

Mr Elliott O’Donnell, styled “ the ghost expert,” underwent a gruesome expei encc at Ma.kstoun, Dublin. ‘‘l was invited,” said he, “ to a large, oldfashioned house, reported to be haunted. 1 was given the haunted chamber to sleep in, but nothing occurred till two or three days before Christmas, when 1 was in the boot room downstairs. Looking up suddenly 1 saw before me a hideous old woman, of stunted growth, with wild, bloodshot eyes and mat! id hair. Terrified out of my wits, 1 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. 1 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.” “ The dancing was at its height,” to continue Mr O’Donnell’s story, “ when suddenly there came 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 t’ 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 more dancing that Christmas Eve!”

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 the Swan Tavern on Fish street hill, “(in a vehicle drawn by six donkeys and escorted by a band playing on instruments larger than themselves/’ The strange procession had not accomplished half its journey when it was attacked by a large mob. A fierce battle ensued, and the huge pudding was torn into a thousand pieces. Another pudding of “ historic ” interest was one weighing 5001b. offered as a prize by the landlord of tin; 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 6001b flour, 4001b raisins, 4001b suet, 951b sugar. 300 lemons, 160 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 dug. For several years afterwards, at Christinas. the animal's mistress provided a free 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 anjp souse, and mustard withal. Beef, mutton, and pork, shred pies ol the best Of pig. veal, goose, and capon, and turkey (veil < I rest. Cheese, apples, and nuts; jolly carols to hear And this, in the country, is reckoned good cheer! MOTHER CHRISTMAS. Everyone knows Father Christmas, hut it will surprise many to leant that there is a well-authenticated Mother Christmas, who. in ,-ome couni rie-- including Russia,. Italy, Poland, ami Sweden- usurps the privileges and duties ol the jovial saint. tt is scarcely strange that this should he so. Christmas is, above all, the festival of mothers Modra Ncch.t, Mother's j Night,” as Britain's first historian ; calls it. Sicily’s equivalent of Father j Christmas is an old woman. Through- j out. t he year she is confined hy on- I ehantmeni in an underground castle, j soinowhere in the fastnesses of Mount j Ktna. On Christmas night she is re-

leased 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 oyer Italy it is Mother, rather than Father. Christmas, who presides over the present-giving. “La Befana,” a corruption of “Epiphany.” is her name. A henefieient wrinkled witch, she flies through Die air. without the aid of the traditional reindeer, and down the chimney she 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 he placed underneath the tablecloth in order that, at the Christmas least, the humility of Christ’s lirst birthday may he remembered. When Ikt presents are given, and she returns to heaven, she carries with her an infant a wakened from its first sleep, to sing ;i caml in Paradho in honour of the Bahy Chris). The little one will be found laughing in its sleep next morning.