THE NOME NUGGET
Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday by the
NOME PUBLISHING CO.
NOME, ALASKA
Telephone Main 125 $i.50 PER MONTH
P.O. Box 618 $16.00 A YEAR
E. P. BOUCHER .-. Managing Editor
CLINTON GRAY ..r Production Manager
Entered as second class matter October 14, 1943, at the
post office at Nome, Alaska, under Act ef March 3, 1879.
Under Commercialization,
Christ’s Message Shines
By Rey. James E. Wagner, DD„ LL.D., Th.D.
President of the Evangelical and Reformed Church
SURE THERE IS an indefensible commercializa
tion of Christmas, and Christian^ people’s sensibilities
are offended when, nowadays even before Thanksgiving
Day, the shop windows are dressed with Christmas
displays and sidewalk amplifiers are blaring out “White
Christmas” and “Silent Night” six weeks ahead of time.
*■ But those who have eyes to see will discern, be
neath the tinsel prematurely hung, a response to the
perennial return of Christian communities to the hopes
and yearnings which are clustered about the celebra
tion of Christmas.
It is a time ot giving, inspired by the Uinstianl
faith that at the first Christmas God went all out in!
demonstrating His love for sinful and unworthy man-;
kind by giving the very best He had to give: His only
begotten Son. So those who share the Christian tradi
tion give, whether it is a greeting card, a mink coat,
or simply stopping bv seme friend or relative’s door
long enough to say “Merry Christmas.”
It a time of remembering. Remembering the people
whom we may not have had in mind all through the
year but whose names come readily to mind when we
sit down to prepare our gift or greeting card lists.
Remembering our better selves—genial, compassionate,
sensitive to the less fortunate among our friends and
acquaintances and to the vast unhappy areas of the
world where poverty and oppression play havoc with
others of God’s children—remembering these motions
of our better selves which tend to be pushed aside by
the daily grind and the mad pace of contemporary
living. Something happens to us at Christmas, and the
old familiar strain of a Christmas hymn or song or a
simple gesture of generosity from some unexpected
source re-opens the floodgates of our own long-sup
pressed better impulses and we find ourselves caught
up with remembering what so often and for so long we
tend to forget.
It is a time when childlikeness takes possession of
people'so generally that no one feels embarrassed at
exhibiting a little of it himself. Grown men and women
—aggressive, sophisticated, competitive, so hibitually
given to “looking out for No. 1”—become children once
more, selfless, interested, full of wonder, rubbing their
eyes in half-surprise at the rediscovery that stars and
music and laughter are just as real as curbstones and
countinghouses.
it is a time of moral reinforcement for every
troubled soul. The almost daily dismal headlines with!
their portent of impending doom, the enervating per
petuation of Cold War as if mankind were incapable
of achieving peace, the injustices and inhumanities
which so often mark the relations between nations,
races, rich and poor, employer and employe—all these
contrive to foster a tragic sense of life which assumes
that men never were meant for better things. And
then, once a year comes the reminder of the angels’
song and the ancient certainty of the prophets that
God has woven into the very fabric of history a destiny
of brotherhood and peace. And with that reminder men
are enabled to take a fresh grip on the business of
living again.
So, when we writhe under some of the premature
and blatant ways in which Christmas is prostituted for
material ends, it is good to remember that th\p is not
Christmas as Christmas comes to the generality of our J
fellows. For them it still holds at its heart the dreams j
and hopes and yearnings which have always made it, i
and make it now, perhaps the holiest season of the year.
CHRISTMAS IN ALASKA
Juneau Style
The needles drop from the Christmas tree,
The iholly wreaths hang droopily,
Toys and bright wrappings cover the floor,
From behind a new book comes a gentle snore
As Dad relaxes by Yuletide blaze
And the rain comes down on this Day of Days.
Nome Christmas
Bright lights, good cheer, friends trooping in,
Pussy willow Christmas tree made gay—
A little thin but quite nice anyway.
Outside the sun comes up above the rim of Bering Sea
And drops again. You lift your eyes to myriad stars
Glittering in the cold and think
Of friends in places far away,
But you are glad to be at home in Nome today.
Contributed by Mrs. A. S. Hessler
ree4iii«|^
FOR '
%
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Q CAB AND LUNCH
i
Negro Opera Star
Weds Swedish Newsman
NEW YORK, (JV-Mattiwilda
Dobbs, 32-year-old Negro Metro
politan Opera singing star, has
married a white Swedish journal
ist, Benge Janzon.
The ^wedding took place yester
day at the Grace Congregational
Church. A Negro minister, the
1 Rev. Herbert King, and a white
minister, the Rfev. J. *t. Lund
quisf, performed the ceremony
jointly.
Janzon, 44, is a roving colum
jnist for a Stockholm newspaper.
He met Miss Dobbs last February
while she was touring in Sweden.
“It was not love at first sight,”
Janzon said yesterday, “but a
very great sympathy began.”
Sgt. and Mrs. Karl Nestvold are
at home in Colville, Wash., where
Sgt. Nestvold is public informa
tion officer at an Air Force radar
station. Mrs. Nestvold is the for
mer Carolyn Glavinovieh.
Mr. and Mrs. Harold Bayne,
and Mr. and Mrs. Pete Olsen have
been visiting with Mr. and Mrs.
George Goshaw in Calistoga, Calif.
All couples are former Nome
ites,
THE CHRISTMAS TREE
The Christmas tree so big and tall,
Gave a cheery spirit to the hall;
From floor up to the ceiling high,
It seemed to say that Christmas
is nigh.
1 Some fifty-seven years ago,
| It took its root beneath the
Unalakleet snow;
From the murmuring primeval
forest,
It was brought by plane to be
our gloriest.
With lights of red, white and blue,
It shone on all, both me and you;
It seemed to say in a farewell
way,
“I’m happy to cheer and make
Christmas gay.
Yes, some fifty seven years ago,
When gold was first on the Nome
beach aglow.
“I’ve come to join the celebration,
Held throughout our own great
nation. ’
| And so great Christmas tree
so tall,
i We thank you for your cheer
and call;
And may your spirit of self
sacrifice,
Teach us where life’s true great
ness lies.
—Olaf Halverson
■
NOME TAXI I