Who Is Santa Klaus?
Just as the Christmas tree was brought over to this country by early German immigrants so Saint Nicholas, or Santa Klaus, came here in the train of the Dutch settlers of New York. He established himself first in the little island of Manhattan and then gradually spread all over the country. His Dutch origin is shown by the very name Santa Klaus, which is common alike to Holland and America, though it is elsewhere unknown.
At first he was honored on his own day with the same observances that marked the festival in the Fatherland.
Before the beginning of the nineteenth century St. Nicholas's day had been all but forgotten in New Amsterdam, and New Year's Eve was the occasion when he made his rounds as a gift bearer to the children. Later he transferred his activities to Christmas.
To go further back, we know that even in the eighteenth century, when New York was still to a great extent Dutch in blood and in feeling, the little children of the Knickerbockers would gather expectant around the great hearth in the parlor on the eve of New Year and not on the eve of Saint Nicholas's feast. It was to Saint Nicholas they addressed the childish hymns and songs their forefathers had brought from Holland.
It was about the middle of the nineteenth century that the funny men of America took the Saint under their special patronage. In Holland he had been austere and dignified, as became a bishop and a saint. In America he developed into the fat, jolly, pot-bellied old roisterer whom we all know and love and who reminds us at so many points of the fun loving Silenus of Pagan times.
Undoubtedly it was the American, Clement C. Moore, who immortalized the figure and decided the model which all succeeding poets and artists have ever followed.

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ++++ The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to ensure edition identification: ++++ Heroes And Heroines Of Fiction, Classical Mediaeval, Legendary: Famous Characters And Famous Names In Novels, Romances, Poems And Dramas, Classified, Analyzed And Criticised, With Supplementary Citations From The Best Authorities William Shepard Walsh J.B. Lippincott company, 1915 Literary Criticism; General; Literary Criticism / General; Literary Criticism / Semiotics & Theory; Literature; Literature, Modern

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ++++ The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to ensure edition identification: ++++ Half-hours With Great Novelists William Shepard Walsh Belford, Clarke, 1884 Literary Criticism; American; General; American literature; English fiction; English literature; Literary Criticism / American / General; Literary Criticism / European / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh