Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production
Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 1: I'm Tray C. B. Wilson and I'm Holly Fry. Over
Speaker 1: the years, we've talked about various influences on Christmas as
Speaker 1: a holiday, particularly in the US and the UK. So
Speaker 1: we've talked about Charles Dickens, a Christmas Carol, the poem,
Speaker 1: a visit from St. Nicholas, Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer,
Speaker 1: Joel Roberts, point set namesake of the point Stia, Nora
Speaker 1: Ads tradition of tracking Santa's progress on Christmas Eve, and
Speaker 1: then most recently, our episode on how the Nutcracker Ballet
Speaker 1: became a Christmas Times staple. Another Christmas influence might come
Speaker 1: to mind more in connection with Halloween, because it's Washington Irving,
Speaker 1: author of the Legend of Sleepy Hollow, which became part
Speaker 1: of Disney's The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr Toad in
Speaker 1: nineteen forty nine and absolutely truly terrified me when I
Speaker 1: was a child. We will talk about Irving's work and
Speaker 1: his Christmas influence today, including his influence of Charles Dickens.
Speaker 1: Washington Irving did most of his Christmas related writing pretty
Speaker 1: early in his career, but we're gonna save the most
Speaker 1: detailed discussion of it for the last third of the
Speaker 1: episode after our second sponsor break. Also, if you listen
Speaker 1: to this show with anybody who's going to be just
Speaker 1: truly eagerly awaiting Santa Claus on Christmas Eve, that part
Speaker 1: of the episode might be something to just say for later, like,
Speaker 1: maybe listen to it yourself first before foisting it on
Speaker 1: any young years. Sounds like a great plan always. Washington
Speaker 1: Irving was born on April third, three in New York City.
Speaker 1: That is the same year that the Treaty of Paris
Speaker 1: formally ended the Revolutionary War, so he was growing up
Speaker 1: as the United States was establishing itself as an independent nation.
Speaker 1: Washington Irving was named after George Washington, and he also
Speaker 1: attended George Washington's inauguration in New York City just after
Speaker 1: he turned six. Irving was the youngest of William and
Speaker 1: Sarah Irving's eleven children, nine of whom survived to adulthood.
Speaker 1: Both of them had emigrated to North America. Sarah had
Speaker 1: come from Cornwall, England, and William from the Orkney Islands. Scotland.
Speaker 1: William was a church deacon as well as being a
Speaker 1: hardware dealer and a merchant. In seventeen, when he was fourteen,
Speaker 1: Washington's parents sent him to Tarrytown on the Hudson River,
Speaker 1: not far from Sleepy Hollow, to try to protect him
Speaker 1: from a devastating outbreak of yellow fever in New York City.
Speaker 1: He fell in love with the area, wandering around and
Speaker 1: exploring and learning the folklore and heritage of its residents,
Speaker 1: many of whom were Dutch immigrants and their descendants. The
Speaker 1: young Washington Irving seems to have been really doated on
Speaker 1: as the baby of the family. His father insisted that
Speaker 1: all of his young brothers go to college, but Washington
Speaker 1: was described as kind of a dreamer and lax when
Speaker 1: it came to his studies, so rather than attending college
Speaker 1: like his brothers, he started a law apprenticeship at the
Speaker 1: age of fifteen. First he was a thought law office
Speaker 1: of Henry Masterson and then with former New York Attorney
Speaker 1: General Josiah Ogden Hoffman. Irving was chronically ill, and in
Speaker 1: eighteen o four he went to Europe with the hope
Speaker 1: of improving his health. He stayed there until eighteen oh six.
Speaker 1: Then when he got back to the US, he was
Speaker 1: admitted to the New York Bar reportedly, though just barely.
Speaker 1: He just barely got past that exam. After he returned
Speaker 1: to the US, Irving started a satirical periodical with his
Speaker 1: brother William and their friend James Kirk Paulding. Paul Ding
Speaker 1: also went on to become a writer in his own
Speaker 1: right and later served as a Secretary of the Navy
Speaker 1: under Martin van Buren. They called their periodical Selma Gundi
Speaker 1: or The whim Whams and Opinions of Launcelot langstaff Esquay.
Speaker 1: It published about twenty issues in eighteen o seven and
Speaker 1: eighteen o eight. This periodical has been described as the
Speaker 1: mad magazine of its day, and it lampooned a number
Speaker 1: of targets, but a lot of its focus was on
Speaker 1: the political and social life of New York City. The
Speaker 1: use of Gotham as a nickname for New York City
Speaker 1: was coined in its pages. This picked up the name
Speaker 1: from the story The Wise Men of Gotham, in which
Speaker 1: the villagers of Gotham Nottinghamshire, fame incompetence in order to
Speaker 1: get out of a visit from King John, so this
Speaker 1: nickname of Gotham not meant to be flattering. Don't tell
Speaker 1: batman um. In eighteen o eight, Irving became engaged to
Speaker 1: Matilda Hoffman, daughter of his law mentor Josiah Ogden Hoffman,
Speaker 1: and about a year later he gave up any pretense
Speaker 1: of practicing law. In eighteen o nine, Irving published a
Speaker 1: fictional history of the Dutch colonization of New York called
Speaker 1: A History of New York Work from the Beginning of
Speaker 1: the World to the end of the Dutch Dynasty. This
Speaker 1: was narrated by and written under the pen name of
Speaker 1: Diedrich Knickerbocker. That's one of many pseudonyms that Irving used
Speaker 1: for different purposes during his career, and one of the
Speaker 1: many names that he also seems to have picked up
Speaker 1: from somebody that he knew. Thanks to this book, Knickerbocker
Speaker 1: became a nickname for New Yorkers of Dutch ancestry, and
Speaker 1: then a nickname for New Yorkers more generally. The New
Speaker 1: York Knicks, if you're not aware, is short for the Knickerbockers.
Speaker 1: Knickerbockers are also baggy trousers that usually stopped just below
Speaker 1: the knee and are gathered and fastened there with a
Speaker 1: button or a buckle. This seems to trace back to
Speaker 1: Irving's work as well, and two illustrations in the book
Speaker 1: that featured Dutch Men in baggy knee breaches. A History
Speaker 1: of New York was another satire. It parodied Samuel L.
Speaker 1: Mitchell's The Picture of New York or The Travelers Guide
Speaker 1: through the Commercial Metropolis of the United States. But while
Speaker 1: it was fictional and comedic, it still drew from real
Speaker 1: people and places that Irving had known while living in
Speaker 1: New York's Hudson Valley. Irving led up to the publication
Speaker 1: of this book with something of a pr hoax. He
Speaker 1: posted a series of notices about a missing historian named
Speaker 1: Diedrich Knickerbocker, establishing the name and reputation of this fictitious
Speaker 1: person before the book hit the stands. The same year
Speaker 1: that A History of New York was published, Irving's fiance, Matilda,
Speaker 1: died of tuberculosis that happened in April eighteen o nine,
Speaker 1: and she really seems to have been the love of
Speaker 1: his life, and Irving's writing about her is full of loss.
Speaker 1: He later wrote in his journal quote she died in
Speaker 1: the flower of her youth and of mind. But she
Speaker 1: has lived for me ever since. In all womankind, I
Speaker 1: see her in their eyes, and it is the remembrance
Speaker 1: of her that has given a tender interest in my
Speaker 1: eyes to everything that bears the name of woman. At
Speaker 1: another point, he wrote, vote for years, I could not
Speaker 1: talk on the subject of this hopeless regret. I could
Speaker 1: not even mention her name. But her image was continually
Speaker 1: before me, and I dreamt of her incessantly. It doesn't
Speaker 1: seem like Irving wrote a lot over the next few years.
Speaker 1: He moved to Washington, D C. In eighteen eleven to
Speaker 1: work as a lobbyist protecting the interests of his family's
Speaker 1: merchant business. During the War of eighteen twelve, after Britain
Speaker 1: invaded Washington, D c. And set fire to the Capitol
Speaker 1: and the White House and other major buildings, Irving enlisted
Speaker 1: in the army. He served as an aide de camp
Speaker 1: to Governor Daniel Tompkins until the war ended in February
Speaker 1: of eighteen fifteen. After the war was over, Irving went
Speaker 1: back to Europe. His family had an import export business
Speaker 1: called P and E. Irving the war had been really
Speaker 1: hard on most of these types of businesses, but Irving's
Speaker 1: brothers had also made a series of missteps in their
Speaker 1: efforts to recover. After the war was over, Irving went
Speaker 1: to London to try to help them save the business,
Speaker 1: some thing he really felt was just hopeless from the start.
Speaker 1: In the end he was right. The business could not
Speaker 1: be saved, and bankruptcy proceedings started in eighteen eighteen Washington.
Speaker 1: Irving had been something of a silent partner in this business.
Speaker 1: He had been earning an income from it without being
Speaker 1: expected to really do any work, but this bankruptcy meant
Speaker 1: that income was gone. Poet and novelist Sir Walter Scott,
Speaker 1: who had become one of Irving's friends and colleagues, encouraged
Speaker 1: him to try to make a living as a writer,
Speaker 1: and we will talk more about that after a sponsor break.
Speaker 1: While living in Europe Washington, Irving wrote the Sketch Book
Speaker 1: of Jeffrey crayon gent This was largely a series of
Speaker 1: sketches of English life based on what he had experienced
Speaker 1: while living there, and it also contained three short stories,
Speaker 1: Rip van Winkle, the Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and Specter Bridegroom.
Speaker 1: Although the sketch book was published under the pseudonym of
Speaker 1: Jeffrey Crayon. Both Rip van Winkle, about a man who
Speaker 1: goes off to the mountains to escape his stereotypically shrewish
Speaker 1: wife and sleeps for twenty years, and the legend of
Speaker 1: Sleepy Hollow, about superstitious school teacher Ichabod Crane and his
Speaker 1: flight from the Headless Horsemen, are attributed to Diedrich Niggerbocker.
Speaker 1: The two stories are set in Dutch communities in New York,
Speaker 1: but both are rooted in German folklore. The sketch book
Speaker 1: also contained five essays about Christmas in England, and we'll
Speaker 1: talk a little bit more about that later. Although many
Speaker 1: of the other pieces describe Irving's experiences in England, two
Speaker 1: of them are focused on indigenous communities in North America,
Speaker 1: their Traits of Indian Character, and Philip of poconok It.
Speaker 1: The first is a general discussion of North America's indigenous peoples,
Speaker 1: especially in New England, and the second is the narrative
Speaker 1: of King Philip's War, which took place in the sixteen
Speaker 1: seventies and which we have covered on the show before.
Speaker 1: In terms of Irving's racial attitudes, both of these writings
Speaker 1: are just a tangle traits of Indian character. For example,
Speaker 1: starts off by saying that quote it has been the
Speaker 1: lot of the unfortunate Aborigines of America in the early
Speaker 1: periods of colonization to be doubly wronged by the white men.
Speaker 1: They have been dispossessed of their hereditary possessions by mercenary
Speaker 1: and frequently wanton warfare, and their characters have been produced
Speaker 1: by bigoted and interested writers. The colonists often treated them
Speaker 1: like beasts of the forest, and the author has endeavored
Speaker 1: to justify him in his outrages. The former found it
Speaker 1: easier to exterminate than to civilize, the latter, to vilify
Speaker 1: than to discriminate. The appellations of savage and pagan were
Speaker 1: deemed sufficient to sanction the hostilities of both, and thus
Speaker 1: the poor wanderers of the forest were persecuted and defamed,
Speaker 1: not because they were guilty, but because they were ignorant.
Speaker 1: Irving's criticisms of Europeans treatment of indigenous people in North America,
Speaker 1: particularly during the colonial period, are very pointed and often
Speaker 1: perceptive and astute, but then threaded through that are racist
Speaker 1: language and stereotypes. Both reflecting the language that was commonly
Speaker 1: used at the time and reflecting Irving's own paternalistic attitudes.
Speaker 1: Sometimes it is almost whiplash inducing to read. Like I
Speaker 1: was trying to find a quote to read as an example,
Speaker 1: and I was like, man, I just don't even want
Speaker 1: to repeat this insulting part on the show for the
Speaker 1: sake of illustration. Irving's descriptions of the state of things
Speaker 1: as he was writing are also obliviously optimistic at best.
Speaker 1: While he acknowledges that the same prejudices against indigenous people's
Speaker 1: all still exist, he frames the federal government's relationship to
Speaker 1: them is basically fine. Now here's a quote. American government
Speaker 1: too has wisely and humanely exerted itself to inculcate a
Speaker 1: friendly and forbearing spirit towards them, and to protect them
Speaker 1: from fraud and injustice. That's whiplashy in and of itself.
Speaker 1: So Philip of Poconoca is similarly striking. Irving's treatment of Medicom,
Speaker 1: who English colonists called King Philip, has been described as
Speaker 1: groundbreaking and even radical, because it was way way more
Speaker 1: sympathetic to Medicom and to the Wampanog Confederacy than the
Speaker 1: historical sources that he would have been using for his research.
Speaker 1: His approach was probably influenced by the idea of the
Speaker 1: noble savage, which had come to prominence among Europeans in
Speaker 1: the eighteenth century and beyond. But his treatment of medicom
Speaker 1: seems to really go beyond that and into a more
Speaker 1: nuanced view of the war than would really be expected,
Speaker 1: with a lot more empathy towards the Wampanog and more
Speaker 1: acknowledgement of all the context that was involved. And we
Speaker 1: should also take a moment here to say that Irving's
Speaker 1: writing really too People of African descent is similarly tangled.
Speaker 1: When Irving was growing up, New York City was at
Speaker 1: the heart of the largest slaveholding region of the North,
Speaker 1: and it had an established community of free black people
Speaker 1: as well. The Dutch communities that Irving was so fond
Speaker 1: of in the Hudson Valley were also home to both
Speaker 1: enslaved and free black people, who were known as the
Speaker 1: Black Dutch, which is one of several meanings that term
Speaker 1: has carried. Irving clearly thought their folklore and traditions were
Speaker 1: as worthy of documentation as those of white people, and
Speaker 1: he wrote about holidays like Pinkster, which was celebrated by
Speaker 1: the black community and grew out of Dutch celebrations surrounding Pentecost,
Speaker 1: But at the same time, Irving wrote about black people
Speaker 1: in a negatively stereotyped and sometimes even fetishizing way. Irving
Speaker 1: had essays from the sketch book printed in the US
Speaker 1: at about the same time as the whole collection was
Speaker 1: coming out in the UK to try to protect himself
Speaker 1: and his profits from plagiarists. Its contents were printed on
Speaker 1: both sides of the Atlantic between eighteen nineteen and eighteen
Speaker 1: twenty three. Was generally well received, especially the short stories,
Speaker 1: with later critics describing Irving as the first American short
Speaker 1: story writer. It also sold well enough that he was
Speaker 1: able to support himself. In eighteen twenty two, Irving was
Speaker 1: paid one thousand guineas to write a sequel, Bracebridge Hall
Speaker 1: or the Humorists, a medley also under the Jeoffrey Crayons pseudonym.
Speaker 1: Then Tales of a Traveler followed in eighteen twenty four.
Speaker 1: Tales of a Traveler contains another story attributed to Knickerbocker,
Speaker 1: and that is The Devil and Tom Walker. Critics mostly
Speaker 1: panned Tales of a traveler, and Irving seems to have
Speaker 1: stopped writing for a while. He remained in Europe, though,
Speaker 1: and Alexander Hill Everett, the U S. Minister to Spain,
Speaker 1: invited him to Madrid. Spain had just released archival documents
Speaker 1: on its colonization of the Americas, and Everett wanted Irving
Speaker 1: to translate them for American use. Irving may have started
Speaker 1: out following that instruction, but soon he was using these
Speaker 1: documents not to translate them, but to do research on
Speaker 1: his own work. The result was a History of the
Speaker 1: Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus, which was published in
Speaker 1: This was a fictionalized biography of Columbus, sometimes described as
Speaker 1: a romantic biography. This work is extremely favorable in its
Speaker 1: embellish treatment of Columbus, making him almost a mythic figure.
Speaker 1: The book also put forth the fiction that one of
Speaker 1: the reasons for columbus voyage was to prove that the
Speaker 1: world was not flat, an idea that has persisted until today,
Speaker 1: even though people around the world have known the planet
Speaker 1: was roughly spherical for literally thousands of years. Other work
Speaker 1: related to Spain followed the Columbus biography, including a chronicle
Speaker 1: of the conquest of Granada from the manuscripts of Fray
Speaker 1: Antonio Agapita, that being yet another pseudonym. The This work
Speaker 1: is described as having a quote comically biased narrator. Irving
Speaker 1: had to leave Spain in eighteen twenty nine after he
Speaker 1: was appointed secretary to the American Legation in London. He
Speaker 1: worked at the American Embassy in London until eighteen thirty two,
Speaker 1: and then finally returned to the United States. Irving had
Speaker 1: become famous while he was away, and he returned to
Speaker 1: find that New York City had grown tremendously in his absence.
Speaker 1: In the fall of eighteen thirty two, Irving joined Henry
Speaker 1: Levitt Ellsworth on an expedition to what's now Missouri, Oklahoma,
Speaker 1: and Arkansas. President Andrew Jackson had tasked Ellsworth with inspecting
Speaker 1: land that was going to be used for the forced
Speaker 1: relocation of indigenous peoples under the Indian Removal Act of
Speaker 1: eighteen thirty This relocation later became known as the Trail
Speaker 1: of Tears, and it forced tens of thousands of Indigenous
Speaker 1: people to leave their homes and moved west, including citizens
Speaker 1: of the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole Creek, and Cherokee Nations and others.
Speaker 1: Irving was invited to accompany this expedition, and he saw
Speaker 1: it as quote an opportunity of seeing the remnants of
Speaker 1: those great Indian tribes which are now about to disappear
Speaker 1: as independent nations or to be amalgamated under some new
Speaker 1: form of government. While on this expedition, Irving visited Stalk
Speaker 1: leader black Hawk, who at the time was imprisoned for
Speaker 1: his role in the black Hawk War, which had taken
Speaker 1: place earlier in eighteen thirty two. In a letter to
Speaker 1: a sister, Irving said of this meeting, quote, I find
Speaker 1: it extremely difficult, even when so near the seat of action,
Speaker 1: to get at the right story of these feuds between
Speaker 1: the White and the Red man, and my sympathies go
Speaker 1: strongly with the latter. At the same time, though, Irving
Speaker 1: does not seem particularly critical of Jackson's removal policy, and
Speaker 1: that was something that directly led to the deaths of
Speaker 1: thousands of people, loss of ancestral homelands, and the total
Speaker 1: upheaval of families and social structures. Irving wrote several books
Speaker 1: drawn from this experience, including Tour on the Prairies, which
Speaker 1: came out in eighteen thirty five, Enterprise Beyond the Rocky
Speaker 1: Mountains in eighteen thirty six, and Adventures in the Far
Speaker 1: West in eighteen thirty seven. As these books were published,
Speaker 1: Irving was living at Sunnyside, which was a farm not
Speaker 1: far from Terrytown that he bought in eighteen thirty five,
Speaker 1: and he probably would have been content to live out
Speaker 1: the rest of his days there. But in eighteen forty two,
Speaker 1: President John Tyler appointed Irving as Minister to Spain. He
Speaker 1: had been recommended by Daniel Webster, then Secretary of State,
Speaker 1: who was a fan of Irving's writing and also knew
Speaker 1: of his earlier time and experiences in Spain. This is
Speaker 1: the precarious time for Spain and for the United States
Speaker 1: relations with it. Queen Isabella the Second was only twelve
Speaker 1: and there were multiple factions wrestling for control of the
Speaker 1: Spanish government. Meanwhile, the United States was in the process
Speaker 1: of annexing Texas, which would ultimately lead it to war
Speaker 1: with Mexico, and that was something that the United States
Speaker 1: really wanted Spain to stay out of, meaning they wanted
Speaker 1: Irving to make sure that Spain just stayed stayed put.
Speaker 1: Unsurprisingly Washington, Irving found this position extremely stressful and it
Speaker 1: aggravated various chronic health conditions. But he held out until
Speaker 1: James K. Polk took office, and then he resigned when
Speaker 1: it just didn't seem like Polk was going to name
Speaker 1: a replacement anytime soon. Irving was back at home in Sunnyside.
Speaker 1: In he published The Life of Mohammed and Mohammed and
Speaker 1: his Successors in eighteen fifty These were books that he
Speaker 1: had started working on while living in Spain. This has
Speaker 1: been described as the first sympathetic biography of the prophet
Speaker 1: Mohammed to be published in North America. I haven't personally
Speaker 1: read it. I did read articles about it by Muslim people,
Speaker 1: and that was the description was that they found a
Speaker 1: treatment of Mohammed to be generally sympathetic and that that
Speaker 1: was groundbreaking given the time. Irving spent most of his
Speaker 1: last years working on a biography of George Washington that
Speaker 1: was published in five volumes between eighteen fifty five and
Speaker 1: eighteen fifty nine. This is both a favorable treatment of
Speaker 1: Washington and one that humanized him, focusing primarily on his
Speaker 1: military career and his personal life. Irving experienced a series
Speaker 1: of illnesses as he was finishing this biography, his his
Speaker 1: health has described as declining throughout the whole process. He
Speaker 1: died on November eighteen fifty nine at the age of
Speaker 1: seventy six, after having had a heart attack in his
Speaker 1: bedroom at Sunnyside. Washington Irving is considered to be the
Speaker 1: first American man of letters. His work also helped establish
Speaker 1: American literature as worthwhile in its own right, rather than
Speaker 1: simply being a minor offshoot of British literature. Because some
Speaker 1: of his work has preserved Dutch oral traditions in the
Speaker 1: Hudson Valley region, he has also been described as the
Speaker 1: first folklorist in the US. His home in Terrytown still
Speaker 1: stands today, and it is a National Historic Landmark. After
Speaker 1: a sponsor break, we will get into Washington Irving's contributions
Speaker 1: to the Christmas holiday, including his connections to Jolly Old St. Nick,
Speaker 1: especially around November and December. Christmas can seem so ubiquitous
Speaker 1: in the United States that it feels almost like it
Speaker 1: must have always been this way. But when Washington Irving
Speaker 1: was growing up, Christmas really wasn't established as a holiday,
Speaker 1: especially not as a holiday that involved lots of feasting
Speaker 1: and merriment and presents and songs. Puritans in New England
Speaker 1: outlawed Christmas in sixteen fifty nine, and that followed a
Speaker 1: series of laws that had been passed in England starting
Speaker 1: in the sixteen forties. These laws in England had designated
Speaker 1: the Christmas season as a time for fasting and humiliation
Speaker 1: that effectively outlawed Christmas celebrations in England until the restoration
Speaker 1: of Charles the Second in sixteen sixty. By the time
Speaker 1: Irving was born, laws outlining Christmas in the British colonies
Speaker 1: had been repealed, but many denominations and sects still viewed
Speaker 1: it with a lot of suspicion. In many places, Christmas
Speaker 1: was a day for hard work and penitence, not for revelry.
Speaker 1: This led to strife between denominations that opposed Christmas and
Speaker 1: those like Anglicans, who were more likely to celebrate it.
Speaker 1: Dutch colonists in the Hudson River Valley had brought the
Speaker 1: tradition of center class or St. Nicholas, who brought presents
Speaker 1: to good children on St. Nicholas Day or December six.
Speaker 1: Irving mentioned St. Nicholas more than forty times in his
Speaker 1: History of New York, This includes attributing Dutch colonists decision
Speaker 1: to settle on Manhattan to St. Nicholas. Irving relates the
Speaker 1: tale in which Olaf and Cortland has a dream in
Speaker 1: which quote St. Nick List came riding over the tops
Speaker 1: of the trees and that self same wagon, wherein he
Speaker 1: brings his yearly presence to children. In this dream, St.
Speaker 1: Nicholas smokes a pipe, with the smoke from his pipe,
Speaker 1: assuming quote a variety of marvelous forms. Those forms include palaces, domes,
Speaker 1: and spires, and then quote, when St. Nicholas had smoked
Speaker 1: his pipe, he twisted it in his hat band, and
Speaker 1: laying his finger beside his nose, gave the astonished Van
Speaker 1: Cortland a very significant look. Then, mounting his wagon, he
Speaker 1: returned over the tree tops and disappeared. The History of
Speaker 1: New York came out in eighteen o nine, but this
Speaker 1: passage seems to have been added in an eighteen twelve edition.
Speaker 1: It may have been an inspiration for the poem A
Speaker 1: Visit from St. Nicholas, which is the poem that begins
Speaker 1: tow was the Night before Christmas and all through the house.
Speaker 1: That poem was first published in eighteen twenty three. This
Speaker 1: poem is often attributed to Clement Clark Moore, who was
Speaker 1: ends with Washington Irving, which really makes it seem like
Speaker 1: the poem's pipe in the Flying Sleigh and St Nick
Speaker 1: laying a finger aside his nose, that might all have
Speaker 1: been inspired by Washington Irving. However, there is a competing
Speaker 1: claim that Major Henry Livingston Jr. Is the person who
Speaker 1: wrote this poem and that that happened all the way
Speaker 1: back in eighteen o eight. And if that's the case,
Speaker 1: obviously Washington Irving could not have been the person who
Speaker 1: inspired it because it was already written when his book
Speaker 1: came out. We talked about this authorship dispute in our
Speaker 1: Christmas Triple Feature, and that is going to be our
Speaker 1: Saturday Classic on December. So, as we said earlier, Washington
Speaker 1: irving sketchbook contained five essays based on a Christmas he
Speaker 1: spent in England. They are titled Christmas the Stage Coach,
Speaker 1: Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and the Christmas Dinner. So Christmas
Speaker 1: celebrations returned to England far more speedily than they did
Speaker 1: in North America, and Christmas contains some general observations about
Speaker 1: the holl in England. Here's a sample quote of all
Speaker 1: the old festivals. However, that of Christmas awakens the strongest
Speaker 1: and most heartfelt associations. There is a tone of solemn
Speaker 1: and sacred feeling that blends with our conviviality and lifts
Speaker 1: the spirit to a state of hallowed and elevated enjoyment.
Speaker 1: The services of the church about this season are extremely
Speaker 1: tender and inspiring. They dwell and the beautiful story of
Speaker 1: the origin of our faith and the pastoral scenes that
Speaker 1: accompanied its announcement. They gradually increase in fervor and pathos
Speaker 1: during the season of advent, until they break forth in
Speaker 1: full jubilee on the morning that brought peace and goodwill
Speaker 1: to men. I do not know a grander effect of
Speaker 1: music on the moral feelings than to hear the full
Speaker 1: choir and the appealing organ performing a Christmas anthem in
Speaker 1: a cathedral and filling every part of the vast pile
Speaker 1: with triumphant harmony. He also repeatedly stresses the idea that
Speaker 1: this is a time to be happy and merry. He
Speaker 1: talks about being a stranger, no friends around him. Quote,
Speaker 1: Yet I feel the influence of the season beaming into
Speaker 1: my soul from the happy looks of those around me.
Speaker 1: He goes on to say, quote, he who can turn
Speaker 1: churlishly away from contemplating the felicity of his fellow beings,
Speaker 1: and can sit down, darkling and repining in his loneliness
Speaker 1: when all around is joyful, may have his moments of
Speaker 1: strong excitement and selfish gratification, but he wants the genial
Speaker 1: and social sympathies which constitute the charm of a merry Christmas.
Speaker 1: In the stage Coach, Irving describes traveling by coach on
Speaker 1: a tour of Yorkshire on the day before Christmas and
Speaker 1: seeing other passengers, all bound for holiday visits with laden
Speaker 1: with hampers full of delicious foods. He winds up at
Speaker 1: an end that's quote decorated here and there with a
Speaker 1: Christmas green. He runs into a friend who invites him
Speaker 1: to stay for a few days, staying with friends being
Speaker 1: better than having Christmas dinner alone at an inn. So
Speaker 1: for Christmas Eve, Irving winds up at the brace Bridges estate.
Speaker 1: He hears lots of merriment coming from the servants quarters.
Speaker 1: They are playing lots of games, some of which sound
Speaker 1: familiar today and some which do not. Quote here, we're
Speaker 1: kept up the old games of hoodman, blind shoe, the
Speaker 1: wild mare, hot cockles, steal the white loaf, bob apple
Speaker 1: and snapdragon. The Yule clog and Christmas candle were regularly burnt,
Speaker 1: and the mistletoe with its white berries hung up to
Speaker 1: the imminent peril of all the pretty housemaids. A footnote
Speaker 1: explains that young men get to kiss young women under
Speaker 1: the mistletoe, removing a berry from the sprig each time,
Speaker 1: and when the berries are gone, quote, the privilege ceases.
Speaker 1: Irving describes the Yule clog, which is an enormous log
Speaker 1: burned during the holiday, with a bit of its saved
Speaker 1: to light the next year's log, as well as a
Speaker 1: range of superstitions associated with it. He also talks about
Speaker 1: Christmas candles being wreathed in greens, and lots of singing
Speaker 1: and dancing in general gaiety. His Christmas Day account begins
Speaker 1: with the household's children going door to door through the
Speaker 1: house singing a Christmas carol to wake everyone up. Then
Speaker 1: there are family prayers, followed by another carol, and then
Speaker 1: a church service later in the day and distribution of beef,
Speaker 1: bread and ale to the poor. On arrival at the
Speaker 1: church Irving writes, quote, on reaching the church board, we
Speaker 1: found the parson rebuking the gray headed sexton for having
Speaker 1: used mistletoe among the greens with which the church was decorated.
Speaker 1: It was he observed an unholy plant, profaned by having
Speaker 1: been used by the druids and their mystic ceremonies, And
Speaker 1: though it might be innocently employed in the festive ornamenting
Speaker 1: of halls and kitchens, yet it had been deemed by
Speaker 1: the fathers of the church as unhallowed and totally unfit
Speaker 1: for sacred purposes. In Christmas dinner, Irving is at first
Speaker 1: perplexed when a pig's head is brought out on a platter,
Speaker 1: until his host explains that it's meant to represent a
Speaker 1: boar's head, something that had traditionally been served at Christmas
Speaker 1: in earlier years, including at the Oxford College that he
Speaker 1: had attended. The families Christmas dinner also includes turkey, pheasant pie,
Speaker 1: and a wastle bowl. After dinner, the family gathers for
Speaker 1: the telling of Christmas ghost stories and a quote Christmas
Speaker 1: mummery or masking. This has another footnote quote maskings or
Speaker 1: mummories were favorite sports at Christmas and old times, and
Speaker 1: the wardrobes at halls and manor houses were often laid
Speaker 1: under contribution to furnished dresses and fantastic disguising. I strongly
Speaker 1: suspect Master Simons who have taken the idea of his
Speaker 1: from Ben Johnson's Mask of Christmas to someone living in
Speaker 1: the US today, where Christmas can feel like a giant
Speaker 1: commercial juggernaut. None of this really sounds all that dramatic,
Speaker 1: more like a quaint, old fashioned Blish Christmas. But again,
Speaker 1: the holiday really wasn't established in much of the US
Speaker 1: at that point. Irving's writing about it comes across as
Speaker 1: somewhat nostalgic, emphasizing that he thinks these kinds of traditions
Speaker 1: should be preserved. Then, as we said earlier, the Sketchbook
Speaker 1: was really popular, so Irving's fond descriptions of this English
Speaker 1: holiday spread across his reading audience in the US, and
Speaker 1: it also had an impact on another writer whose work
Speaker 1: has been credited with influencing the way Christmas has thought
Speaker 1: about and celebrated, and that is Charles Dickens. Charles Dickens
Speaker 1: was kind of a Washington Irving super fan. The Sketch
Speaker 1: Book was published when he was about eight, and he
Speaker 1: read it over and over. It is likely that Dickens
Speaker 1: named his own sketches by Boss after irving sketchbook, and
Speaker 1: the sketchbook influenced Dickens eighteen thirty five a Christmas Dinner,
Speaker 1: as well as Christmas scenes in Pickwick Papers in eighteen
Speaker 1: thirty six. Irving wrote to Dickens in eighteen forty one
Speaker 1: complimenting him on his work, and dickens reply is effusive.
Speaker 1: Here is a sample quote. I have been so accustomed
Speaker 1: to associate you with my pleasantest and happiest thoughts, and
Speaker 1: with my leisure hours, that I rush at once into
Speaker 1: full confidence with you, and fall, as it were, naturally,
Speaker 1: and by the very laws of gravity, into your open arms.
Speaker 1: Questions come thronging to my pen, as to the lips
Speaker 1: of people who meet after long hoping to do so.
Speaker 1: I don't know what to say first, or what to
Speaker 1: leave unsaid, and am constantly disposed to break off and
Speaker 1: tell you again how glad I am this moment has arrived.
Speaker 1: I don't know if Charles Dickens meant this to sound
Speaker 1: a little suggestive. It's very romantic. It is extremely romantic.
Speaker 1: Irving and Dickens exchanged flattering letters back and forth until
Speaker 1: meeting during Dickens's tour of the US in eighteen forty two.
Speaker 1: In eighteen forty three, Dickens published a Christmas Carol, again
Speaker 1: influenced by Irving and whose influence on Christmas time we
Speaker 1: have previously discussed on the show. Their friendship might not
Speaker 1: have lasted beyond that tour, though if they corresponded after
Speaker 1: Irving left for that appointment as Minister to Spain. Those
Speaker 1: letters have not survived. And there's also a second hand
Speaker 1: report that Irving had found Dickens to be quote outrageously vulgar. Regardless,
Speaker 1: Christmas became more of an established and public holiday in
Speaker 1: the US over the course of the nineteenth century, and
Speaker 1: it became a federal holiday in the US on June seventy.
Speaker 1: And that's a bit about Washington Irving and his influence
Speaker 1: on the Christmas season, on the season of holiday cheer
Speaker 1: and greenery. And I feel like, um, he to have
Speaker 1: an aneurysm if he walked into like a big box
Speaker 1: store and saw like the assault of Christmas everything, which
Speaker 1: I'm not complaining about, by the way, but to him
Speaker 1: it would feel that way. I bet so Go's a
Speaker 1: male I do. I have listener mail from Caitlin. Caitlin says, Hi,
Speaker 1: Holly and Tracy, I belong to the camp of oh
Speaker 1: More Nursery Rhymes. Uh. This was obviously written after our
Speaker 1: six Impossible episodes Nursery Rhymes Part two. I had three
Speaker 1: connected thoughts from the most recent edition. First, I love
Speaker 1: the idea that the long Mother Hubbard was the author,
Speaker 1: building off an existing skeleton. Second, little kids are creepy
Speaker 1: and morbid and love songs about me, him and murder.
Speaker 1: Anytime I sing anything remotely violent with my preschool class,
Speaker 1: their eyes light up and they miime along with lee.
Speaker 1: Little bunny Foo Foo getting bopped on the head as
Speaker 1: a particular favorite. Third, and this ties together with one
Speaker 1: and two. When I was in third or fourth grade,
Speaker 1: we did a unit on poetry and Red Shell Silverstein.
Speaker 1: Our teacher challenged us to add averse to his poem Sick,
Speaker 1: figuring that the rhyming couplets and subject matter of not
Speaker 1: wanting to go to school would be a hit. And
Speaker 1: the poem Little Peggy and Mackay lists all her eggs
Speaker 1: and pains and ailments and insists she's too sick. For
Speaker 1: school until being told it's Saturday, at which point she
Speaker 1: scampers off to play. I definitely remember this poem from
Speaker 1: my chart. Caitlin goes on to say I loved this assignment.
Speaker 1: I was a weird and morbid kid who loved learning
Speaker 1: about illnesses and medical procedures and strange diseases. And I
Speaker 1: added several more verses subjecting peggy ants who plague, rickets,
Speaker 1: broken toes, and smallpox with illustrations to match. I have
Speaker 1: no idea what my teacher thought, but boy, howdy would
Speaker 1: I love to go back in time and ask this
Speaker 1: is say no wonder a poem about animal vampireism and
Speaker 1: murder has been such a historic faith. Thank y'all for
Speaker 1: all the work you do bringing episodes to our ears. Caitlin,
Speaker 1: thank you Caitlin for this email. First an update, I
Speaker 1: did visit my parents over Thanksgiving. I asked my mom
Speaker 1: if she remembered what this book was that had something
Speaker 1: that she read to me, followed by who killed cock Rob?
Speaker 1: And she did not remember. Um and I did dig
Speaker 1: through some dusty spaces of their house, as well as
Speaker 1: some dusty spaces of my house where things have been
Speaker 1: transported from their house. Obviously I have not successfully found
Speaker 1: this cock Robin book. However, after we recorded that episode
Speaker 1: and did q A on it, I started thinking about
Speaker 1: Grimm's fairy Tales and how many of them are incredibly violent,
Speaker 1: and I was like, are people gonna think I don't
Speaker 1: I've never heard about Grim's fairy tales? Are we gonna
Speaker 1: get like a lot of Grimm's fairy I have? I
Speaker 1: have complete collections of Grimm's fairy Tales, and I have
Speaker 1: the Junior per Tree t shirt that I wear. That's
Speaker 1: a story that involves cannibalism. Um So anyway, yes, uh,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of weird, violent, morbid stuff and a
Speaker 1: lot of kids literature rum but bringing up Shell Silverstein
Speaker 1: in this email, I wanted to read it just so
Speaker 1: I can talk about Shell Silverstein's other book, Uncle Shelby's
Speaker 1: a b Z book, Yes, my favorite, which I just
Speaker 1: showed to Holly. I pulled it off of my off
Speaker 1: of my shelf downstairs. This contains material that was originally
Speaker 1: published in Playboy, and wow, it's um it's a It's
Speaker 1: a book that I really love. I was trying to
Speaker 1: figure out if there was some little snippet for it.
Speaker 1: I will read I is for ink, just because I
Speaker 1: turned to randomly. I love this one. I is for inc.
Speaker 1: Inc is black and wet, inc is fun. What can
Speaker 1: you do with ink? What rhymes with ink? And then
Speaker 1: it says d r dash dash dash um. This one
Speaker 1: is also has has qus for quarantine. Isn't this a
Speaker 1: big word? Do you know what this word means? It
Speaker 1: means come in kids free ice cream? Uh So, anyway,
Speaker 1: I just I think my favorite is B is for baby.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, where it's like I'm gonna misquote it, but
Speaker 1: it's like the baby is pig, the baby is little,
Speaker 1: and mommy loves the baby more than she loves you,
Speaker 1: and it's so dark and wondrous. That's the gist of it. Um. Anyway,
Speaker 1: if if you if the only shell Silverstein, you've ever
Speaker 1: experienced our things like where the sidewalk ins and um
Speaker 1: and the giving tree. They had to when they reprinted
Speaker 1: this book, they had to put a little thing on
Speaker 1: the front noting that it was for adults only, Yes,
Speaker 1: because people were confused. Anyway, Thank you so much, Caitlin
Speaker 1: for sharing this with us and for making me remember
Speaker 1: that I have this copy of Dr Shelby saby Z
Speaker 1: book on the shell and giving me the opportunity to
Speaker 1: update everyone on No. I still am not sure what
Speaker 1: that Who Killed cock Robin book was for my childhood.
Speaker 1: The mysteries continue. If you have ideas, feel free to
Speaker 1: send them in if you'd like to send us an email.
Speaker 1: We're at History Podcast at i heeart radio dot com
Speaker 1: and we're all over social media at miss in History,
Speaker 1: so you'll find our Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram, and
Speaker 1: you can subscribe to the show on the I heart
Speaker 1: radio app anywhere else you like to get your podcasts.
Speaker 1: Stuff you Missed in History Class is a production of
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from I Heart Radio,
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