Yule traditions are disappearing; celebrations wane

To the editor:

Readers of the marvelous 18th century English novels of manners and those who watch TV versions of these stories remember the English Yule-log culture when you cleaned up the castle and friends from afar arrived with their coach-and-four and a lackey or two hanging on the standards. Parties lasted for weeks.

When I arrived in the Cape, the 18th century was gone, but certain Old World qualities remained. We went to open houses at Judy Crowe's and visited Dr. Oehler and his matriarchy and chatted with friends we had not seen since the last Yuletide season. Sometimes we opened up our own castle, decorating it with poinsettias bought from Henry Ochs.

Today the household hearths are cold, as the poet laments. Henry and Judy and Doc and his family are gone, and the rest of us have become grouchy. Those were the days when we counted Christmas cards in the hundreds and strung them on an inside clothesline behind the tree.

Today Christmas songs have been emasculated to a single verse with no notes which appear magically on the dry wall wedged beside a calculation of the church budget.

PETER HILTY

Cape Girardeau