When Christmas Came to Nashville: Part 3

Wishes for firecrackers, gold rings and oranges

Dec 17, 2024

Christmas Magic Comes to Nashville is a four-part holiday story based on actual events which took place in and around Nashville, TN between 1883 and 1888. Some creative liberties have been taken in bringing this wonderful lost & found story back to life, however, every effort has been made to honor the heart, soul and sentiments of the original story throughout the process.

When Christmas Came to Nashville: Part 1

Lori Olson White

December 3, 2024

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Release Date: December 17, 2024

A reassurance for young letter writers

When the Santa stories first appeared in The Banner, they were accompanied by lists of names, little girls and little boys who lived in the Nashville community. It’s not known how the lists were compiled – perhaps parents had sent the names of their children to the paper, maybe the names had been pulled from school rosters, or maybe the staff had simply started writing down familiar names, perhaps even names of children they knew personally.

However the lists were compiled, there was a 100 percent chance that not every name of a Nashville child would be included.

As one can imagine in the matter of something as important as a visit from Santa, letters from concerned children – and irate visits by their parents – were received almost immediately.

Dear Santa Claus: I heard my papa reading in the Banner about the little girls and boys. My name was not in the Banner with the other boys and girls, and I thought you had forgotten me so I thought I would write, for I don’t like to be forgotten. I live in Franklin 18 miles from Nashville. I would like to get a nice little wagon and other nice presents. I will close hoping you have not forgotten me. Martin Mulloy.

Mr. Banner Reporter, Agent for Old Santa Claus: I am afraid you forgot to give my name to Old Santa Claus. My name is Ophelia. Please tell him not to forget me, for I want a muff for my neck, a little stove, a little machine, a baby buggy for my dolls and I will send you one of my cards. Your little friend Ophelia L. Benedick. My address is 501 North Nashville Cherry Tt., Tennessee. I live near St Celia. I go there to school. This is my first letter. I have only been to school 3 months.

Finally on December 23, 1884, the good folks of The Banner had had enough, and addressed the situation in a column titled, “Old Santa Claus. More Letters from the Children – Names That Were Omitted”.

The little boys and girls who have been writing to The Banner reporter complaining that their names were left out of the list furnished Santa Claus are informed that their names were inadvertently omitted in the original list by the printer. Sometimes the printer gets careless and frequently, through absence of mind, fails to serve his best friends, though greatly desiring to do so. He has so many names and things to think of that it is a wonder he does not forget more than he does. And then some of the little boys and girls do not write quite as plainly as printing, or as correctly as great grown-up people, and in a great many instances the printer finds it not so easy to decipher their manuscripts. All the little readers of the Banner should strive to learn to read and write well.

But perhaps the children should know more about the printer. The printer is a man like other men, except that he has to do a vast amount of work that the outside would does not appreciate. In fact, when he is so often misjudged, and people so often blame him for things when he should not be blamed, he sometimes becomes cynical. Wonder if our little readers know what that means?

But the printer doesn’t think he is such a bad man, thought he sometimes takes a delight in tormenting authors and writers. The proofreader is in league with him, and together they have been known to make an author’s hair stand on end. A few instances are known where the printer and proof-reader together have been the cause of some eminent writers going to the asylum for the insane. But then they are close friends of old Santa Claus and on this account to be in a measure excuses. It is true they have sometimes allowed old Santa Claus’ name to go into print as Santa Claws, but since the old man has often forgiven them for this offense, it is reasonable to ask others to do so.

A printer told the reporter the other day that when he was putting in type a story about Christmas times and began to think about the happy days long ago when he had sweet little boys and girls around his knees who have been taken away from him, leaving his life desolate and only haunted by the memories of the merry voices he used to hear, the tears came to his eyes, blinding him, and he thinks he must have failed to see some names on the paper before him. Perhaps this is how some of the names were note printed which were handed into Santa Claus.

However, all the good children may rest assured that the reporter has given their true names to Santa Claus, and that he will be around according to appointment on the night of December 24^th.

A publishing frenzy

December 1886 was a busy month for letters to Santa Claus at The Nashville Banner. During the two weeks leading up to Christmas Day, the paper remarkably published nearly 2,000 letters, and, although a majority of the letters were postmarked “Nashville”, children with addresses as far afield as Hicks Crossing, Murfreesboro, Gallatin, Springfield and Franklin had also sent letters, the assumption being their local papers were not “Official Agents of Santa Claus”.

In a heroic effort to print all the letters received, the staff of The Banner set letters in the smallest possible type font, and, with Santa’s blessing, edited letters for length, removing dates and locations while retaining all the important information.

As a result, each four-page edition of the paper contained little more than columns and columns of letters to Santa Claus and advertisements – many hawking last-minute gifts for mothers, fathers and children brought to the page in search of familiar names.

News, it appeared, had taken a back seat to Christmas.

On December 23, the paper posted the following editorial:

The Banner has on hand as many unpublished letters to Santa Claus as it can possibly put in type before Christmas.

And the next day, Christmas Eve, the last of the letters was published with this note:

The Banner publishes today the last lot of letters from the little folks that it can print before Christmas. The Banner has printed between one thousand and two thousand of these letters, which have been so eagerly looked for by the little writers. We have endeavored to print all received, but in the avalanche of letters showered upon is some may have been inadvertently overlooked or lost.

These letters came to us in every conceivable way through the mails and by hand. Many were slipped under the door by timid little children, many laid hurriedly on our business counter, and many given to carrier boys and other parties. A great many were dropped into the post office without stamps, on which we cheerfully paid the postage. Doubtless many of these little missives were lost and never reached us, and a number of them were written in such childish characters on rumpled bits of paper they were illegible.

We hope no one has been disappointed and yet we are sure some will wonder why their letters did not appear in print. Parents will understand how, with so many hundreds of letters and curious scraps of paper pouring in on us, there could be many omissions and losses, but we have tried to prevent any disappointment as best we could.

The Banner wishes its host of little friends a merry, happy Christmas.

A collection of Letters to Santa

Among the thousands of Letters to Santa published in the Banner during December of 1886 were the following:

Dear Santa Claus: Please send me a Christmas tree with large toys and small toys on the tree and large and small toys off the tree, and don’t forget Mamie O’Conner she is a sweet little girl, and I am good boy. Bob Cauvin.

Dear Santa: Bring me a rubber doll and a rubber ring and also bring me a big fine Newfoundland dog and much oblige. Spot Devaney.

Dear Old Kris; Please bring me a sled with iron runners, 9 packs of firecrackers, a fire engine, a story book, candy, nuts and oranges. I would be so glad for a bicycle with iron wheels, but I am afraid it would cost too much – and Kris, don’t forget to be good to The Banner. Your little friend, Jim Armstrong.

Dear Santa Claus; Please bring me a knife to cut apples. Mamma won’t give me her one. I want a Billy goat, baa-lambs and little piggies. Please bring me a ‘too-too” and some cows that can say “moo-ah’, and a great big white horse. Bring Little brother a whole lot of things little babies love. I want some candy, oranges, nuts and firecrackers. Your little friend, William Donald Miller.

Dear Santa Claus: I am a little boy four years old, and I have been sick all week, but I am going to be well for Christmas. Please bring me a new overcoat, and a kit of tools to earn a living. And just plenty of candy and nuts and a bottle of candy like you did last year. Your little friend, Tommie J. Winton.

Dear Santa Claus: Call and see us and we will be satisfied with whatever you bring us. Our names are Fannie Dora, Willie, Harry and Toney carter. No. 5 Joseph Avenue Eastside.

P.S. And a wheelbarrow

Dear Santa: I am a little girl nine years old. I want a nice gold ring and a pair of roller skates. I don’t want anything else, the rest to the poor little heathens and poor children who have no parents. Good-bye. Your friend, Gertie Hawkins.

Dear Old Santa: Please bring me a new sled and a Billy goat to work to it and a pair of skates and please put a bell on Trimble school. Lawrence Owen. (Lawrence’s sister, Eva, also requested a bell for Trimble school.)

Not all the letters were from children, however:

Dear Old Santa Claus: Please send me a sweetheart, mine has gone back on me. I have not had a sweetheart in two weeks. If you don’t send me a sweetheart, send me some candy – I must have something sweet. I am twenty years old. I live on Chatham Street. From your friend. Ellen Roberts.

And finally there was this letter:

To the Editor of The Banner: Please give our regards to Santa and we appreciate the favor. Little Children.