Saint Claus

“The snow was lying thick on the ground the next morning, as Herbert told me on his awakening; then, out of bed he sprang to the fireplace, that he might look in his stocking, which he, as well as his cousins, had placed there the previous evening, that Saint Claus might jump down the chimney in the night, to fill them with the good things he carries about.

1863, H. C. O., “Leaves for the Little Ones”, “The Two Christmas Eves”, in The Ladies’ Companion, and Monthly Magazine, volume XXIII, London: Rogerson and Tuxford, […], page 158, column 1

St. Nicholas is the special saint of children, and, as the German Saint Claus, figures in many a Christmas legend.

1874 March 14, “Legends and Traditions of English Counties”, in All the Year Round. A Weekly Journal, volume XI, conducted by Charles Dickens, London: […] Chapman & Hall, […], “Elvetham, Beaulieu, and Winchester”, page 472, column 1

At Yule-tide, oats are thrown out for Saint Claus’s horse (the cult of Odin having been transferred to Saint Claus), and a person convalescent after a dangerous illness, is said to have “given a feed to Death’s horse.”

1893 September 23, “Books”, “Superstitious Survivals”, in The Spectator. A Weekly Review of Politics, Literature, Theology, and Art, volume the seventy-first, number 3,404, London: John Campbell, […], page 404, column 1

There was no use troubling Widow Dooley with any more talk about Saint Claus.[…]Long, long did the child lie in her little bed, awake, listening with a throbbing little heart for the sledge bells of Saint Claus, and the sound of the reindeers’ feet pattering over the house-top.

1899, by “Kit”, “Holy Saint Claus”, in The Canadian Magazine of Politics, Science, Art and Literature, volume 12, pages 158, 159, column 2

NEARLY 6000 miles from Vancouver is a little place called Musselburgh (a town of 20,000 people, situated on the Firth of Forth about 20 miles from Edinburgh), a fishing town where the Scotch lassie still retains her old-time fisherwoman’s dress with large white bonnet, high waisted full-pleated skirt, and gingham waist, and whose children are still brought up to believe in their kindly Saint Claus as a rewarder of good things in accordance with the manner in which they have behaved during the past twelve months.

1923 January, “Little Scotch Girl Writes Santa via H.B.C., Vancouver”, in The Beaver, volume 3, page 161, column 2