B? ?MP?? BOW???
6
Invented the
V7 ll,?* ?1 d chroniclers ?jPll?P?|P%
have thrown a
vei* of mystery grafiflRR
around the Sj|liyB^p
TLr-ivV Christmas tree
and make no at\A
f nT Kl ^emPt t0 ex" BfflBBll?
pIain ,ts or,glnstated
that the
. tree came to us
This legend is well propagated In jjlllP^
old Irish and Welsh fairy tales.
The idea is that in ^nclent Egypt
they used a slip of the palm tree Bpfe?
with twelve shoots on it at certain
winter festivities. The tree sym- flPtP
bollzed the year with its twelve f|ffe ~
Consequently, any one who is ' ' IjjjijJ
equal to the effort may believe that
the modern Christmas tree reDre
sents that twelve-shooted slip of
palm. Minds of less stalwart ere- i
dulity may prefer to trace the * uvjyjLj?;
Christmas tree back to Germany jpSgaPra
only, where they had Christmas
trees long before they were ever \
heard of in tWs country or England f 4jjjj^ _
or France. y^Bjj
The Christmas tree was not introduced
into England from Germany
until after the narriage of ,'f
Queen Victoria to her German con- . '
sort. Prince Albert. Put where did ^-r~
the Germans get the Christmas tree ^ ''tfLygj
idea from? S. J. Adair Fitz Gerald. ;
writing in T. P.'s Weekly, offers an W
explanation of this by saying that
far away back in the ages you find Xi^JTv
Teutons believing in a mystic ash
tree, Yggdrasil, which, with its
roots and branches, united the f
world of the living and the world
of the dead. "At the foot of Ygg- \T /.
drasll sit the three Norns, who determine
the destinies of men, and
Yggdrasil's branches bear gifts for men to take."
Is that our Christmas tree? Anyhow, the idea
that Prince Albert introduced it into Great Britain
is very prevalent. One of the prettiest and
most eagerly looked for events of the Christmastide?that
of the setting up of the Christmas
tree?is associated with the late Empress Frederick
of Germany. Queen Victoria, after the
birth of the princess royal, had Christmas cele
Drated at windsor lu 1840, ana on tnat occasion
Prince Albert Introduced the pretty German custom
of decorating a Christmas tree. Since that
period it has become a welcome custom for both
rich and poor, and affords a graceful means of
distributing little presents. It was probably
first imported into Germany with the conquering
legions of Drusus, and is alluded to by Virgil in
the "Georglcs."
It will be seen by this that the generally accepted
notion is that Prince Albert was responsible
for the British adoption of the pleasing
tree and all that It means, symbolical and practical,
to the youngsters. But on the threshold
of this acceptation we are met with this statement
from the "Grevllle Memoirs," under date
Dec. 27, 1829. when Queen Victoria was yet but
ten years old. "On Christmas day the Princess
Lleven got up a little fete, such as is customary
all over Germany. Three
trees in great pots were put
on a ,UI,K lauie cuvereu wiiu
'!^fcw i^jn^U linen; each tree was illumlnated
with three circular
tiers of colored wax candles
?blue, green, red and white.
Before each was displayed a
Jf Quantity of toys, gloves.
x/ \'x handkerchiefs, workboxes,
l&SsStL \ books and various articles,
W presents made to the owner
' i\i3V&^AV *'ie tree-" This princess
' . j^t^V was a Russian, and in her
^ ?? ?j later days lived mostly In
Paris. Then again Prof.
Ditchfield, in his "Old English Customs." says
that the Christmas tree was first imported Into
England by some German merchants who lived
at Manchester in the first years of the nineteenth
century.
In 1900 a writer on folklore said; "Although
we are accustomed to consider Germany the
home of the Christmas tree, It has not been general
there for more than a couple of centuries.
Old people are still living whose parents never
saw one In Germany. The decoration of houses
with olive leaves and green branches, as in England
at Christmas. Is a far more ancient custom,
and can be noticed in Botticelli's picture of "The
Adoration of the Shepherds," In the National Gallery
in London. It Is, as Fritz Ortwein observes.
a distinct remnant of an ancient neatnen custom,
as at the turn of the year during the twelve
days of the Jul festival in honor of Woden, greencrv
could be fetched by all from the woods
P"
without punishment, and every hall was decorated
with green leaves and branches.
Again, in old works on English customs we .
find many references to the decorating of the I
interior of the dwellings, as well as the pious t
adornment of the churches with greenery, and P
the introduction of a fir tree as symbolical of I
the palm. In the halls of the barons and the ^
squires and In the gigantic kitchens of the
fanners a fir tree ever held prominent place,
but whether ordinarily decorated or not is not
specifically recorded. Here we are in doubt.
In all probability the remaining fruits of the
orchards of the year were hung upon the |_
branches as a propitiation to the gods of the
fruits of the earth to Jnsuro good harvests.
Going abroad we get fuller knowledge of these
things. The custom of carrying away branches
and trees from the woods at Christmas time in
various parts of Austria became so extensive on
account of the superstitions of the peasantry
that a' Salzburg. In 1753, and at Nuremberg, in
176< severe by-laws were issued against persons
purloining from the forests. In some regions of
Hungary a Bolemn procession with a decorated
tree takes place through each village before the
, shepheld play begins. "It is adorned with ribbons
nnd fruit, and is eupposed to symbolize
the tree of knowledge. Although most of the
Christian customs adhered to by the AustrianGerman
peasant can be traced buck to heathenish
Germanen rites, Borne dispute the use of a
tree at the Jul festivities; nevertheless, It is cer>
tain that In Sweden needle pines and firs were
set up at this time before the houses." Teutzel
of Saxony, an antiquarian authority on these
subjects, says: "The ancient heathen sat before
their houses between two crossed pine trees and
ate and drank at the turn of the year for nineteen
days."
The Christmas tree was introduced into Austria
some eighty years ago by a Duchess of
Wurtemberg and spread throughout Germany.
About 1840 it is supposed to have taken fresh
root in England, and became highly popular
Both Thackeray and Dickens seized hold of the
idea of happiness begot of Christmas gatherings
and the Christmas tree, and Charles Dickens in
1850 used "The Christmas Tree" as a title for
one of his annual stories.
Although Christmas was not celebrated In the
first centuries of the Christian era, there are
indications In the records of early Romau history
of the setting up of a decorated tree at
Christmas time and the presentation of gifts of
fruit and toys. The Romans are supposed to
have taken the idea from the early Egyptians.
Centuries old. the customs of Christmas observance
have taken myriad forms in the various
countries of the world In many cases they perpetuate
some ancient custom which long antedates
the advent of Christianity. Such are the
customs which have grown up around the mistletoe,
worshiped by the ancient Druids of Britain
as a sacred and magical plant. An old English
writer, speaking of the Druids' celebration of
the winter solstice, our Christmas, says:
?L * .?i ?r
i niS ?U8 lilt] IlilJBl ICBl'CllttUID lirouiai ui
cur Druids, called Yuletlde; when the mistletoe,
which they called nil-heal, was carried in their
hands and laid on their altara as an emblem of
the salutiferous advent of Messiah. This mistletoe
they cut off the trees with their upright
hatchets of brass, called celts, put upon ends of
their stuffs, which they carried in their hands.
Innumerable are these instruments found all
over the British isles. The custom is still preserved.
and lately at York on the eve of Christmas
day they carry mistletoe to the high altar
of the cathedral, and proclaim a public and universal
liberty, pardon and freedom to all sorts
of Inferior and even wicked people, at the gates
of the city, towards their four quarters of
heaven."
The lore of the strange plant Is prominently
in evidence in the Voluspa and other Scandinavian
Sagas It was with a mistletoe branch?or
an arrow prepared therefrom?that the blind
and heavy-headed deity Hoder aimer his deadly
blow at Haider, the god of light or benevolent
principle of northern mythology, rne inspiration
of the use of the mistletoe was. of course, due
to the oppos
?which had
not given definite promise to Preva to prove
harmless If used against the person of her son
Haider. Thus Scandinavian mythical lore accounts
for the death of the latter And nccprdingly,
a traditional Idea of the poisonous properties
of the mistletoe is found to persist In remote
regions of the north and west of Europe,
even to the present day. In Great Ilritain (In
the Forest of Deant it has been used down to
recent date as a popular remedy in the treatment
of cardiac troubles. Like ihe strophantus of
African nrrow poison fame, it proved a reliable
substitute for digitalis
Kissing under the mistletoe Is all that now re
ammmohmnc jommkmbh = ?mmmm, mm? cn MBrf
^ N
'^jifjl mains of a once .horrible Druid rite.
^he ceremonies which tho inistletoe
figured In among the ancient
Druids always accorded it a place
?' honor. The myths that clung
$Wm around it in their wondering, puz0,
zling minds were many more than
Wt | the few that have come to us In
? these later years. But, old as they 1
are, those hoary, heathen myths
vy
.Jfr lack the true flavor of antiquity
when it comes to measuring tradi- 1
tiona by the centuries.
jSp*' Oh, we do not by any means owe i
1 our mistletoo to the Druids. We 1
jSagcy can go back so much further for the 1
adventures of the mistletoo
H9E** that the Druids become merely
modern Innovators. It was one of i
j>yjV the noblest of the trees In Paradise,
V the lordly tree of good and evil;
' and on its twig hung the apple
which Mother Eve plucked with
such disastrous consequences. Alas
j?|k_ for Mother Eve and Father Adam!
And alas for us. their punished
jpBjgL, i helrs-at-law divine' Put alas, too.
for the wicked, handaome, tempting
tree of knowledge which put humanIty
In such graceless plight! I'pon
I ffi its lofty crown, its massive trunk,
i 'ts delicious fruit, descended the
L&'y'ffe universal curse. It shriveled away
from horrified earth; it dwindied
to the meanest smallness; it
Wjgfr was cast out into the bitter cold:
mjm !f- became a parasite and beggar
existing by the bounty of vulgar
neighbors. Only in the pearly
-jR n translucence of its shrunken fruit.
the most trivial of berries, did it
r '(&r preserve some semblance of its
once rad'ant splendor.
And it has preserved some of Its
pristine virtues, too, in traditional
Christian lore, as if it were still hedged about
with a vestige of the glory that arrayed it In
Paradise.
Time was, and time Is now, when epilepsy is
one of the scourges of mankind; only now we
look for its cure, as we look for its cause, in
quite natural means and conditions. The notion
that some poor devil with the falling sickness
has been cursed from on high is held scarcely
compatible, in popular science, with the principles
of eternal Justice or with cold observation
of cause and effect.
Hut in times that were, in Wales, when an
epileptic developed the symptoms characteristic
of the disorder, it was commonly believed that
he was being scourged with the "rod of Christ,"
and that was the name by which the disease
went, although it nad another designation as
well?St. Valentine's Blckness. The cure for It
was believed to lie In the Rod of Jesse. The use
of the mistletoe as the Rod of Jesse in epilepsy
was general and, If faith can work wonders, per
haps the miracle of cure did sometimes attend
its employment.
Perhaps it didn't, If hard-headed science
choose to take a shy at that gracious addition to
the list of miracle-working agents. Hut whether
It did or didn't the mistletoo's rare birth and
fruition still carry with them
the tenderest of Christian ' ^
faiths, as they carry, too, tho
story of humanity's most far- , ,?
reaching disaster. It is one /y - - JLjra /
of the Christmas greens ' wQX&Zwlilch
has the warrant of re- : ?r=.
ligious associations dating ^
back to the very beginnings
of man's creation, even as if
is accorded the sublime
honor of typifying the ances- I . usa <3*^^
tral origins of the Redeemer I ft ?i
of Man himself. l|l
Hut what about the mistle- It IV- tfcrh
toe kiss?
'im1 To tell the truth, if we want to be con
sistently Christian in our Christmas greens and
the purposes to which they should be put, there
isn't anything about it, at least of any records
which sucli careful investigators as Alfred R. P.
Raymond Dowling have dug up while studying
the general subject. None will deny that the
most consistent Christians have taken to the
mistletoe kiss with abundant enthusiasm and a
faith in Its excellent results that has never been
surpassed. Rut that doesn't make the mistletoe
kiss any more Christian than it ever was.
Isn't the excellent story of foolish Mother Kve
and the original mistletoe apple enough for any
reasonable Christmas decorator who wants to
Justify its employment? And if it isn't, haven't
wo the legend of the Rod of Jesse to make it
distinctly o.^e of the Christmas greens? As for
the kisses that are supposed to go with it?well.
If you Insist on knowing about them, you'll
J simply have to take the consequences, same
*" 11 1 nn tlctinwr nf
as tive (J1U wueu one lusiawu v/?. w.
that confounded tree of knowledge.
The mistletoe kiss seems not to bo Christian
at all?Druldlcal, probably, and therefore
heathenish, and therefore very, very wrong
So, all young men who encounter It, artfully
suspended where a pair of ripe, red lips must
pass, do you piously refrain or, more piously,
tear down the hoary old temptation and fien
the accursed roof, as if it were the house of
Arrla Marcella and you were not Gautler's
young Frenchman. And you. maidens, give
leave to no pagan rites: remember the fate of
your poor Grandmother Eve and beware lest
the fruit of the mistletoe, accursed tree of
knowledge, prove now more bitter In the mouth
ihan It did In Eden.
But If you have Ivy, wreathe It generous!}", for
the French know it as the herb of St. John, the
disciple whom the Savior loved, the emblem of
pure friendship, the vine that heeds not decay I
and death of its beloved, but clings ever more
closely n3 the fall impends and bears up Its fall- |
lng ally against al! adversity. Learned s'udente
of these legends havo surmised, too, that It :na>
be the herb of Sr. John the Baptist, who Is uuual
ly pictured as the boy in his camel's-hair coat
gazing at his cousin, the infant Jesus.
Feared Nebraska May Sue
^ I
117 ASHINUTON. "Naval officers are a
?? guessing whether the -United c
State battleship Nebraska, which ran
upon au uncharted shoal a short time
igo. is going to take the place of the D
ill-fated Texas, later named San Mar- b
?os, which was the hoodoo ship of ^
the navy," remarked Captain L. L. 0
Darbey, a retired naval officer, the '
ather day. "Ill luck pursued the Texas n
ilmost from the beginning, and it d
seemed that it was never out of trouble
during all the time it was in com- e
mission, except at the battle of San- i'
tiago, where it did great work. *
"Refore the Spanish-American war j t
[he Texas while being overhauled at 'I
the Brooklyn navy yard was sunk, be- r
cause the yokes of its sea cocks were t
broken in the course of repairs, and a
ilie water poured in just as if the c
boat had been scuttled. The Texas 1
sank, as everybody knows, and was r
raised as soon as possible. It was on !
that occasion that. Captain Jack Phil- c
lips, one of the bravest and best naval t
Enterprising Sam Conserves
IF Sam Lee should put a big gilt
sign bearing the words, ' Electrical
Chinese Laundry," on the front of his
little shop, at 310S Fourteenth street,
Northwest, any time in the near future,
his customers in Mount Pleasant
woultl not be at all surprised.
In fact, a number of those who in
trust their neglige to the tender ministrations
of the affable Celestial have
been wondering for some time why
Sam has neglected such a splendid j
opportunity for a bit of advertls- (
ing. j
Hut although Sam has been reju- j
venated to the extent where he real- ]
Izes that electrical power Is much ]
stronger, cheaper, and more efficient ,
In the long run than the muscles and <
sinews of the human arms and back,
he has not awakened to the wonders |
of the "ads." <
Sam is a typical specimen of the i
"new" Chinaman?the product of that l
stirring spirit which caused the an- I
clpnt empire to become transformed '
Into a republic in a remarkably short I
period, and with the loss of only a
few hundred heads and other incl- i
dentals. 1
Sam is wide-awake and alert, and
in the "Melican slang" he Is "on the i
He Wants a Wife, and V
.AO 4m
. f I
AL'GUUST SEYMORB, otherwise
known as August Scbaefelsky de
Mukkadel de Castellane, one time
dentist to the bey of Tunis and his
harem, wants a wife, and wants her
double-quick, lie has from now until
January 1 to persuade an American
girl to marry him, or he will forfeit
a legacy of J 150,000 promised by
a California woman.
An aunt, formerly of Oakland, Cal.,
told him five years ago that if he
would cam "something worth while
and capture an American for a wife,"
she would give him $150,000.
Seymore is a relative of the Cas
tellane family made famous by the
marital difficulties of Count Doni.
In Doubt as to Mr. Wilsoi
JUST at present Washington is wondering
whether it will soon behold
a president of the United States roll
ine leisurely by on his bicycle. It has
just com" out that the president-elect
is fond of that manner 01 locomotion.
He has gone on his vacation, and proposes
to spend a part of it riding on
his wheel. He has pedaled over many
miles of English and continental
roads in this fashion and likes it. j
Time was when Washington was filled j i
with eminent men and women aw heel. ; j
but they have all vanished save one, j i
Assistant Secretary of State A. A. <
Adee. He is the permanent assistant ' |
secretary of sta'e. a man who sticks <
to his own notions about things. Ev- j<
? ry summer he voyages to Europe and ! i
spends a month or so bicycling to j <
places of interest. He and the new j
president should establish c- -dial v \
lations very early. . j
If as president Gov. Wilson wants ;
to bike" around Washington, he will (
not want for good reads. They stretch
in cv? ry direction, except toward Vir- '
ginia. The secret service men who guard
him, cf course, would also have ;
i
I
:ceed Texas as Hoodoo
fflcers, by the way, that ever trod a
ridge, hnd some fun with Fighting
iob Evans, at that time commanding
be Iowa. When the Texas was raised
: was found that in the hull were
bousands of eels that had been suckd
through the open sea cocks. Knowig
Captain Evans's fondness for eels
'hillips had a lot of them sent over
o the Iowa. He was somewhat snrrised
a day later to receive a note of
cknowledgment from his brother oilier,
which read: 'The eels were fine,
ack; sink her again.'
"It was Jack Phillips, you may relember,
who, after the great navsl
attle of Santiago, when the Spanish
attlesbips were lying on the shores
f Cuba smoking from the shot of the
unerican ships, solemnly said to his
r\^,? nSon, Knvo' thp noor
UCU. LAiU I 'vucv-i, vv/ify r
levils are dying.'
"Jack Phillips was one of the bravst,
and at the same time moBt relig0U8,
naval officers I ever knew. He
^as the direct opposite of Bob Evans,
tut the two were great friends. The
"exas, you know, was afterward
tamed the San iMarccs, and was the
arget for gun practice a *ew months
igo. It was a fitting end for a good
dd ship that had always been in hard
uck, except at the time when it was
nost needed. I say, I wonder if the
sebraska is going to take the place
if the Texas as th?^ hoodoo ship of
he navy?"
> the Natural Resources
lob." Therefore, when an enterprising
salesman revealed the wonders of
i now and Ingenious device for
ironing clothes at the cost of but little
perspiration, less physical energy,
practically no mental waste, and only
i few cents a day in the cost of power,
Sam said: "I buy him."
Now Sam Irons with an electrical
,ron which saves him so many hundreds
of steps a day between the
stove and his ironing table. Further,
Lhe iron is so arranged that by pu'lIng
a string he releases a weight
which bears down on the top of the
iron and relieves him of that duty.
Better still, the pulling of another
string lifts the iron Just the right
height above the board and Sam does
not have to lift it and put it on tne
old-fashioned Iron holder.
Vants Her Double-Quick
lie Is now in Washington, where he
expects to remain until ho finds "the
woman" that his aunt told him he
must have before he is entitled to her
money. He has lectured, written, practiced
dentistry and served in the
French army. In a wife he would have
a chum.
"I used to believe in my mother's
view of marriage?the marriage of
the eye?but I have come to the view
of the marriage of reason," said Scymore.
"Mother said that marriage
progressed from the stage of catching,
or buying, a woman to the wooing
of a woman regarded in a nobler
sense, and the winning of the wife.
"Now I feel that the marriage of
the eye is the result of the sentimentality
of youth and immaturity. Retter
is that marriage where the couple
are partners, chums, sharing everything
alike. I don't believo In the
marriage where the man has the money
and forces his wife to ask
him for every cent she gets.
"Itather, there should be a balance
of power, so that the man and the
woman ar> on an absolutely equal
footing as regards money, morals,
pleasures and sorrows."
i's Mode of Locomotion
to be mounted, but that is only ar?
ncident. They have been accustomed
to following the president on motorcycles
and sometimes in an automobile
of their oun. If the new preslJent
takes to bicycling, however, official
Washington will do likewise. That
s a way official Washington has. If
iov. Wilson goes out much awheel, it
will not be long before embassadors
ind ministers and secretaries and military
attaches will also be pedaling
llong the sleeky-oiled reads and
iodgir.g automobiles. Cabinet officials
! i congressmen will do likewise,
rhe revival of bicycling among the
well-to-do may be expected somewhat
ill over the country.