Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 307, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 December 1912 — Page 3

i jnpfc TRIAD are the myths and I I legends that cluster around I I the Christmas tree. Its origin |TjB * I takes us far back into prerefi.® ™ historic times when our skinihv' clad savage ancestors were ’ tree worshippers and believed that a god or K° ddeßS dwelt in the evergreen. Long prior to the Christian era, the fir tree was used in Rome in C 7 sr!ls. the December holiday festivities of the Saturnalia and its branches were decked with little yellow Jeweled images --» of pagan divinities, especially

of Bacchus. .» In the Yuletlde celebrations of the Druids of ancient Britain, the evergreen had a distinctive place with ivy, holly and mistletoe. The Druids believed that the evergreens sheltered the good spirits of the’air who fled to them at the approach of cold weather. There is a Scandinavian myth that tells of the tree tha| sprang from the blood-soaked ground where two lovers met a violent death, and of mysterious lights that hovered about the tree at Christmaß time. At the period of the winter solstice, the ancient Egyptians decorated their houses with palm leaves which symbolized immortality and the starry sky. At this, period of the year the ancient Persians decorated the plane tree with ornaments and Jewels. An old German tradition gives Saint Wilfred the credit of transforming the tree worship of the savage Teutons to a Christian ceremony. It was about the year 725 that he led a party of priests into central Germany for the conversion of the of god Thor. Prince Gregor, the grandson of a king, was with him, having been intrusted to his care by the abbess of the cloister Phalzel. On Christmas eve. they were fighting their way through the snow of the forest when they came upon the heathen tribe of Gelsmar. They were assembled under the thunder oak, symbolic of the power of Thor, and were prepared to ofTer up sacrifice. The white-haired priest of the heathens had chosen the young son of the chief as the fairest possession of and he was to be offered, for the god was try hungry and needed the utmost atonement. ' \ As the venerable priest raised his fetone hatchet on high and brought it down to kill the boy, who was ready, prepared for the stroke, Winfred appeared and warded off the blow with his staff. The people were gratified at his saving of their favorite and allowed him speech and he gave them the Christian creed. Then he and the Prince Gregor took their axes %nd cut down the Thunder Oak. Ah it was ready tp fall the lightning came and split it in many parts and it fell asunder. The waiting tribe then beheld in its place a slender fir tree, green and sparkling and odorous. Winfred bade the tribesmen bear this tree to the hall of Grundhar, the chieftain, to there assemble about it and make merry. About ~ this first Christmas tree the wild men of the woods first heard the tale of the shepherd boy and the fields of Judah and it gripped their sturdy hearts. The tribes became Christian and ever after used the fir tree,as a token of the day of Christ’* birth. 9 The Christmas tree in its present style of

CHRISTMAS TREE IN MYTH,TRADITION AND TODAY

usage cannot be traced back farther than the sixteenth century. It then existed only In the Rhine valley, to which narrow limits it was restricted for more than 200 years. At the opening of the nineteenth century It spread to the rest of Germany, and fifty years later had reached Bohemia, Hungary, Paris and England. German immigrants had already brought the custom to our own country and here it has become so popular that the supply of trees In the city markets is never equal to the demand. Linking the present with the dim past of unnumbered centuries, there will this Christmas be displayed in American homes 5,000,000 evergreen trees. There are about 20,000,000 families in the United States, and one in.four of these will make the Christmas tree a part of the celebration that is at hand. This does not mean that only these will participate in the festivities of the season, for there is still the stocking method of dispensing gifts. But In this great number of homes it has become the custom to use the trees in accordance with the old-fashioned custom of sturdy, rural Germany. New York, the metropolis of the nation, uses far more Christmas trees than any other city In the world. Yet the city is so admirably located from the standpoint of available forests that the supply*ls always abundant and prices low. A quarter of a million Christmas trees are each year brought to New York, and all of them are sold during the week before Christmas. Over on Riverside Drive, where are the homes of the wealthy, expensive trees are sold. These are elaborately prepared, often being specially grown for the purpose and bring prices as high as |SO. Yet the East Side gets Its due proportion, and so abundant is the supply that good shrubs may be had for 25 cents and 50 cents. The little trees grow quickly and the farmers are often glad to have them cleared off their land. As a result the people who count the pennies closely find the Christmas greens within tljeir reach. Father Knickerbocker lives right in the midst of the most productive Christmas tree section. The state of New York yields them abundantly. Straight down from the Adlrondacks they come in trainload lots. Northern Pennsylvania also produces them without Btint, and so are all the nearby cities guaranteed an abundance. All through New England there is a general use of the Christmas tree. For a month past there have been hundreds of men preparing the Christmas tree harvest for the youngsters who dwell in the towns and cities. In the smaller communities, provided the region produces the right sort of trees, the farmer himself cuts them down and brings them to market He sells these trees to market men, to grocers, to florists and decorators. The!y are bought from him by the wagonload and cost little. Then they are properly prepared and set upon the sidewalk. But preparation for the larger markets are different. In the hills around the greater cities making ready for Christmas Is begun two months before the arrival of the day to be celebrated. In Maine, for instance, the men go out in gangs of f9ur. They know their business, for they have gathered this self-same hanfekl for a generation. They have bought the trees ay they stand in the field, paying the farmer five cents each for them. The bntt of the tree is sawed off smoothly and painted over in order that the sap may be re-

tained. The limbs are bound down tight so as to save room in shipping. • Then they are bound together in bunches of five, this being convenient for both shipment and sale. They go to market In open cars that they may be kept cool and possibly damp. Otherwise their tips might wilt and their attractiveness thus be lessened. They are sold direct from the cars to retailers and these make a point of keeping them always in the open air. Throughout the southern states the supply of Christmas trees comes from the southern pine that overruns the region. Ordinarily the markets are supplied by the wagons of the farmers, but in the bigger cities they come in carload and trainload lots. The fir is abundant In Colorado, but it grows in high, Inaccessible places, and therefore the Douglas spruce and the lodgepole pine largely take its place. This is largely true of all the Rocky Mountain Btates. In California and the other Pacific Coast states the Incense cedar and the young coast redwoods are quite generally used as Christmas trees. The swamps of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota furnish the markets of Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Detroit. When the time is ready for the indoor use of the tree it is dug up and pared down to a graceful piece of earth as a, base. "Then a piece of canvas or any other Sort of stout cloth is bound about the base to prevent crumbling of the earth The whole of this is then fitted into a box or tub and is ready to serve its purpose in the house. It is more solid and effective Indoors than the ordinary tree and never wilts or droops. It is in reality a living tree. When the festivities are over the tree is taken to the point where It is to be planted. A hole is dug to fit its base. This may be successfully accomplished even where the ground is frozen. The tree is lifted from its tub, the cloth is taken from around Its base and it Is fitted again into the earth from w&ich it came. i The protected roots again take hold and the tree goes on growing without even a knowledge of Its holiday experience. It is in no way injured. Nurserymen specially prepare trees for just this purpose. Individuals may do the same thing with no more explanation than that given above. Trees from the native woods around any village may have their roots pruned in advance or they may be dug up with no preparation whatever. There is a better chance of their flourishing when they have been prepared for the transplanting. But ,any evergreen dug up with a bit of earth about its roots should grow. There is also a manner of permanently marking trees without injuring them or interfering with their growth. A tAg fastened to a piece of wire will remain attached to a tree for a century. This tag mny be of metal and on it may be stamped the date and whatever legend is desired. The home of a growing family may thus be left with a permanent monument of all the Christmases that have passed over the heads of the children that dwelt within it. When these return to the ancestral hearth in their old age they can recall the planting of the trees and the events that hover about the occasion in question. Incidentally, the landscape will have been beautified, and aside from the sentimental phase of it, much valuable timber produced. The Christmas tree industry of the United States has assumed great proportions and Uncle Sam is making plans to place the Industry upon a permanently profitable basis through reforesting large areas. Incidentally the new industry has furnished an opportunity for huhdreds of boys and girts to earn their Christmas money in a new way. by harvesting the cones of evergreen trees. Of the nation’s forest land, 60,000,000 acres are today covered with mature timber, while 40,000,000 acres are well seeded with young growth. This leaves 100,000,000 acres that are either non-productive or only partly productive. It is for this 100,000,000 acres that seed are to be gathered, and it is upon this vast expanse that they are to be planted until the whole*" is developed Into Its greatest possible yielding capacity, making it one of the finest forests that ths world has ever known.

The wind across the snoweiad hills, A restless spirit, roves. The murmur of the frozen rills Still echoes in the groves. The stripped trees, bending to the earth. Their tale of sorrow tell; Hushed .are the sounds of recent mirth That peeled in every dell. * ''Old winter breathes along the plain Its chilling breath of snow; The billows bounding o’er the main An added fury know; The sky is frowning, gray and cold. The earth is brown and sere. Yet on each barren waste and woM The Yuletide bells ring clear.

YULETIDE.

MRS. HIGHBROW SPEAKS OUT

Her Little Dissertation’on Music is Something to Be Read and \ Enjoyed. "Yes, yes, indeed! I simply adore music!" Mrs. Wood B. Highbrow clasped her hands with enthusiasm. "You know my beloved Shakespeare says ‘lf music be the food of love, play on’ —he doesn’t say on what, but I’m sure he meant the piano—and he adds, ‘The man that hath no music in himself or Is not moved by ( conflict of sweet sounds, Is fit for trees and stratagems, he spoils!’ How true It is; and the same might be said of a woman. ' “Oh, yes, Gwendolyn Is very musical. She studies at the conservatory—there is such an air of culture about such an institution, you know. Wood wanted her to take lessons at homsj until she is older, and offered to move the piano into our own conservatory, as we have to keep it heated, anyway, for the plants. “Poor Wood! he is so practical—a regular pomme-de-terre! He thinks that, what with pianolas and victrolas and violas, there is so much music turned out by machinery nowadays that it hardly pays to do it by hand, anyway. Perhaps he is not altogether wrong—unless one has talent, and Gwendolyn certainly has! "You should hear her play Ruben’s Melody in F!’ Then she can rattle off any cantata that John Sebastian Cabot ever wrote—or was it Wolffang Armageddon Mozart? I declare, I always get those antique composers mixed. Well, at any rate, it was the wonderful organist who, if he couldn’t reach, all the notes he wanted with his fingers, used his nose to help out. “Yes, yes, indeed! f Gwendolyn is so talented that her teacher says when she grows up she is sure to be a dilettante!”

Goats Used as Fire Preventers.

California forest fire fighters have hit on a practical idea to prevent the Bpread of conflagrations. In their primeval forests when a fire has once started it is liable to devastate enormous tracts of country, and so the fire fighters make huge clearings—or breaks, as they are locally termed — cn the possible line of fires. These breaks, which are fifty feet wide or so, according to the height of the forests, are, however, rapidly filled with new vegetation, and so to keep It from destroying the usefulness of the fire breaks, thousands of goats are being pastured free of charge by the government in order to keep down the growth of weeds and brush. Goats will perform this service while picking up a living, thus saving the forest service much money every year, which would otherwise go to gangs of men armed with Jhoes and other weed exterminators. Such small growths are a serious menace in case of forest fires, as during the dry season they will carry the flames right across the barrier designed to check them, and then no one knows what will happen.

Wife Worth Having.

Herr Blumenthal, a director of the Lessing theater in Berlin, once had great misgivings regarding the success of his new piece, "Zum Weissen Rosse.” “If I had only 20 marks for every thousand it will bring you I should be quite content,” said his wife. “All right, you shall have them,” replied Herr Blumenthal. “Zum Weissen/'' Rosse” ("White Horse Inn”) met with an Immediate success. Every night the Frau Director went to the cashier and levied her 20 marks per thousand. On one occasion, after the piece had been running some months, bad weather caused a falling off in the receipts beldw the thousand marks, and consequently Frau Blumenthal was not entitled to her 20 marks. “How much have you taken?” she asked the cashier. “Only 967 marks,” was the reply. “Well, give me a seat at three marks, then,” said Frau Blumenthal, laying down the coin. “Now you have a 100 marks, give me my 20.” She got them!—Tit-Bits.

Ideal School Described.

M. Augustin Rey, a Parisian architect, has described his Ideal school in a recent paper. He said that the beneficial effects of the violet rays were so well known that it was criminal to build in such a way that they could not penetrate to every part of a room; it was doubly important that this should be possible in schoolrooms. If there was a choice between heat, ventilation, and sunshine we should see that we had the sunshine first His building was so arranged that the classes should meet in the east rooms in the afternoon after the morning sun had thoroughly disinfected them and in the west iu the morning, since the afternoon sun would have disinfected the western rooms on the previous day. There should be plenty of ground and plenty of sand about school houses. It is better to economize in decorations than in sunlight and ventilation. He said that while this was his ideal school, ha preferred the open air school. -

Killing Made Painless.

In English slaughter houses animals are killed by a new and humane method. The instrument employed is a spring operated pistol that projects a sharp blade into the animal’s head. Sicily Source of Sulphur Bupply. The pulp mills of Sweden require T 2.800 tons of sulphur annually. Practically all of It cornea from Sicily.

The Second Coining of Christ

By REV. JAMES M.

Dcta of the Moody Bifefa UMtituta, Onego

TEXT—"Waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." —lot

There is much confusion as to what is meant by the Second Coming of Christ, and yet the scriptures clearly teach that he is coming again in a personal and visible sense. What other interpretation can be given to the words of the angels spoken to the waiting disciples on Mt. Olivet just after the ascension of our Lord? “Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.** (Acts 1:11.) v All the orthodox creeds of the church have taught this, although there is a difference of opinion among good Christians* as to the time When he shall come. For example, the scriptures speak of a thousand years when peace and righteousness shall prevail over the earth, known mostly as the millennium; and there are those who think that the Lord will not come until after that period, while others believe that he will come before It. This latter is my judgment, for I cannot see how there can be a millennium until he comes to Introduce and make it a possibility. This judgment is based upon the teaching of both the Old and New Testaments, but specifically upon our Lord's command to “Watch,” because we know not the day nor the hour when he shall return. A friend of mine used to spend his in New Hampshire, and one day he said to his little children that business called him to Boston. They were very much disappointed to have him go, and he cheered them up by saying that he would return again, and that they should watch for him. As a consequence, his train had hardly drawn out of the station when they ran to their mother and asked her to wash their hands and faces, and comb their hair, that they might run down again and wait for the incoming train on which they expected him to return. This they did continually at train time from day to day, until he did return; so that afterwards their mother said she had never known them to show such an interest in soap and water in their lives. It is for a result not unlike this that our Lord would keep us in the spirit of expectancy, for as the apostle John says, “Every man that hath this hope in him purifleth himself, even as he is pure.** (Ist John 3:3.) Sometimes it is asked what is the practical value of preaching on the Second Coming of Christ? We have already stated one answer to that question in the effect of the hope on the personal character of the believer, but In addition to that it can be said that there is not a single Christian grace or virtue named in the New Testament with which that hope is not connected. Three hundred times is it mentioned there, thus showing us its importance in the Christian scheme, and the need of giving it its rightful place in all our Christian thinking and doing. Andrew Boner's Crown. That dear old Scottish saint, Andrew Bonar, once visited this country, and when he was returning they gave him a farewell meeting in New York. Several eulogistic speeches were made, and one speaker in closing said. "Brethren, think of the ‘crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give him at that day.” And when he sat down. Dr. Elmar arose, and walking to the front of the pulpit, concluded that quo. tation from Paul’s second letter to Timothy adding, “And not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.” There are at least three crowns that are promised that faithful believer in the life to come, but this crown belongs alone to them who love our Lord’s appearance. Are we counted in that blessed number? "Do thou my soul -keep watch, beware lest thou In sleep sink down. Lest thou be given o’er to death, and loee the golden crown." And yet how shall we watch except by living a life daily in the will of God. But how do men know the will of God except as they learn of it in the Bible where it has been revealed? Nor is the simple reading of the Bible enough, unless the Holy Spirit shall interpret it to our understandings, and apply it to our hearts. This he does in answer to our supplications, hence L exhort you to a UfW of real piety.

GRAY. D. D,

These words of Paul to the Corinthians expressed the attitude of that clmrch, and they slrohfcSL express the attitude of the whole church of Jesus Christ everywhere and always. By the church we mean regenerated men and women, true believers on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. What Does It Mean?