Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1872-01-24
PERsIsTAST IDEAS.
(From the PittEburg COmmerciall


From the Pittsburg Commercially
Association of ideas, or the law by
which, as Kant states it, "emiprical
ideas which often follow each other
create habit in the mind whenever
the one is produced for the
other always TO follow" performs a
much more important part in human
affairs than many suspect. In conse-
uuenee Of its operation or influence.
habits of thought and feeling become
so deeply fixed in connection with
certain places as to become iDeradieR-
bic, or at any rate, capable of resisting
the assaults of reason for many ages,
after such habits hsve been discarded
by people removed from the local sur
roundings upon which they depend
ed. Ignorant or unmindful of the
force of this law, We Americans are
wont to wonder at the tenacity with
which the people in Europe cling to
notions which seem to us utterly anti
uuated. but which we have been ena-
bled TO discard chiefly through our re-
moYal from the old countries, with
whose localities, scenery and atmOs-
phere such ideas are too intimately as
sociaied to be shaken off by their in
habitants. An eminent French ethno-
logist lately stated that everywhere in
the provinces of France the peasahtry
are still dominated by ideas nlanisfest-
ly derived from paganism supposed
to have become extinct sixteen hum
dred years ago, and against which
the priests labor almost in vain. 1t
is also a well attested fact that the
rites of Wooden were regularly eelebra-
ted by the country people OF the north
of England so recently as in the
reign of Elizabeth. Indeed, even at
the present day, not only the Hitter
ate peasantry but English people of
all ranks retain customs and usages
in the celebration OF Christmas which
can be clearly traced back to ante
Christian times, when they werePrac-
ticed in honor of false gods. In a late
number of q local German cotempo-
rary, Karl Blind, its London cores
pondent, writing amidst the festivi-
ties of the Christmas season in Eng
land, gives some interesting detail on
the subject. AT the time of the win
ter solstice the old heather Germans,
ancestors of the Tentonic races, had
their solemnities with which they
honored the occasion, many Of those
ceremonies, little if at all modified,
are still very widely. observed at the
anniversary by their insular descend
ants of to-day. Thus the gigantic
Yule log, which in the English, eoun-
try houses is still placed on the hearth
on Christmas eve, is well known to
have been an emblem or symbol en-
plOyed by our pagan ancestors in the
worship of fire, or the sun. In the
boarding houses of the great public
schools, in the country houses of the
nobility and gentry, at the dinner ia
bles Of the universities, and at the
royal table of England, a boar's head
is still served up on Christmas day
with much pOmP5 and ,ceromony.
The origin Of the customs was uIl-
doubtedly an act Of the same worship,
the boar having been once sacred to
the German sun God. Among the
Mortimer the mythical name of the
beast was Gullipbursti, or Goldenbris-
tie. In some parts of England a
swan is eaten at Christmas time, a
usage formerly practiced in compli-
ment to Freia or Friga, the German
goddess who represented and patron
lied domestic affection and homely
virtue, and who was sometimes called
the swan maiden. About Christmas
time Friea goes about and looks into
the houses and cottages TO see wheth-
er the young women are busy with
their spinning. Other present obser-
Yances of the time may, it seems.
with equal ease be traced back to
the same ancient source. Though
such rites and ceremonies. at least
many of them, long ago received q
Christian Interpretation, which has,
among the educated entirely, and to
some extent among the ignorant, SUI
perseded the heather ideas associated
with them, their continued existsnee
well illustrates the persistence with
which customs continue to haunt the
regions where they were once rooted
in the hearts of the people. Though
seeming to have died out,
traditional superstitions associated
with seasons and localities enter into
the life of the unedueated masses so
long as successive generations see
around them the objects with which
they were inextricably linked. Moth
ing but education or emigration. can
deliver the multitude from their in
f1uence. ---4 ....' ls..s.., .l-....
1t is hardly necessary to say that
good as well as evil, that sound con-
as well as bigoted, irratiOn-
al devotion to past abuses Is some
times bound up in and transmitted by
this law of association. AS an iIlustra
tion of the advantages, of which 1t is
in part the source, most intelligent
BritoHs would no doubt refer to the
evident vitality OF the spirit Of loyal
ty among them. For many years su-
perficial foreign readers of newspa-
pers had fully made up their minds
died out, as an old superstition, un-
der the combined influence of eduea
ton at home and of republican exam
pie abroad. This fancy has lately
been proved to be mere illusion.
Among all classes of the people, from
the highest to the lowest. the senti-
ment has been displayed with an in
tensity and manifest sincerity surpris-
ing even to many who fully SYM
pathize with the feeling. Able men,
like Dean Stanley and Canon Kings
ley, preach sermons, in which, while
themselves exulting in the display,
they show that no one ought to be
Of having taken part in it.
According to the former. "loyalty is
now, as it long has been, the personal
Iide of patriotism. According to
Mr.. Kingsley the outbuTst had prov
I'd that, ''in spite of English eovetous-
ness, luxury and frivolity, the En-
slish are not cynics yet, nor likely to
De-" But a clever American cores
DOndent, who has witnessed the dis
play, and all the fine sermons preach
ID on the subject, could think Of no
more apprCpiats sy nonym for the word
Oyalty than the words "eontempti-
,le snObbery." And we suspect that
many Of our readers may be ready TO
Iceept the judgments as not far from
he truth. The feeling which throws
great and enlightened nation into a
Iaroxysm Of anxiety and grief over
he dangerous illness of a rather !
yeak-headed young sporting man or
dubious morals, may well seem incom-
to sober minded, intelli-
,ent republicans. And yet it may be
most respectable and useful senti-
nent after all. 1t may be a supersti-
ion, but it is % worthy one, the out
ome or combined result OF ali the
entiments which bind EngIishmen
O their island as being the chosen of
II the world, and which makes them
,eIieve in one another as being each
worthy Of confidence in times OF trial,
nto the association Of ideas which