The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1878-04-27
The Little Folks Column.
Hares and Easter Eggs.

1t WOuiu De OlluculL To eApldlI
whence came the notion that "the
hares lay the Easter eggs. No one
knows exactly whence came this
myth, but a writer names Christie
pher Won Smith, in an interesting
story for children, suggests this
pretty origin:
Many hundred years ago, a good
and noble lady, Duchess Rosilinda
Won Lindenburg, at a time when a
cruel war was devastating the
land, was obliged to fly from her
beautiful home in Germany, ac-
companied only by her two chill
dren and one old man servant.
They found refuge in a small
mining village in the mountains,
where the simple but contented
and happy inhabitants did what
they could for their comfort, and
placed the best of all they had at
the disposal of the wanderers; but
their fare was miserable; no meat
was ever to be found, seldom fish,
and not even an egg. This last for
the very good reason that there
was not single hen in the entire
village! These useful domestic
fowls, now so common everywhere,
were originally brought from the
East, and had not yet found their
way to this secluded place. The
people had not even heard of such
strange birds"
This troubled the kind clutches,
who knew the great help they are
in housekeeping, and she deter
mined that the women who had
been so kind to her should no lon
ger be without them.
Accordingly, the next time she
sent forth her old servant to try
and gather news of his master and
of the progress of the war, she
commissioned him to bring back
with him a coop full of fowls. This
he did to the great surprise of the
simple natives, and the village
children were greatly surprised II
few weeks later at the appearance
of a brood of young chickens.
They were 50 prettey and brigh,
We're covered with such n soft
down, were so open-eyed, and
could run about after their mother
to pick up food the very first day,
and were altogether such con
trast to the blind, bald, unfiedged,
helpless, ugly little birds they
sometimes saw i'll nests in hedges,
that they could not find words
enough to express their admira-
ton.
The good lady now saved mp
eggs for some time, then invited
all the housewives in the village TO
IL feast, when she set before them
eggs cooked iii u variety of ways.
She then taught them how to pre-
pare them for themselves, and, dis
tributing a number OF fowls among
them, sent the danes home graft
fed and happy.
When Easter approached she
was anxious to arrange some pleas
ure for the village children, but
had nothing to give them, mot
even an apple or nut" only some
eggs; but that, she concluded, was,
after all, an appropriate offering,
''as an egg is the first gift of the
reviving spring" And then it oc-
Cured to her to boil them with
nlolasses and roots that would give
them variety Of brilliant ;olors,
"as the EARTH" said she, ''has just
lost her white mantle, and decora-
ted herself with many colors; for
the dear God makes the fruit and
berries not only good to eat, but
also pleasant to look ppon," and
the children pleasure would be
all the greater.
Accordingly, on Easter Sunday,
after the church service, all the lit
tie ones of about the age of her
own, met together in a garden;
and when their hostess had talked
to them awhile, she led them into
a small neighboring wood. There
she told them to make nests of
moss, and advised each to mark
his or her own. All then returned
to the garded, where feast with
milk-soup, eggs aud egg-cakes had
been prepared. Afterward they
returned to the wood, and found
to their great joy, in each nest, five
beautiful colored eggs, and on one