Osage Valley banner. (Tuscumbia, Miller County, Mo.) 1879-1881, 1880-12-23
MERRIR4 CHRISTMAS IN OLD En-
GLAND.

NiANbs f.
DoEs Christmas in old England differ \
in much from Christmas amongst peo-
pie OF English rnce Ia the New WorldP [
In some external features certainly
though good many uf the anciontf s
obseryauces are obsolete now, or linger
only in great houses or remote places
where old traditions and fashions are
jealously preserved, After the adYer- /
tisng columns in the newspapers and
She windows Of fancy and toy shops.
the iirst tokens OF holiday time arc TO
be found at CoveDt tiaTden Market I
fortnight before Christmas the Market
and all its approaches are Transformed
t1fR into An Evergreen forest One walks
through aisles of fspruce-irs thu Christ
~ mas trees hat have f0urlshed sinl I'm,
gland only since the reign OF Queen
Victoria brought probably By Prince
Albert from the aYRterland, There are
ts,oe R % pssFea s e nS Stary @ available vail bu s
aud loading great wains lr laurcls
there are the Portugal and the yarie-
ia gated; there are bushy branches OF fra
grant BAY; laurustinus, covered with
1ust@bursting TUFTS Of snowy blossoms;
ivy, glossy green or eXquisitoly tinted
hy frost-nips aud profuscly black
berried; lHUlfies in all grades of curlcd
and thorny leaves, set 'with clustering
4" berries brightp and mistlotoe boughs,
round, topping, tho witty green stems
sparscly clad with slender foliage, and
tho white or pale-green waxep herries
cIinging like ratn.drops about the axis
OF the leaves. p" " @ @Nf
There Is also a whito-berriod variety
@e of the holly, and another with beauti-
fully varieoated leaves A load Of this
Ff latter generously hcrried, sometimes
o7s brings as much as 500. The mstetoc
9 Is sold for SO or $50 the ton, There
Rre years when IL is almost impossible
toprocure any holly with berries, when
e inprice, as adealer explained, "ollies
s are horfnl" but there is never amy lack
of mistletoe, $3.50 rst .--
~ And Coyent Garden IS only one Of The
great markets that supply London with
4 f.Y Christmas greens. Where does the
enormous supply come fromP The
4 'aa nlstletoe COMES from the apple orchards
OF Normandy and Brittany from Guern-
sey and Jersey, and from The cider and
perry counties Of mid and southwestern
Englapd.2 So plentfully docs II cunlber
A rT the appla and pear orchards in these
counties that several small towns in
them send each over one hundred tons
Z of this plant beloved of the Druids, TO
r. market each December, The mistletoe
Berries and leaves grow IN clusters OF
~ three, united ia one stalk. The pro
cessions went thrice around the sacred
object with incantations thrice re-
81 paated, and the Druids cut li7 shoots
d from an apple tree; li7 y 7N7x3
Herrck plants the parasite in oui
hearts;
That bath no root aud eannnt grow
H Il dinss about, IS Thy ThSo% ~
Tho greens other than mistletoe come
from an over England. They are Gu
from common lands and public forests
they are clippings of plantations con
tract0d for with tho stewards, they arr
gardeners pcrquisites, and, alasferth'
81 tvs - owners Of pretty gardens and shrub
berries within comfortable reach o
5tHH ta tnmps, many, many loads are stolen
gs5s Tho use Of the green's il Jar more com
mon than in the United States, Eyet
the railway stations get themselves vi
festally in laurels and holly loop thei
arches with iestoons, bind their lantern
about with green, and the locomotive
on Christmas day whiz along wirh boil
~ branches
Christmas morning is ushered IN b.
the bell-ringers and the waits. Tn
elamor OF the bells becomes nothing
less than grievance, and though th
idea OF the waits einging carols y poeil
and charming, The reality s but To
often horde OF urcidns and inllf-grow
louts al bawling In ear-splitting tone
s~ and perfectly independent time. some
thing OF which one can discover onl
that u has certain swing which woui
= Indicate rhyme aud that CONSTANT
recurring assurance Is, "For Chrstma
comes but once YEAR, tact that ~
ssst 2