The Red Cloud chief., 1881-02-10
MERRIE CHRISTMAS IN OLD EN-.
GLAND.

Al oollc cAieTHdl lcttlTes certainly.
though a good many of the ancient
Observances are obsolete now. or linger
only in great houses or remote places
where old traditions and fashions are
jealousy preserved. After the adver-
Using columns in the newspapers, and
the windows of fancy and toy shuns.
the first tokens Of holiday time are to
be found at Covent Garden Market. A
fortnight before Christmas the Market
and all its approaches are transformed
into an evergreen forest. One walks
through aisle of spruce-frs-the Christ
mas tree hat have fourished i'm Ell.
gland only since the reign Of Queen
victoria, brought probably by Prince
Albert from the Vaterland. There are
tons OF laurel, holly, ivy, box and mis-
tletoe packed into every available space
and loading great wains. In laurels
there are the Portugal and the varie-
gated; there are bushy branches of fra,
grant bay; laurustinus. covered with
just-bursting tufts of snowy blossoms;
ivy, glossy green or eNquisitely tinted
by frost-nips and ~profusely black
berried; hollies in all grades of curled
and thorny leaves, set s'with clustering
berries bright" and mistletoe boughs,
round, topping, the witty green stems
sparsely clad with slender foliage, and
the white or pale green waxen berries
clinging like rain-drops about the axis
of the leaves.
There is also n white-berried variety
of the holly, and another with beauti-
fully variegated leaves. A load OF this
latter, generously berried. sometimes
brings as much as 800. The miStletoe
Is sold for SIS or $50 the ton. There
are years when it Is almost impossible
TO procure any holly with berries, when.
in price, as n dealer explained, ''ollies
are horful" but there is never any lack
of mistletoe.
And Covent Garden is only one of the
great markets that supply London with
Christmas greens. Where does the
enormous supply come from? The
mistletoe 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
England. So plentifully does it cumber
the apple and pear orchards in these
counties that several small towns in
them send each over one hundred tons
of this plant, beloved of the Druids. to
market each December. The mistletoe
berries and leaves grow in clusters of
three, united in one stalk. The pro.
cessions went thrice around the sacred
object. with lamentations thrice re-
peated, and the Druids cut 147 shoots
from m apple tree: 1E=7x7x3.
Herrick plants the parasite in our
hearts:
LORD, | am like rhe miStletoe,
That hath no root, and cannot grow
Or prosper. save by that same tree
IL clings about. so | by Thee"
The greens other than mistletoe come
from all over England. They are cut
from common lands and public forests,
they are clippings of plantations con-
tTacted for with the stewards, they are
gardeners perquisites, and, alas for the
owners of pretty gardens and shrub
berries within comfortable reach of
tramps, many, many loads are stolen.
The use of the Greens is far more COM
mon than in the United States. Even
the railway stations get themselves up
f~eStally in laurels and holly. loop their
arches with festoons, bind their lanterns
about with green, and the locomotives
on Christmas day whiz along with holly
bran ches.
Christmas morning is ushered in by
the bell-ringers and the waits. The
clamor of the bells becomes nothing
less than a grievance, and though the
idea of the waits singing carols is poetic
and charming, the reality is but too
often a horde of urchins and half-grown
ieuts all bawling, in ear-splitting tones
and perfectly independent time, some
thing of which m can discover only
that it has a certain swing which would
indicate rhyme, and that a constantly
recurring assurance is, "For Christmas
comes but once a year," a fact that has
its consultations for the suffering audi
tors. When, however, the waits are q
weil-trained band of choir-boys their
music in the still night is as welcome
and delightful as the words of some of
the old carols are simple and touching.
In some country districts the boys
rig themselves like a pack OF fantastic
Guy Fawkes mummerS and 90 about
performing PLAYS before the houses-if
PLAYS they can be called: short dia-
logueS, with a deal OF cut and thrust,
and antics on the lawn-but bell-ring-
ers, waits good and bad, mummerS,
they all them NEAR money; siXpences,
or beer, or both. But then everybody
means money just now. The postmen,
the carriers. the errand boys, the lamp
lighters, the sweeps, the street-clean-
ers, the German-band men, the garbage
collectors. ETC.. ETC., all start forward
with hands outstretched for sixpences.
shiilings, half crowns. This is the old
Christmas Box. and originally it seems
TO have been a box like our savings
boxes. 1t was called a Thrift Box as
well, and used to be set up in the shops
of tradesmen for each customer to place
a gift therein. Now it is the tradesmen
who must give gifts. The cook at any
house of moderate style fares well at
Christmas, for ever. :radesman serving
the house bestows upon her a money
contribution. In houses where there
are several children the milkman who
knows his business is careful to send
nurse a douceur as well, propitiating
thus both the chief functionaries.
In hy-gone days bakers gave to their
customers a cake made in the form of
a baby or of a lamb; but this custom is
extinct. Old portions of the Christmas
fare are gone, too. One now scarce
ever hears of a boar's head stuck about
with rosemary appearing at table, The
pepper cakes are gone, and the great
sausage which must needs be boiled at
daybreak. Goose pie is no more to be
seen, and plum porridge, "plnm por-
ridge hot, plum porridge cold" has
passed away. The "wassail cup" If
that meant punch, remains, and plum
porridge's lineal descendant, plum pud-
ding, light, firm, crowned with a holly
sprig and blazing with blue brandy
flames, is a necessity of existence in
every English household on Christmas
Day. Mince pies are . less imperious
condition, and no wonder; for, o my
native land! they're not half so good as