Weekly Chillicothe crisis. (Chillicothe, Livingston Co., Mo.) 1878-19??, 1883-12-20

mistletoe, and might only approach il
in the most devout and rGvcrantia
manner. When the end of the yeal
approached they marched with great
solemnity to gather the miStctoe OF the
oak, in order to present it tc
Jupiter, inviting all the world to
assist at the ceremony, with the
words, The year now is at band,
gather the mistlctOci' This Borlasc
tells us; and Picard says that in Bur.
gundy the country people, on thu first
day of the year, salute one another
with the words, can Guy, Fan noui
| (dd GtScuDL dl,iUS nOCNS)!' gUV or gHt
being the Celtic name still retained tor
the mistletOe in French, whilst in the
upper parts of Germany, where the
| hessten customs abound, tho common
people, according to Keysler, about
Christmas time run about the villages
striking doors and windows with ham
mers, and shouting "Gut hyl, gut hyl"'
words which are plainly equivalent TO
the Druidical name OF the mistlctoe
used by Plihy when he calls it oplait
SanGas, All. Heal. For, indeed, there
is scarcely anything which it has not
been said to cure. In Brittany, where
it is now become "l' Herbe dc la C,oix'
(louzaouen ar groa2), it is considered
to heal fever, and TO give strength for
wrestling. Bacon says the mstlotoe
upon oaks is counted very medicinal.
aud the Druids consider it remedy
against all kinds of poison, and Il
sovereign remedy against vermin.
The inhabitants OF Elgin and Moray,
says the Rev. NJ. Shaw, are accustomed
to cut withcs OF the mislctoc, and
make circles OF them, to keep through
out the year, pretending Herewith to
cure hectics and other troubles. "Day-
ly experience" quoth the old herhaiiSt,
johnson (l63O, "shewes this plant TO
have no maligne nor poisonous, but
rather u contrarie facultie, being fire.
quently used in medicines against the
epiepsie. Tho leaves and berries of
mistletoe are hot and dry, and of sub.
till parts; the bird-lime is hot and Bit
ing, and consists of au airy and waterie
substance, with some earthly qualitic;
for, according to the judgment oi Galcn,
his acrimony overcommcth his bitter
neSse; for if it be used in outward ap.
plicatOns, it draweth humours from
the deepest parts of the body, spread
ing and dispensing them abroad, and
digesting them. 1t ripeneth hard swell
ings behind the ears, and other i'm.
postumes, being tempered with rosin
and a little qualtie of wax, .... 1t
hath been most creditably reported TO
me, that few of the berries of the
mistletoe bruised and strained into
oyle and drunken, hath presently and
forthwith rid grevious and sore
stitch"
"The people of Holstein regard it,
especially if found on an oak, as a
panacea for green wounds, and sure
charm to secure success in hunting.
Here is enough to Justify its name of
omnta SananS, and Pliny, after detail
ing the properties attributed to it, and
the pomp and ceremony of white vest.
ments and golden sickle attending its
solemn gathering by the Arch-Druid,
winds up with all Romans contempt
for, and horror OF, Druidism in these
words: $50 vain and superstitious are
many nations in the world, and eften-
times in such frivolous and foolish
things as thesel'
The gathering of the mistletoe in
Britain was tarnished by all the
horrors of human sacrifice which
had TO be put down by the
Romans with strong hand and
n violent antagonism: but we can find |
Druidical rites and observances in most
remote antiquity, in the primeval reli-
gion of races, tending ever westward |
from the far east; the material symbol
losing, in its passage through races and
time, its primitive purity of
and invariably degenerating
into an object of blinded and corrupt
idolatry; the plaything of the worst of
human passions, in substitution for its
once high position as the exponent of
the best Of moral feelings. There was
holier than oaks and groves in
the days of Abraham and the Patri.
archs; such and such only were their
not built with hands, where
they met to worship and commune with
the Diety. These natural sanctuaries
only ceased to be held sacred when the
heathen had invaded and corrupted
them, aud when tho only chance of
salvation that remained for Israel was
thst they should worship in one divine>
y appointed place nna no other. divine
n marked by only one syglhol, the
which by theft sopv.fcld