Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-04-18
Icv.oh nur;no these fast days the

! Church. During these fast days u1e
whoie city lived on plain food, so that
Il was said ..ihere was no difference be-
tween the table of the Emperor and the
table of a poor man." On Sunday be-
TO Q Easter the ..great week" as it was
called. began. This was Palm.sunday,
and was observed in memory of Christ's
entry into Jerusalem, when the people
gathered about Him, and marched with
Him down the slope Of Mount Oltvet'
carving green branches in their hands.
Tie Emperor made this a special day
for hardening criminals, so chat many
nris were GLAD to see Palm-Sunday
come. Every day of the ''great week.
was kept with q solemn service: IN
this city it was the custom on Coca,
Friday to worship in the graveyard
beyond the walls, because, they SAID,
! Christ was crucitied outside the gates
of Jerusalem. The next day, satur-
day, was the great Sabbath SO called
because on that Sabbath, according to
Jewish reckoning. Christ lay IN the
grave. Thousands were now baptized,
and put on white robes as a S gn OF
purity.
When the evening anne Constan-
t,nople and all the chief cities OF tho
empire were Illuminated. They APP
peared to b. masses of fire; the people
went through the streets to their
churches carrying lighted torches, and
there they watched all night for the
dawning of the Resurrection day.
| When the light of Easter appeared
there was q universal shout O. Joy.
Besides expressing JOY. by song and
worship in the church, twas customary
to seek out and relieve on yesterday
the poor and the needy, as We do now
at christmas. But the week at er
Easter was a holy week, too, and at the
end of it. on the Sunday, all who had
put on the white robes OF baptism laid
ZEN oft; as this was the last day of
their appearance in white. it was called
the white Sunday" All through the
fourteen days beginning with Palm
Sunday the courts were closed, no law
suits were tried, and the people tried to
live IN peace with each other.
Such were the means used by the
Church in those far-otf times to express
it's thanks for what Christ has done for
the world by His death and resurrec-
ton. But old customs pass away and
new customs come in; still the world
does not forget Easter. In Russia the
people greet each other on Faster
morning. saying: "Ihe Lord isrisen,"
and answering: "Thc Lord is risen,
indeed" In Jerusalem a church has
been built over the place where it is
supposed Christ was buried. Here the
half barbarous Greeks wait On Easter
eve for the bursting of the fire from the
followed rock. Thousands gather about
the spot, and, as o 0 as the fire APP
pears, candles are lit from it and car
ried to the churches and their homes.
In the rushing from the sepulcher after
the flame is kindled many are trampled
down and some at times have been
killed. Different from these scenes is
the quiet remembrance of Easter in
Protestant Europe and America. In
many Protestant churches East r is the
day for receiving new members, es-
pecially the young.
Many beautiful hyms which celebrate
the glores Of Easter have cone down to
us from the far-otf tines. And in all
languages VIII oh Christians speak Eas-
l ter hymns have been written. Old
monks, whose lives were hid away il
, cells, and who talked 10 each oyhcr il
grabbed Latin, made the Latin musica
when they woye its words toge her into
Easter song. And men who, like
Luther, came out OF the cells Wrote and
: ; sang, too, of the yesterday. One O.
| Luther's hymns has this verse:
That was a wondrous war, I trow.
!, When life an death together fought:
1 But life has tl.iumphcd DER his foe;
death iS mnaEn1 md cot of ,pub
lis cen as Scripture saith,
Christ through death has conquered death.
:, This is the meaning OF the Taste:
; festival. It is the festival of The East
that is. Of tie rising Sun, which drive
l the darkness Of night away. Men az,
: only to- glad that Christ has conquered
death. AMI their Joy keeps alive the re
= membrance Of Faster from age t. age
u -Hnrper's Young People.
HSturgeOn Don't Bite.0