St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-12-25
stories Told in the Inglc Nook.
Warmed by the Yuie Log.

ANU Az tne AnSlc NOOK
Warmed by the Yuie Log
Lurid and ghostly tales were fayorites at
christmas time long ago. as they are now.
VINO does not remember covering, when
chiId, by the Christmas fire land some of
US can remember even an ingle nook and
hanging with the fascination of horror
upon some ghostly recital calculated to
freeze his young blood. make his two eve.
like stars start from their spheres, and each
particular hair to stand ON end like porcu-
pine struck by lightning? The Christmas
poets OF the past speak
VI hOrrid apparition, tall and gtastly
That walks al dead of night or takes its stand
y er some new opened grave, and, strange ia
tell,
Evanishes at growing of the cock.
Who cannot recall some supernatural
story in which an unpleasant apparition,
VINO had no respect for the amenities of life,
figured and who stretched our nerves to tha
last point of tension by exclaiming:
My bones are buried in krkyard
Affair beyond the sea;
And it is but my sprte, Marg'ret,
That's speaking now to thee.
Or perhaps the narrative was less blood
curdlng; and in its pensive strain was heard
the voice OF the Inflated heroine. pleading:
mither, mither, max my bed
max 1t saft and narrow;
Since my love died for me to-day,
I'll die for him tomorrow
Or perhaps, again, the narrative takes a
still gentler complexion, and tells us how
some
Pretty babes, with hand in hand
Went wandering up and down,
But never more could see the man
Returning from the town.
But, be this as it may, blessing accom-
panied the coming and the departure Of
Christmas in the days of yore, as the sub
joined night watch invocation illustrates:
From noise of scare-fires rest We free;
From murders Benedicite;
From all miSchances that may fright
Your pleasing slumbers In the night
Mercy secure you all, and keep
The goblins from ye while We sleep:
Past one o clock and almost two
My masters all, Good day to you''
We must bid farewell to this part of the
subject, however.by relating legend which
is borrowed from the Scandinavian mythol-
Ogy, and which. it is reasonable to inter.
often used to be told, in bygone Christ
masses when young and old were seated
around the yule log listening to the roaring
of its flames mingling with that of the
discriminating wind without, and forget
ting i'll the fall OF fire flakes the drifting
storm OF takes Of snow. The legend
runs as follows: Balder, the god
of poetry and eloquence, and second
son of Odin and Friga. told his mother one
day dream which he had. had intimating
that he should die. The mother,
to protect her son from the fatality,
invoked all the powers of nature-fire, air,
earth, water, as well as animals and plants
and obtained an oath from them that
they should do Balder no hurt. The latter
then assumed his place amid the combatana
of the gods, and fought fearless among
however. named Loake, who resolved Il
discover in what Balder's invulnerability
consisted. Loake therefore disguised himself
as an old woman and addressed himself Il
Friga with complimentary remarks on the
the valOr and good fortune of her son. The
6atterrd goddess replied that no substance
could injure him, as all the products of ma
ture had bound themselves by an oath ia
refrain from doing him harm. She added,
however. with that stupid candor from
which goddesses are not more free than ieS
gifted mOrtals, that there was one plant,
which from its insigni6cance she dill
not think Of invoking, as it was i'm
possible that 80 contemplate thing as
should work disadvantageously to her son
At this Loake became all ears. with the ex
ception of the modicum of tongue he usei :,
wherewlth to inquire what the plant
might be. he was informed that
it was a feeble shoot growing
on the bark of the oak, and requiring
scarcely any soil. Then the willy LoakG
knew that the plant was the mistletoe,
spray of which he Immediately procured
Thus equipped he entered the assembly Of
the gods, and said to Heda one of them
why do you not contend with the arrow
of the Balder? Said Heda: 81 am blind
and have no arms" LOake then presented
him with an arrow formed from the mistle-
toe and informed him that that would df
deadly work, even though shot bya blind
man. At this moment Balder appeared.
Heda shot under the guidance of Loake and
Balder fell pierced and slain. 1t may b
difficult for anybody but an accOr olished
archaologist, whose very blood brms with
the .preterpluperfect" to explain the con-
nection between this legend and the kiss
Observances of the mistletoe. which are ex.
tant at the present day: but we confidently
leave the solution to those in whom the
Imagination is vivid beneath the rust and
mildew of medi@valism. The story sug-
gests the addition. and we are sure that our
readers are sufficiently imaginative to sup
ply the need. Here, then, is a pleasant
termination to the fable: All's well thai