Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1888-12-21

IN my ~ - fA''S'A's 50
IIcrrick"up to the brim!" and though
this fountain of "quips and cranks and
wreathed smiles" belongs, in an es-
pecial sense to, Twelfth-night (Twelfth-
night not being Twelfth-night without
iD, yet it should be compounded for
every one of the festival nights, and
invoked to spread its inspirations over
the entire season.
"Honor to you who sit
Near to the well Of wit.
And drink yonr fill of it.''
The word "wassal" Is derived from
the Saxon WAS halle; which word, and
drinc-heil (heil, healthy were, it ap-
pears from old authors quoted by
Brand, the usual ancient phrases of
quaffing, among the English and
equivelant to the "Here's to you," and
81 pledge you," of the present day.
"The wassail bowl" says Warton is
Shakspeare's gossip's bowl, in the
"Midsummcr Nights Dream 1t
should be composed, by those who can
afford it, of some rich wine highly
spiced and sweetened, with roasted
apples floating on its surface. But
ale WAS more commonly substituted
tor the wine, mingled with nutmeg,
ginger, sugar toast, and roasted crabs.
at is" said Leigh Hunt, 81 good-na-
tured bowl, and accommodates itself
to the means OF all classes. rich and
poor. You may have it of the costli-
est wine or OF the humblest malt liq-
uor But in no case must the roasted
apples be forgotten. They are the
sine qua non of the wassail bowl, as
the wassail bowl is OF the day, and
very pleasant they are, provided they
are not mixed up too much with the
beverage, balmy, comfortable, and diff
ferent, a sort of meat in the drink, but
innocent withal and reminding you
of the orchards. They mix their fla
vor with the beverage, and the bever-
age with them, giving new meaning
to the line of the poet
The gentle apples winey juice,
for both winey and gentler have they
become by this process"
sUPERsTIrIoNs.
We find that in some parts Of Ire
lsnd and Germany, and probably in
districts of England, too, Christmas
Eve is treated us II night of omens,
and that practices exist for gathering
its auguries having resemblance to
those of our northern neighbors at
Halloween. Many beautiful, and
some solemn superstitions belong to
the night and the following morning.
1t is stated by Sir Walter Scott in one
of his notes to "Marmion," to be an ar
ticle of popular faith, "that they who
are born on Christmas or Good FRI
day have the power of seeing spirits,
and even commanding them !" and he
adds that "the Spaniards imputed the
haggard and downcast looks of their
Philip ii. to the disagreeable visions
to which this privilege subjected him" "
Among the finest superstitions Of
the night may be mentioned that
which is alluded to by Shakespeare in
the lines:
"Some say, that ever 'sainst tn at season
comes.
Wherein our SAviour's birth is celebrated.
This bird of dawnn, sin.eth all night long,
And then, they say, no spirit dares stir
The nights are wholesome; then no planets
strike,
No fairy takes nor witch hath power to
charm,
So hallow'd and so gracious is the time"
HAMLET.
1t is Il consequence or application
Of that very ancient and popular be-
lief which assigns the night for the
wanderings of spirits, and supposes
them, at the Growing of "the cock,
that is the trumpet to the morn," to
start like a guilty thing upon fear
full summons" and betake themselves
to flight. Here again, as in so many
cases OF vulgar superstition, sort of
mental metonymy has taken place !;
and the Growing of the cock, which in
the early stage of the belief was i'm
agined to be the signal for the depar-
ture of evil spirits, only because it an
nounced the morning, is in the fur
ther stage which we are examining,
held to be a sound in itself intolerable
to these shadowy beings. Accordingly
it is supposed that on the eve of
Christmas "the bird of dawning sing
eth all night long," to scare away all
evil things that infest the hallowed
hours -
"And then, they say, no spirit dares stir
abroad;
The nights are wholesome; then no planets
strike,
No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to
charm,
So hsllow'd and so gracious is the time,''
In the southwest of England there
exists superstition that the oxen are
to be found kneeling in their stalls at
midnight of this vigil, as if in adora-
ton of the Nhtivity,-an idea which
Brand no doubt correctly, supposes to
have originated from the representa-
tions by early painters of the event
itself. That writer mentions Cornish
peasant who told him Q79O of his hav-
ing with some others, watched several
oxen in their stalls on the eve of old
Christmas day. "At twelve o'clock at
night they observed the two oldest OK
en- tall upon their knees, and, as he
expressed it in the idiom of the coun-
try. make Il cruel moan like Christian
creatures
BISHOP Hurst of the NJ. E. Church
says that there are S,OOo,OO0 in Mex
ieo who have never seen the Bible.
IT is proposed to rename West