Daily Yellowstone journal., 1891-12-29
NAKEMAN'S WANDERlNGS
CHRISTMAS IN GREAT BRITAIN.

Day Nearest Like our own and Gaining
Like 1t, in Customs Sweet and Good.
Copyright. 1891. by Edgar L. Wakemau.I
LONDON, Dec. l0-Ireland in the Christ
mas holiday time is scenically perhaps in
its least pleasing aspect. But nature's haud
Is "A loving one even in the Irish winter,
and the blessed hold that Christmas time,
has taken upon the universal Christian
world heart. blended with that marvellous
comparative power of utilizing the most
trifiiug possibilities for human JOY which
the Irish nature possesses, permits and
provides a quality of Christmas time cheer
which is often surprising TO those whose
lives are measurably filled with bouuteOus-
ness and content. OF the Irish Christmas
tide itself there Is little in the life and Gus
toms of the great and powerful betterthan
au echo of English Christmas cheer. At
the country nan houses and castles
there are the same feasting and aims Civ
ing a in England. In the cities tnroug-
surge and crowd with citation and despair
in their faces as with rs. But nowhere
else on this earth does Christmas time
bring such shuddering, pallid, piteouS pow
erty 10 stand, stare and hunger for the
glories Of home windows open, or the won
ders of shop windows ablaze with what
these desperately forsakeu human have
never owned or known.
While there is undoubtedly an almost
universal reverence for the more sacred
side of the ChristmHstide-and | truly
know that at least the Irish peasantry have
an innate reverence for all that Is sacred
and good-Christmas is not generally oh
served In its high and holy sense in Ire
land IL j. a tim for mucu that is tender
and worthy. but also one for deploraDie
excess. In decoration the ivy and holly
are everywhere seen and procurable, and a
tiny ~prig of the mi~tletoe couspIcuously
appears in all the homes of the more fsv-
ored classes. Ricn OF poor, Catholic or
Protestant. every family vii. possess a
Christmas block" OF ash, which j. the
favoriue, or of bog DEAL found in the
Irish peat banks or boys. This is 10 Ire
land as the yule log 10 England, and 10
burns brightly for the home coming Of
every heart the home may own.
Passing the Christmas az home is a SEN
and determination more impressive
and unvarying, a with the Irish nobil-
ity, than in any other land | know. And
on Christmas eve itself there canno he
found among the lowly classes a human
soul not a lost one. that is not there OF
sometime there within the glow and
warmth. With the humber villagers
everywhere, and always with the peasantry
Of the south and west, the Christmas
mold, or huge, long candle, weighing
from one 70 two pounds, if its price needs
be begged or stolen, is an invaluable requi-
site for Christmas eve. II will simply
irrevOcably be had. The bog deal block is
fired. the doors are flung wide open for
friend. mendIcant or enemy 10 enter with
CCTd mile fdiltC IA thousand times vel
come. the mammoth candle is lighted 10
burn ont, but never be ~eXtinguished. and
while there is constant going and coming,
10 Is softly done, a. 10 the Nativity were
still "A universal Presence.
There is always a circle of eager faces
about the fireplace. where strange, weird,
ever old and ever new tales. Astounding in
religious sentiment. are told, while the
half lights dance fairyiike among the
blackened, ceuturyO.d thatch ~rafters above.
To midnight mass nearly all repair. then
the tea breakfast is had. those who
have saved enough brew great bowls Of
punch; those who have not get along quite
a. well upon the stirring poteen, and as
the day comes in IRISH registering with all
it, liberal hilarity begins.
But Christmas time in ireland j. one Of
uuspeakable loss 70 the bird families Of
tiny wrens. This tragedy Of the wren
should have "a luminous place IN literature.
Half "A million Irish children with kippeus
and clubs are beating about the hedges for
victims. Sacredly protected during every
other day Of the year, the wren is now
with ferOcious yelling Of
huntin the wren. says Robin 10 Bobbiu:
Come huntin the wren, says Richard 20 Robin:
huutin the wren, says Jack ilaOne;
Come huntin the wren, -ay- every one.
The wren is hunted, for according TO the
superstition il must be found. its man
gled little body Is D]eribbOned and dangled
in a rush cage, or hung from a holly
branch; M with this strange hint 10
almsgiviGg -waying aloft, hordes Of young
sters shrieking:
We hunted the wren through frost and snow:
hunted the wren seven miles or more:
knocked him down and lac could not see.
And We brought him home in a holly tree
the streets in Irish Christmas days:
knock Al homes and are given coin; and
the night comes hold such wakes
the dead wrens as only a master
hand could paint or describe.
The genuine ChrIstmastide which the
people Of England and America know,
and which has ever been UGH a season Of
Joy in all Catholic countries, has scarcely
been known in Scotland since the dOmina-
ton Of the Presbyterian church in the
land o. cakes. The clergy nave ever been
interchangeable in their efforts 70 stamp out
any manner Of celebration Of the Nativity:
aud there was a time, happily long past,
when ministers visited every house in
heir parishes 10 detect If possible any
'supersrItious' Christmas o-bservances m
he part Of the people.
Even 10 this day any sacred aud reveren-
.ial observance Of Christmas in Scotland
IS made by -EpiscOpaiian families and
imOug the Highlauders and Islanders. who
,till retain strong atiuities with the an
;ieut religion, for whose establishment
10 many Of their ancestors lost their lives.
10 cities like Edinburgh, Glasgow, Perth
md Aberdeen the day is observed by the
whole people as "a mere ~hOiiday-an coca
for license and enjoyment Of the more
kind, although Of late years
here is a marked tendency to eventually ,
some Of the immemorial customs Of
he English Christmas.
The Scotch As a people, therefore, gener-