Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1897-12-12
THE EVERGRlEA OF
CHR|STNAST|DE.

The use of Xmas eyergreens in the
United States is less than fifty years
old. The country was too new to
bother with decorative features, and up
to 1850 the holly and mistletoe, the
spruce and the pine, the hemiock and
the fir, were unknown.
The only people who decorated their
homes with green were the Germans,
who made long pilgrimages into the
woods to get branches of pine for ahelr
homes. They were laughed at but
they bore their Christmas martyrdom
good-naturedly and made merry under
the spreading green boughs.
The English wanted miseltoe, aud
they got little Stays CT it from North
Carolina now and then, but it had to be
sent up in little paper boxes through
the mail and it was long in coming
and the berries were ofttimes shriveled.
Forty-six years ago this Christmas
! week Mark Carr, woodchopper in the
Catskil Mountains, said to his wife:
MY dear, | am going to cut some hem
lock bouohs and take them down to
New York to SELL
The good woman laughed at him and
told him that he would have his labor
for his pains
II
man, set in his way. and he remem-
bered the Germans who had come up
in the mountains year after year to
get the greens, and recalled their de-
light at the sight of them.
Il believe" said he, that can sell
these green boughs to New Workers,
and | am going to try it,"
Up to that time the Christmas tree
had been an artificial product. 1t was
made of wood, and there were hooks
on which to hang the toys. The few
real trees that were obtained came
from the country and were very expen-
sive. To get tree a special messen-
ger had to be sent to tn. woods week
before to fell the tree and bring it
home. He in turn hired a wood-chop-
per to cut it down for him, and, all in
all, the operation of procuring Christ
mas tree was so long and so costly
that only the wealthy could afford it.
When Mark Carr appeared in Green
witch street with his load of Christmas
trees he was looked upon as curiosity
and hailed with delight. His truckful
was sold inside CT an hour at prices
ranging from 81 to S. per tree, accord
ing to size, and when he took the train
happiest heart that ever beat beneath
woodlands jacket. The next two
days he was busy telling trees, and on
the third day he started again to The
station with his wagon piled with the
| young frs. For 81 he again secured
the corner Of Greenwich and Vesey
streets, and as speedily sold his wares.
The following year, assisted by The
lIpc Ta- hn
many more to market, but this year
he found competitors, and the prices
| fell. Meanwhile, the Jerseymen were
getting their carts of greens into the
philadelphia market.
That was the beginning Of the
Christmas green industry in the United
| States. If there are earlier records OF
| it they have not been round
To-day more than $4,000 worth Ct
Christmas greens are sold in this c7I;n-
I try. for there is no nation on the faee
| CT the earth that goes in for them as
| lavishly, profusely and extensively as
the Americans The poorest must
| have branch of the fir on Christmas,
and the rich decorate their homes,
their palaces of worship, and even their
stables, with them
1t is interesting TO know, since we OF
| the large cities see nothing OF their
growth, where this great supply OF
Christmas trees and Chritmas ever
Greens come from. 1t used to be that
Maine furnished so per cent OF them,
and for two months before the holiday
the woodmen were busy chopping and
the farmers busy carting them to the
stations. where they were loaded into
cars and sent West and South to be sold
| to the dealers.
To-day Maine has rivals. and all the
/ northern border States deal in Christ
Xmas trees. The woods tbat furTtsn
spruce and fir are sold en- contract and
the jc5ber visits them In Octol to
s.size them up." Ee offers 50 ch