Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1900-01-07

KISSING 8L4Y.
Oh! the mistletoe bought How many
are the legends and tables that cluster
round it. How often have NE heard
Of the Druids and their ancient ceremo-
MES. and how little do we remember
Of the details.
Some parts Of the ceremonies are
perhaps best left undescribed. but the
following account. as given by PIiny.
is sufficiently minute and not uninter-
esting:
The Druids held nothing more sa-
cred than the mistletoe and the tree
that bears it. ~supposing always that
tree to be the robur," according to
him. "The mistletoe, however, Is but
rarely found upon the robur. and when
found is gathered with rites replete
with religious awe. Having
made all due preparations for the sac
rifice and a banquet beneath the trees,
they bring .hither two white bulls. the
horns Of which are bound then for the
first time. Clad in a white robe. the
priest ascends the tree and cuts the
mistletoe with a golden sickle, which
is received by others in q white cloak.
They then immediate the victims, offer
ing up their prayers that God will rem
der this gift Of His propitious to those
to whom He has so granted It."
1t was also supposed to be the en-
bodiment of lightning, probably be-
cause the branches are forked, and was
frequently, in times far later than those
of the Druids, planted "a homesteads
to protect them from fire. So precious,
indeed sacred, were the oak and the
mistletoe considered + be. that dire
full calamities are described by several
writer's as o~vertaking those who reck-
lessly destroyed them.
In that quaint old book, Evelyn's
"sylva" dated 1879, there is a charm
ing tale which deserves to be quotsA
at full length. He writes that Il am
told OF the disasters which happened to
the two men who (not long since)
field a goodly Oak near Croydon, upon
which a branch Of Misselto grew, which
they sold: The one losing soon after
his Eye, the other breaking his Leg,
c. If the Hamadryads had reveng'd the
dignity"
Then, again, another authority, "Au-
brey's Natural History and Antiqui-
ties Of Surrey informs us that: ITO
! cut lakewood is unfortunate. There
| was at Norwood one oak that had mis-
tletoe, a timber tree, which was felled
about 1861. Some persons cut this mis-
tletoe for some apothecaries in Lon
don, and sold them a quantity for ten
| shillings each time, and left only one
branch remaining for more to sprout
out. One fell lame shortly after; soon
he that felled the tree, though warned
CT these misfortunes of the other men,
would, notwithstanding, adventure to
do it, and shortly afterward broke his
leg; as il the .Hamadryads had re-
solved to take an ample revenge for
the injury done to their venerable and
| sacred oak"
This is a depression. Let us off to
the woods again, and study our mistle-
toe. We find that there are different
varieties of 1t; some pendent, some
erect in habit: some with narrow, 9TH
ers with wider leaves. An instace has
been known Of two varieties, one up
right, the other dropping in habit, be-
ing found on the same part OF the same
branch, and the effect was most pecu-
liar.
Again, the two sexes are usually
found on separate trees; the plant bear
ing male flowers on one, that with fe-
male blooms on another. An exception
has been found to this rule also. and
flowers of both sexes have been discoy-
cred on the same bush.
There is a tragic legend about u
plant, a Teutonic myth which tells how
Bladder, a demi-god, was almost per-
feet, in learning and all virtues, being
indeed so pure that no unclean thing
was allowed to come in his presence.
His mother, Freya, hearing that it was
prophesied that he should die, made
all things on earth, such as fire, water,
beasts, metals. trees and sickness, now