The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1901-04-11
Grandchildren Had Lots of Fun OGt
of the Old Man.
SAYS THAT HE ONLY PRETENDED.
Little Ones, However, Thought They
Had Played Joke on Bill-Talk5
About Easier.

onions. The fOWelS make no iiO-
greSs. There is no sweet south wind
TO breathe upon them-no sunshine.
On Monday the grandchildren i'm
posed upon me with their Hind2o
pranks. They gave me cup of cho-
colate with whipped cream on top, and
Il was nothing but soapsuds. pre-
tended to be fooled, but | Wasent; |
paid them back in various ways. The
Hindocs started this childish custom
away back in the ages, and it still
pleases the children. AID now Easter
day is al hand and that IS another
name that came down from the PaG-
ans. Ostera was their goddess OF
spring and it was corrupted into
Estera. How these old heather names
do stick to us. The names of the
days OF the week and OF the months
came from them. SO did the planets
and the consultations. Even the pro-
phets and Job had to take them from
the Egyptians. But the Scotch peo-
pie don't call it Easter. They say Pas
cha day, or passover day. They won't
pattern after anybody but John Knox,
and he said Pascha- But there is
reason for calling it Easter, for the
coming of spring-the opening OF the
earth and the flowers is emblematical
of the resurrertion-the opening of the
Savior's tomb and His return to bless
and comfort His people. Thls DAY
corresponds closely with the JeWlSh
passover, and so they observe 1t.
Now | want the young people TO
know that Lent is another word that
means spring. 1t Is preceded by that
foolish festival called mardi gras-or
fs,. beef-and continues forty days IN
remembrance OF the Sayior's long fast,
and il ends with Easter, and the com
munion and other rejoicingS. AS the
old-ttme almanacs would say about
this time look for Easter hats and
flowers and fnefy." Christmas Is an
other festival day that is common 10
all Christian nations. There are man!
other days dedicated to the saints, Dut
in course Of time it was found that
there were nc: enough days in the
wear TO 60 round, and so the pope
stoned the sainting of so many and
had one day set apart as All Saints
day. The next day after that is All
Souls day. on which mass IS said by
the Ponpan Catholics for the souls OF
the dead who are in purgatory. II
seems that about 900 years ago Pill
, grim from the holy land found her
nit in Sicily who told him Of an open
ing between the cliffs Of the mountains
near by that communicated with
ha6es where Pluto lived and that he
could see the sulphurous smoke rising
and hear the g.oans Of the lost souls
who we're being tormented in hell ana
he had known some OF them to es7
cape through the prayers OF the priests
and this made the devils very mad
and no could hear them cursing the
priests with awful imprecations. The
pilgrom told all this to the abhots and
monks. and they had a day set apart
to pray these lost souls out OF hell or
hades or purga:ory or whatever 1t Is.
Besides these international days
there are national days in every coun-
try. Here we have the Fourth OF july
and Washington's birthday and Decor
alton Day and some others. Germany
celebrates the birth of Calvin and
Luther and the kaiser. Scotland that
OF Sir William Wallace and Bruce and
Iohn Knox. In old England they
celebrate the queens birthday, Mag
ma Charter day and Waterloo day and
MAY day. May day is the happies: OF
all and has been long remembered IN
verse and song and in dancing around
the May pole Tennyson wrote SAD,
sweet poem called the May queen.
Mexico celebrates all the Roman
Catholic days and has one other that
tie rabble call Judas lscariots day. II
is the ne-t day after Easter. On the
beautiful trees in the piazza or park
they suspend pastehcard images Oh
Judas Iscariot-images &S large as lie,
with little holes bored in them from
head to foot and in every hole is fas-
tened a cannon crack. At given sig
nal the fuse IN every cracker is Eghteu
and all of them explode nearly a.: the
same time and such terrific popping
was never heard outside OF battle
field, and poor old Judas is torn ani
rent into a thousand pieces. This Is
lust a sign of what they would do 20
him IL they had him there alive, Dut
reckon it is more for frolic than any
thing, for they shout and laugh and
dance the hornpipe and make all the
racket they can.
Ben Franklin said that man was a
bundle of habits. He might have ad-
.ded "and supeEstfions," for most all
reoDle have some belief in superna-
turaI things. Two hundred years ago
almost everybody believed in witches.
Shakespeare wrote about them in
Macbeth" and Burns in Tam