The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-12-20

with hangyngs, ioures, boughs and gar lands was taken of the heathen people, which decked their idols and houses with such array" And so it was and very sensibly at that.
 Origin of the Christmas Tree. < Perhaps the oldest sacred idea in exist encs is of a world tree, tree of life. whose roots reached into. immortality. An the far north the ash was typical; in Germany and Central Europe the pine was held sacred. Their branches played prominent part in the rejoicings attend ant on the holy aason, which was known as Yule. Guie, Iul. and number of similar names. These people brought the Yule'tres Into their Christianity, the mis- sionartes little protesting. as rule. In ErElands the skin-clad Angio-Saxons were made to hew their yule trees, to pieces. as idolastrous symbols, and every good Catholic was bidden to burn the logs in token that the Holy Child had destroyed sheathenism. !,
 Tha converts asked nothing better. At that time of year yule log was twice as comfortable as . yule branch, and much more conductive to good cheer, 1t has biaked on the Christmas hearth for more than q thousand yule-tides since, and went out only when the hearth itself gave way to less poetic but more effective methods of heating. Many of the supera stftions and traditions of the pagan yule tree were continued as long as the Christ mas log was alight In some parts of Enxland the log was represented by a bundle of ash fagots bound together. In all eases brand was kept every year to light the next years log with. The careful preservation of the brand was a certain preventive of the destruction of hxy
 The most beautiful tradition attached to the burning of the yule log was that old wrongs ard heartburning perished there- in. and as long as the flame was bright on tho walls enemies were at peace with one another. This truce was not always rigfdly kept, 1t is true. TLere have been dark and cruel yule-tides in the history of our race. But in the main the true spirit of Christmas was kept.
 Significance of the Mistletoe.
 There were several reasons for the sanctity which attached to the mistletoe of the Druids. They did not regard all mistletoe with reverence. or at least they did not gather it in their ceremonies from any tree except tho oak. which was their sacreS tree. Now the mistletoe al- most never grows on oak trees. In Eng tand the continent of Europe. and In America, the pretty parasitic growth, the viscum album of the botanists. Is found growing on appletrees willows. iarches. sycauiores. poplare. elms and many other trees but very rarely on oak trees. Some years ago e careful canvas was made of the mistietoe oaks of England. Only fourteen were reported in all the island. One ancient giant in Herefordshire had fifteen of it's branches adorned with the mystic shrub.
 That tree would have been a Druid temple in the old days The oak tree was worshipped by them. possibly because of it's antiquity, for oak trees grew in Brit ain when elephants and tigers were men,- bers of the British fauna. An oak tree on which mistletoe grew was especially revsrenced because the appearance Of the plant was taken to be miraculous sign that the gods were pleased.
 The pFuids, in common with almost all primitive man, had a deep reverence for Che idea of the trtnity-the number three often found in groups of three. and this circumstance, as well as the fact that the berries ripen at the sacred season, al- though they flower with apr blossoms ana wild roses must have impressed them. At all events the white boushs vera gathered near the end ot the year. and played an important part In the cer- enorIies of December.
 Father Prout. has given ., vivid picture of the gathering of the naististoe fn his familiar ballad: |. '"The Druid stood in the dark oak wood
 Of a distant northern land,
 And he seemed to hold a sickle of gold
 Tn the grasp of his withared hand And he moved him slowly round the sirth
 Of An aged oak to sec If an orphan plant of wondrous birth
 Had clung to the old oak tree. And anon he knelt, and from his belt
 Unlbosened his golden blade, Then rose and culled the mistletoe
 Under the woodland shadA
 For many generations after the last Druid was dust the n1istletoe had It's svo- taries, The plant had almost every med ical property, according to early physi- clans. It was believed to bc a remedy for all ills, physical, mental, and senti- mental In pagan days it was dedicated to OIwen. the Celtic Venus, and through the ages the plant and the tender pas sion were rather intimately entwined. Kissing beneath it began 50 far back in history that no one has ever attempted to trace the custom to it's youth.
 Tn a vindication of the other old cus- toms, WrltLen &t a LltuS WEleu tHS Dl1Bnb of Puritanism was over Christmas joy. 6 liberal minded father in Israel wrote: ''Heathsns by the light of natural rea- sons, have done, and do. many excellent things. and things commendable in Chris tians." He may have had the memory of a pair of red lips under a green bough in his well-disciplined mind. At all events 1t Is certain that goodly num- Der of his readers so interpreted his per- mission. The mistletoe bough still hangs in the castle hall, and in the cottage kitchen as well.
 The custom of giving presents at the new years Is older than our modern cus- tom of Christmas gifts. In the Middle Ages it was the common usage in churches to display boxes for especially liberal alms- giving, fin honor of the sea- son. Parents gave their children, mas- ters their servants, employers their ap- rT sntices. gInall sums of money to put in the box. By and by the money came to be given in the form of tips. Boxing day. in England Is still the day following Christmas. The boxes very seldom re- mained in the hands of the recipients. Usually they were passed on to parents. or gweethearts.
 'Tn take 1t all and box 1t all.
 And give 1t to my honey"
 sings the enamored apprentice in the bal lad.
 Christmas Presents.
 rhr'atsua UrAaaDfs in fn a navanauo