Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1905-01-13
IRvINGTON VIRGINIA. FRIDAY, JANUARY 13. 1905.

mentality is instructive In him. /
is a soul conception, born of faith
and nursed by hope.
ga depth in philosophy" said on
of the greatest thinkers of any wht
have preceded US, "inclineth man,
mind to religion"
So at various times in the history
of humanity we fiud it crystilized by
creeds into rules by which it is tc
reach to perfection. Buddhism, and
Braminism, the doctrines of Con
fuclus, and the creed of Mahomet
have sought and are seeking to fash
ion and to guide it.
Nineteen hundred and four years
ago, heralded by the angelic message
''Peace on earth, good will to men,
there came upon the earth one who
taught the simple story of salvation
and preached the immortality of the
soul. i need not pause before this
assembly of believers TO show wherein
the evergreen has a peculiar and
tender significance to His Faithful
followers. Annually at each Christ
mas time it has been their custom to
celebrate His coming with feast and
song and general Thanksgiving; and
Nature has been called upon on these
occasions to contribute of its store
things emblemstic Of human hopes.
The mistletoe, with its translucent
white bloom, emblematical of that
soul purity which is the wage
of the Immortality that its per-
ennial green signifies; the holly
with its red-ripe berries speak
ing Of life aud light and a
love that is infinite, and its perpetual
green speaking of eternity beyond
the skies, have through generation
after generation hung round this
glad occasion.
The holly-tree is not an universal
plant. Its distribution on the earth
is limited and rare. Our ancestors
In Merry England found there a
beautiful species that has been cele-
brated In our literature, consecrated
in our religion, and so interviewer in
the hopes and joys and griefs and
sentimentalities of our race that it
has for us a peculiar and tender sisni-
fcance. And it is right that we
should be glad that here in our loved
Tidewater section is found so rare
and beautiful a specimen of this
same tree that has such tender mean
ing to us.
Now is the festive holly time. In
the sunny summer season, when all
nature is gay, when bud and bloom
and leaf and blade 1aunt their bril-
liant hues and shift their shades of
livid green, it passes scarcely noticed
in the gorgeous throng. Few pause
then to mark the delicate waxen,
pure-white, fragrant flower set in
serried green that one sex of its
species bears. But when the golden
harvest is past, and the fads and
fancies of the summer forests are
gone; when creation doffs it's beau
teous autumn garb, ,and earth takes on
its funeral pail; when the soul of
nature waits the vernal resurrection,
and melancholy winds mourn the
departed year, the holly-tree, its
smooth barked trunk and bristling
leaf blades bidding defiance to the
warning elements, sheds on the
desolation of winter the warm red
cheer of its crimson fruit, and, point
ing heavenward, speaks its lesson to
the human soul. 1t is one of the
many thousand precious gifts of
God, through generous nature given
to man; and, therefore, as have said
in the beginning, l congratulate you
on the conception of this ceremony
designed to show that you are mind
ful of the peculiar blessing bestowed
on our favored land. / am glad to
see that In each succeeding year an
increased interest is shown in this
ceremony.
Men of Lancaster and Northumber-
land, it speaks well for your chivalry
that there is chosen to wear the
crown and preside on these occasions
one of the fair daughters of the land.
We Virginians are proud of our wo-
men. We know there are none ex-
actly like them on earth, and we
believe their equals cannot be found
anywhere. Milton tells us that when
father Adam first beheld our mother
Eve he declared that she was
$50 lovely fair,
That what seemed fair in all the world
seemed now
Mean, or in her summ'd up, In her con-
tanned"
The preachers say there is a deal
of the old Adam in man today. This
may be true for aught know. One
thing is certain that these lovely
charms of mother Eve have not yet
departed the earth. And his decend-
ants In Old Virginia know "what's
what as well as the old man did.
When they would typify Virtue in
Liberty and the Law, they placed
the fair form of woman treading
Tyranny under foot with the motto,
"Sic Semper Tyrannus."
Wnen they would rejoice In this
gift of the holly-tree bestowed by
generous nature on their favored land
they chose the fair form of a
daughter of Eve to typify the crown
ing JOY and gladness of their hearts,
holding it true with him who said,
ga thing of beauty is Joy for ever. +"