New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-10-05
CHRISTMAS IN THE SOUTH.

The pIeasantest vacation 7 ever had was one
Christmas spent with an uncle who had gone
South for his health. He had taken an old
plantation in a backwoods region some distance
from New-Orleans The house stood back from
the edge Of a bluff. and could hear the little
boats from New Orleans go "Chuf, chuff" down
under the bluff, though We could not see them.
They were our only connection with the outside
world The house was of brick, without
halls. stairs or windows. A wide brick veranda
only they call 1t gallery down herewith
great brick pillars quite surrounded it. and
every room opened on to the gallery with one or
more doors. And, as every door was Of glass,
and as, moreover. not one was closed. night or
day, while I was there. there was manifestIy no
need of windows.
But II was the woods that impressed me most
Often amid the sIeet and fog of Northern win
ter I think Of those winter woods Of long ago.
The house was surrounded with orange trees.
At Christmas the new buds were already swell
ing while the trees bent under the harvest of
great golden globes. They were the sour
oranges, very large and thick skinned, not good
for eating, but very good for preserving; and
whether It be that mockingbirds have special
love for orange trees know not. but the orange
trees we're always full of mockingbirds, and they
sang every minute, day and night.
And the woods beyond-were ever such woods
of mystery It was the moss made them so,
gray. enostlike. funereal, draping the trees so
long and sadly Yet. though mournful, il was
not deadly; rather, indeed q poetic parasite.
drawing its life from the air and doing no harm
TO the trees. But the dark, sCraggy mass Of the
mistletoe turned the limb on which IL fed all
black and lfeIesS, and sooner or later the tree
would die. When I think Of those dead trees the
nistletoe does not seem TO me a good emblem OF
love.
In every room was a fireplace and it was one
of my chief joys TO go with my little cousins and
gather fat pine" for those hreplaces. Fat pine"
is pine which has fallen and rotted on the ground
iii only the heart is left and this heart is clear
t11rpentine- most excellent for open fires.
The holly trees were dressed for Christmas,
h1Ir more characteristic Christmas tree was
called The casino" 1t was an evergreen tree,
the size Of an apple tree. with bunch Of bright
scarlet berries at the root OF each leaf, so that
each tree looked Hge 3 huge bouquet. And
each was alive with cedar birds which have
scarlet spots like drops Of blood that il
seemed as # the red berries were fitting from
Thai strange little bird. the chuck-wilTs-
v,idcvv sang at night I never heard him else
7.,bere but he said chuck Wits widow" as
rIai1lv as the whippoorwin says whip poor
VIII" And then the snakes WIN men We1ra
habit of coming out TO moon themselves at night,
Ceiling blackly on the white path in the bright
There is more, much more, TO tell, but my six
hundred words are gone. do not know II those
--,oo6s are the same now. but in 'memory's plct-
NC raIIervs' they will ever be the same
ui7 BELLE JESSUP.
No 124 s-st.. Salt Lake City Utah.
The various questions bearing on religion anu
- ~, CORRESPONDENT cannot be answered
..,,,eb +37A Exchange Had she inclosed her
rarne and address we would have peen s1ao u
IA answers by mail