The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1905-05-18
Egg Rolling at the White House on
Easter Monday.
BY Mrs. Martha Lemon Schneider.

whence it sprang. 1t is derived from
the Saxon word, oster, osten, meaning
rising. The German word is ostern
the Hebrew-Greek form is pasch, the
Dutch paschen, the Swedish pask
and the Danish paaskess
The old Teuton:c name Easter, was
connected with the festival of the
goddess Ostara, in Anglo-Saxon
Eastre. Ostara was the Goddess OIL
the morning, or of the East, and also
of the beginning of spring. From
northern Germany, in early days,
the worship of Ostara was brought tc
Great Britain.
We know that the early Christians
adopted and strove to transform
heather festivals which were so deeply
seated in popular customs as to make
their neglect impossible on the part
of the heather. The egg was dedicated
to Ostara, the goddess Of all things
young and fresh.
In many of these Easter ceremonies
the egg plays very important part
In Scotland it has long been the
custom to search for the eggs of wild
fowls on Easter morning for break
fast. England had many quaint and
ridiculous customs for Easter.
Just when the custom of rolling
eggs on Easter Monday on the White
House lawn began, and how it origin
ated is difficult to state, but it is be.
lieved that it was brought here by the
early settlers who came from Germany
and Scotland.
The first land patent on the land Of
| the Necostin Indians was called
Scotland. This was in 1868. In III
a German by the name of Jacob Funck
made plat of town called Hamburg
This little hamlet was located almost
directly west of the White House, anC
only very short distance from it. l.
these early settlers did not establish
! this custom, which seems to exist
only in Washington at the present
time, this method of celebrating
Easter here has been an undisputeC
fact far beyond the memory OF the
oldest inhabitants, who do not re-
member time when their mothers
did not prepare eggs OF many hues
and quaint designs for the children tc
roll on the White House grounds.
If the sun shines forth and the
ground is not too damp from previous
rainy days, every street leading tc
the White House becomes filled with
merry, happy little ones, who, carry
/ ing their pretty little colored baskets
filled with gorgeously stained and
painted eggs, and attended by theil
mothers or guardians, are hurrying
to reach the lawn and anxious to be.
gin their game of rolling their eggs
down the two little hills that form
two lovely knobs in the southern
grounds of the White House.
These streets leading to the White
House are usually very quiet and
dignified thoroughfares, but on
Easter Monday they early take on
the appearance Of county fair.
Fakirs come with wares of nature
to attract the pennies of the little ones
The balloon man is there with his
bright red balloons tugging grace
fully at their strings; the popcorn
man with his trim little kitchen or
wheels, dressed in his white cooks
cap and spotless white apron shakes
the snow white popcorn over the ho1
blaze of his oil stove, or roasts his big
fat peanuts, and has always a steady
stream of customers; the dark-facec
Italians with their white aprons anC
white caps, pushing back and forth
their little white push-carts with
their white awnings over their peanut
brittle or candies or fruit spread ou
on clean white oil-cloth, have also
their favorite purchasers; but the
busiest men of all were the ice-cream
sandwich sellers. This was a novelty
to most, and all day long crowds
coming and going would stop te
sample the new street delicacy. The
ice cream-or rather the ice milk, fol-
1 fear it never knew cream-was deity
placed between two sweet thin waters,
or spoonful was put in tiny cornu.
copias made of thin sweetened paste
which you ate with the cream, or this
paste was made in the shape of tiny
row-boats or an open-shaped flower
with fluted edges. These all looked
dainty and tasted good and were sold
for penny and the men reaped a
rich harvest from the women and
children.
Whenever you saw a crowd and
heard the wheezy tones of an old hand
organ, you could be sure that little
monkey was dancing and gathering
in the sheckels of delighted
audience.
The man with the little fat dogs