Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1910-12-15

Had seized their troubled m1nd);
Glad tidings of great Joy bring
To, you and all minkind."
And who would forget the swing OF
melody, and the charity taught in
Good King Weneslaus looked forth
On the least of Stephen" !
He saw the beggar gathering fuel
in the snow that lay round about.
and calls to his servants to bring him
robes and wine and to fetch the poor
man in from the cold.
In the rural districts the nature fes.
tival lived long after the church had
taken the feast There were remains
of tree worship and sacrifice to Pc.
mona in Cornwall as late as $50 years
ago. The peasants used to go into
the orchards on Christmas day with
pailfuls of cider and roasted apples.
The health of the trees was drunk to
song, and nbations poured upon the
roots. In various sections of north
ern Europe it is the custom to deco
rate trees out of doors. The fir trees
as evergreens, and fruit trees for their
PROMISES. were trimmed with long
streamers of ribbon, or paper.
The Christmas tree finds its ances-
or in the German ash Ygdrasil,
great tree whose top reached to Wal
halla, the home of the gods, and whose
roots were fast in the earth.
The Germans have a wealth of car
o11 L,,& ~, -
ture.
"Oh Tannenbaum, Oh Tannenbaum"
or the song of the fir tree at Christ
mas time has become world wide.
Who could count the households that
gather around the tapers lighted and
the tree loaded with gifts to sing this
in unison
In the English household the song
Is:
Gather around the Christmas tree,
Ever green has it's branches been
1t is king of all the woodland scene"
Or it may be:
Carol, brothers, carol,
Carol joyfully,
Carol for the coming of Christ's na-
tivity"
The good old custom of singing
from house to house on Christmas eve
has crept across the water from Eng
land to America. 1t was a part of the
program of the season to learn these
carols and to gather In bands, going
from house to house across the snow
and singing before the doors. The
neighbors knew they were coming, pre-
pairing cakes and warm drinks, and
sometimes gifts of money. Whoever
! has heard God rest ye, merry gentle
men, let nothing ye dismay," sung
heartily in the frosty air has thrill
and an experience that returns to him
every Christmas after
And every Christmas morn is awak-
ened with the stirring strains of
Shout the glad tidings exultingly
sing"
But We must rot think that England
or Germany sing all the carol music.
France had quaint literature of its
own. Here is one If NOVEL;, or Noel,
and from north to south there are
delightful variations of it. These
words or the English translated long
ago preserve the spirit:
"'Nowell, novel;, novel;, novel;,
This is the salutacyon of the angel ga,
bryell,
Tydyngs treu Their be cum neu sent
frome the trynyte,
Be gabryell to nazareth cety of galile
A clene maydyn and pure virgin
thorOW her humylyte,
Hath conceybyd the person secund in
deite."
Pere Noel comes down the chimney
and gives gifts just as Father Christ
mas does across the channel, and the
little French children sing:
"Noel, Noel. Noel, Noel singeth clear
Holpen are all folk on earth
Born is Gods son so dear"
| L. M. McCAULEY.