The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-05-28
"oAK-APPLE DAY'' WAS LONG
 FAVORITE RURAL FESTIVAL.

TO those IaIa1l1aT With the quaint customs of the out-of-the-way cor calls pleasant memories of the ob- servance of what was once the fa- vorite festival of British youngsters, Oak-Apple Day. In the cities and larger towns of John Bulls tight lit tie island this feast-day has long since been forgotten, but there are still to be found rural communities in which the children are eagerly looking for ward to the morrow's celebration.
 Oak-Apple Day, on the twenty ninth of May, commentaries King Charles preservation in the celebrat- ed oak of Boscobel, and his restora- ton to the throne. After the defeat of the royal army at Worcester, in 1851, King Charles sought to escape to France. While hard pressed by the enemy the monarch sought refuge in a great oak. that had been Topped some three or four years before, and being grown out again very bushy and thick, could not be seen through '' Concealed in the safe shelter of this tree, the king spent an entire day in company with Col. William Careless. They had provided themselves with bread and cheese and beer. and were quite comfortable while the So1di CTS were beating the woods about them.
 This incident made vivid impress sion upon the English mind, and af- ter the restoration it was celebrated on every May 2oth as Oak-AppIes Day. Hundreds of rural inns and public houses n England still bear the name of the Royal Oak, and many of them have signs on which the Merry Mon arch is pictured peering5 through the
 branches of a three at the Round heads below.
 In the early morn of Oak-AppIe Day the younger generation sallies forth, blowing horns and making a great noise, to the woods. Armed with saws and axes, they climb the
 oaks and hack off great branches, which are then dragged home. There
 is great rivalry as to who shall have the greatest bough at his door, and in former years this spirit of competf-
 ton grew so powerful that oppressive measures had to be taken to suppress youthful ambitio on, lest whole trees be cut down to make an Oak-Apple holiday. As a rule, however, the
 children are given much latitude, and the owners of woods seldom object when the ardor of the celebrants is kept within bounds.
 Like so many old English holidays, Oak-Apple Day is succumbing to the spirit of modernism, and even where it is still observed to some extent, the
 enthusiasm of the celebrations of a century ago is lacking. In former
 times on Oak-AppIe Day long lines of
 green bougns projected from every house in the village, and large gar lands of every hue were suspended from the middle of the streets. These | garlands were made of flowers and 1 bedecked with ribbons and flags. Long strings of birds eggs were sus- l pended from the gar1ands. Happily | for the birdies, this juvenile fad for | collecting eggs is also on the wane. 1 Before postage stamps aroused the collecting instincts of youngsters, every rural boy and girl had a string
 of birds eggs, ranging, in size from those of the hawks and crows down l to those of the wren, scarcely larger than a pea. The weeks preceding | OakAAppIe Day were a sorry period
 for the mother birds, for there was keen competition among the juveniles
 as to which should Haunt the largest collection of eggs on the spring hoH- l day.