The Monticellonian., 1917-12-21
fBy IDA Nj. BRUCE in Utica Globe,


 Eas@ der to win n @mistleloe kiss he Is of the opinion that he is lurinsssthe young lady into situation where. by the decree of an ancient custom. she must forfeit the aforesaid kiss.
 Frankness compels me to confess that the turing is done by the young lady. For their Christmas parties they secure and suspend the mistletoe and she is indeed Il most sedate and rather chilling young person who will not, during the festivities. allow herself to be "lureda beneath the fhistietoe. And all this Is quite within her rights. It is custom she inherited from anees- tors who dwelt In Britain or Seandi- navia. centuries ago. Today the mis- tletoe and the mistletoe kiss are as- sociated only with Christmas. But. In truth, mistletee had its significance centuries before the birth in Beth lehem which gave Us Christmas.
 Scandinavians claim that mistletoe customs originated with them, but there Is an English legend antedating those of Scandinavia, which tells how the girls of semibarbaric Britain, In the golden age of the Druds. did them selves hang up boughs of mistletoe and lure young men into their em- brace.
 According to this legend Chelm, an aHeieet high priest had great temple in the forest where he taught young men fo become priests. So popular did tits temple become that half the young men of the countryside were leaving their homes and people, and becoming Druid priests.
 There WIS great need of the young inen In lhe camps to hunt and fish and to plant and, above all, there were so many more maidens than young men left that they decided something must be done to reclaim them. The girls sought an ancient witch and asked her help.
 '.pick wonder mistletoe that grows without roots upon the trees. go to the edge of the forest round about the tree temple of Chelm and hang 1t there all around and about the forest. Stand in waiting there. we'll hidden, unIl the young men coming forth from the forest each night to bring food to the temple, are under the mistletoe. tben step forth. They will clasp you ans kiss you wherenpon do yau scream right lustily and the young men shall be yours"
 How the Girls Won Back the Men.
 The maidens followed this advice and hung the mstletoe in festoons about the edge If the forest. Stand .eg under it, the young men felt i'm pelled to kiss the maldens who stepped forth to greet them..aIAe naidens as instructed, sereaa .hstily and Ghelm and other of old Druid priests rushed forth. Vearlng their young men were being murdered When the good old Druids saw the young men embracing the madens they drove them away. for they would have no one among them who bad ought to do with women.
 And so. through the peculiar influ- ence Of the mistletoe. the maidens won back the young men, but the GUS tom of hanging up mistletoe was kept up. Later after the introduction of Christianity, the custom was added to the Christmas festivities.
 Christmas Festivities.
 From Scandinavian mythology comes the weird but interesting story of the origin of mistletoe, that pale-berried parasite of the forest. One of the best of these legends is that of Baldur. son of Wodin. In the days when those strange gods are said to have walked and talked with the mortals on earth as did Jupiter and Apollo and Diana and Latonie and the other gods and goldesses of Olympus.
 Baldur was the Scandinavian god of sunshine and sulnmer and was nat urally beloved hy I'll except Loki, the god of hearth fires. For, while the people rushed out sf doors te see Bal dur when lie brought the summer sun they had no use for Loki until the next winter. consequently Loki dis liked Baldur.
 Nanna. goddess of the blossoms and wife of Baldur dreamed terrible dreams of the daath of Baldur, and she went 10 the great god Wodn. her sather=in=law. and told him and he waS greatly troubled But messengers were sent forth shroughout the world >-o--~o~-o~o-o--~-~--><. <.-,--~~-~-~--~~-~-o~-
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