Evening star., 1922-04-16

heather use and borrowed them for
her own
The erudite man, the great philos-
opher and wholly believing Christian
who was Coignard warmed up at this
attack.
1--WE might as reasonably maintain
he said. that they are a symbol of
the resurrection Of Christ. There. in
that resurrection, is the blossoming
of life again. brought to us all. Also,
and to give you pleasure, I am will
ing to believe that the joy of eating
eggs after a severely observed Lent
Of insipid stock fish is another reason
why they appear at our tables this
Easter day, honored with the royal
purple. But you. Nicolas. are like
the apothecary's boy, who imagined
that he had discovered the kings Sc
cret because he saw a lot OF pictures
hanging on the walls of the council
Nicolas nudged Jacques Tourne-
broche.
They settled down to enjoy the fine
conclusion.
Let Easter eggs be pagan in their
origin" exclaimed the abbe. Are
not the spring equinox, the blossom
ing of life again and all the hopes
and consultations raised up by the
spectacle, even in benighted hearts
are they not, all of them, parts or the
! secret of God? Go with your freaks
and phenomenons. your three-legged
chicks, two-headed calves, your
lightnings setting fire to churches
and your orchard blossoms destroyed
by hail storms: Nature to me is out
a bunch Of incoherent pictures, scat
tered and incomplete; and II you go
no further than their clue you Will
not discern in the newborn babe
either the Christian, the man or even
the Individual.
"The secret of the king" he said,
"is not on the wall of the council
chamber. And the destiny OF man is
in thought. proceeding at once from
creature and creator"
1t was long ago.
Long arguments give me the
pip" said the public roaster; and
there remain roasters. public and prl-
vate, today.
+ \
NOR Is there much more to learn.
IN nor a better answer to give to
the modern Nicolas Cerises. AS the
resurrection Of Christ is the promise
of life to come, so Easter eggs nave
been the symbol of mans hope OF IL
back to the mists of time
So Easter eggs are venerable. mys-
terious, glorious. Before they bore
the name of Easter man reached out
to Easter by them. And when Easter
came the eggs were there awaiting
Easter.
When Paris (by her former name.
Lutece) was a greenbowered city OF
! cream stone villas, curcuses and mon
uments under guard of Roman le-
eiops, the children of Paris rolled
their Easter eggs down the mountain
of Sainte Genevieve, exactly like the
kids of Washington today down the
! rreensward of the White House.
When the Franks by land. north
| ern pirates by sea and other heatheh
hordes irrupted on Christian Lutece'
made It a "cinder heap" and started
the dark ages, Easter conquered them
in turn. And Frankish boys (and
Norman lads in new-made Normandy
good heavens, talk about Norman
bloody nicked eggs for keeps with
Gallo-Roman boys-and generally
heat them at 1t. The chronicles are
full of it. See Gregory OF Tours.
AS soon as there was university
clerks and students are seen running
ID Nncf a
seeking their eggs" as gifts from
s,bstantial householders and Sing
;np lauds," in well known modern
style. Lads working for their liv-
ing in machine shops. stores. etc.
| never learned the trick of running
the streets for foundations and
| .'endowments."
Somewhere back in the year lloo
they revived the forgotten art or