Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1924-12-21


welcome Kris k,ng-e aiio
celebrate the Yuletide season.
In the National Capital 1t is the
golden rule time of year, when fam
lilies and friends, neighbors and &C
quaintances, inoculated with the
Christmas spirit distribute the joys
of happiness and well-being from
one boundary of the District to the
other so that all the inhabitants may
participate in the ceremonial festiv-
titles.
Politics. temporarily, is forgotten.
Business cares are laid aside. Gov
ernmental exigencies are pigeonholed
for the day. From the White House
TO the cottage Of the lowliest the
spirit of peace and kindly feeling for
fellow man perVades. Christmas
bells chime out their tidings of con-
tcntment. The emerald green and the
cardinal Colors of the holly wreaths
which appear here. there and every
where are the typically brilliant hues
of creations greatest feast day. The
beat of tiny drums, the blare of toy
trumpets. the shrilI notes of horns
and the frolicsome cries of children
indicate that Santa Claus has come
and left the Juvenile gifts which were
wished for.
Representative of every country
on the globe come to Washington at
Christmas time in the gulse of toys
for tiny tots. For toyland copies all
the animals of the worlds menagerie
in wood and glass and metal and
distributes them as playthings among
the young people Of the civilized
countries. The science Of modern
mechanics. the power of mammoth
factories, the outputs of singing saw
mills, the materials from mines and
The ocean floor are devoted to the
LONELY art of making toys for Amer
Jean children. A great industry has been
built, an industry which does an aggre-
gate business of many millions of dollars
annually. in order that American young
sters may play with fine new toys
on the 25th of December.
1t may seem a far cry from the AK
of the Maine or Michigan woodsmen
to the Yuletide living room of the
Washington householder. Neverthe-
less, there is connecting link be-
tween these two widely separated
things-the little tree of pine or
spruce which Is felled in one To-
cality in order that it may be used as
decorative Christmas tree in another.
One-fiftieth OF the 100000 Christ
mas trees which annually are cut
IN the United States are used by
Washington families in their holiday
% celebrations.
The practice of cutting small trees
to decorate and illuminate and place
the Yuletide gifts on has been handed
down from one generation to another.
The custom extends far back in an
tiquity. The mythology of the hardy
Norsemen has II that originally
Heaven and earth were gripped and
held together by the network OF roots
Of this imaginary tree.
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GONE historians attribute the origin
~ of the modern Christmas tree to
the early Egyptians, who, during the
peak of the Winter solstce, decorated
the gates of their homes and cities with
the branches of the date palm-the
symbols of life triumphant over death.
Scandinavia cherishes a venerable
legend that the modern Christmas tree
Is the logical descendant from the IA
nous service tree OF Norway and
Sweden. The myth runs to the effect
that this extraordinary service tree
grew on spot where two lovers were
slain. Mysterious lights were reputed
to illuminate the remarkable tree dur
ing the Yuletide season-the period when
the lovers died.
1t may be that the present practice
OF lighting our Christmas trees with
candles and electricity sprang from this
Scandinavian fable. History also re-
cords that the feast of Christmas was
celebrated among the early Greeks as
the festival of lights.
The types, varieties and names of
American Christmas trees are numerous.
In the Southern States the magnolia is
used as the ornamental tree of the holi-
day season, while families of the Pacific
Coast use the fir. Great trainloads Of
short-needle pine trees are marketed
each December in Chicago and neighbor-
mt
and hollywood trees are used in parts
of Dixie, where they are Indigenous
The spruce is popular in Ohio. Wash
ington draws many of its Christmas
trees from the scrub-pine lands Of near
by Virginia and Maryland
Experts revere the balsam fir trees as
ideal Christmas trees. They possess a
symmetrical form. The long, horizontal
branches and deep green foliage are
ideal for decorative purposes and give
off an aromatic fragrance. The trees
look very beautiful illuminated with tiny
colored lights, while they last much
longer than most other varieties.
The trek of the tree hunters in the
latitude of our National Capital begins
about the middle Of December. On Sun
days and week days motor cavalcades
wind along the District. Virginia and
Maryland highways, searching for suit
able Christmas trees and the holly
which grows in the wooded regions of
those sections Most of the tree hunt
ers are satisfied with scrub pine trees,
If they are the right size and shape.
They delight in cutting and transporting
the trees TO their home hearthsides and
there preparing them for their Christ
mas morning glory.
These trees, for the most part, are
products of a new form of poaching.
The motorists fell the trees that suit
them, irrespective of whose land they
occupy. 1t is a form of trespass
which is countenanced by the own
ers. The scraggly little trees which
are cut, in the main, would never de-
velop into profitable sources of tim
Der. No needless slaughter of po-
tential trees Is featured in this har-
vest.
The 100000 Christmas trees which
annually are cut down in order to
furnish Yuletide cheer to about three
fourths of Americas population do
not constitute an important factor in
our National timber cut. These trees
are not missed, although some per-
sons raise a hue and cry every year
about their "wanton waste" The
trees serve as valuable a purpose as
though they were grown to maturity
and ultimately utilized to build sew
eral hundred bungalows. They rep
resent the spirit of Christmas, and
thus are worth many times their pos
sible og-measure value.
Champions of modern forestry d.
rect their attacks against the $780,
100000 forest-flre menace, which an
nually destroys vast quantities of po-
tential timber, instead of wasting
their time battling against the rela-
lively insignificant consumption of
Christmas trees.
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