Year: 1878

Hares and Easter Eggs.
1t would be difficult to explain whence came
| the notion that 'The hares lay the Easter
| eggs" Queer hares they must be, indeed,
but German children believe it as devoutly rs
they do that the ''Christkind" brings their
| Christmas presents or as our own little ones
do in Santa Claus. No one knows exactly
whence came this myth. Many think it
| relic of heather worship but writer named
Christoph Won Schmid, in All interesting story
for children, suggests this much prctticr ori-
| gin:


Many hundred years ago. a good and noble
| lady, Duchess Roslinda Won L;ndenburg at a
time when cruel war was devastating the
| land, was obliged to fly from her beautiful
! home in Germany, accompanied only by her
two children and one old man servant.
They found refuge in n small mining vii
| lage in the mountains where the simple but
contented and happy inhabitants did what
| they could for their comfort, and placed the
best of all they had at. the disposal of the
wanderers. Nevertheless, their fare was mis-
| cradle no meat was ever TO he found, sell
| dom fish, and not even an egg; this last for
the very good reason that there was not sin
| gle hen in the village These useful domes-
| tic fowls, now so common everywhere, were
originally brought from the East and had
not yet found their way TO this secluded place.
The people had not even heard of such
strange birds" This troubled the kind
duchess, who well knew the great help they
are in housekeeping and she determined that
the women who had been so kind to her
should no longer be without them.
Accordingly the next time she sent forth
her faithful old servant to try and gather news
| of his master and of the progress of the war.
she commissioned him to bring back with
him a coop full of fowls. This he did, to the
| great surprise of the simple natives, and the
village children were greatly excited a few
weeks later at the appearance of a brood of
| young chickens. They were so pretty and
bright, were covered with such a soft down,
were so open-eyed, and could run about after
their mother to pick up food the very first
| day, and were altogether such a contrast to
the blind, bald, unfedged. helpless, ugly lit
| tie birds they sometimes saw in nests in the
hedges, that they could not find words enough
| to express their admiration.


The good lady now saved up eggs for some
time then invited all the housewives of the
village to feast. when she set before them
eggs cooked in a variety of ways She then
taught them how to prepare them for them
selves, and distributing the fowls among
them, sent the danes home grateful and hap
py


When Easter approached she was anxious
to arrange some pleasure for the village chill
dren, but had nothing TO give them, mot
| even an apple or a nut" only some eggs but
that, she concluded, was. after all, an appro-
pirate offering, 'as an egg is the first gift of
the reviving spring" And then it occurred
| to her to boil them with MOSES and roots
that would give them variety of brilliant
colors, las the earth" said She has just
laid aside her white mantle. and decorated
| herself with many colors for the dear God
makes the fruit and berries not only good to
eat, but also pleasant to look upon" and the
children's pleasure would be all the greater


Accordingly on Easter Sunday, after the
church service, all the little ones of about the
age of her own met together in a garden ;
and, when their kind hostess had talked to
them while, she led them into a small neigh
boring wood. There she told them to make
nests of moss, and advised each to mark well
| his or her own. All then returned to the gar
den, where feast of mik-soup with eggs
and egg-cakes had been prepared. AZ
terward they went back to the wood, and
found to their great joy in each nest five
| beautiful colored eggs, and ON one of these n
| short rhyme was written.


The surprise and delight of the little ones
when they discovered nest of the gayly col
ored treasures, was very great, and one of
| them exclaimed:


How wonderful the hens must be that can
lay such pretty eggs How should like to
see them"


"Oh. no hens could lay such beautiful
eggs" answered little girl. l think it must
have been the little hare that sprang out of
| the juniper bush when / wanted TO build my
nest there"


Then all the children laughed together and
said The hares lay the colored eggs. Yes,
yes. the dear little hares lay the beautiful
eggs" And they repeated it till they began
to believe it.


Not long afterward the war ended, and
| Duke Arno Won Lindenburg took his wife and
children back to their own palace but, be-
fore leaving, the Duchess set apart n sum of
money to be expended in giving the village
! children every Easter feast of eggs She
instituted the custom also in her own duchy
and by degrees it spread over the whole coun-
| try, the eggs being considered a symbol of
| redemption or deliverance from sin.


To this day children living in the country
! go to the woods Just before Easter, and re-
| turn with their arms full of twigs and moss,
out of which they build nests and houses
each child carefully marking his own with
his name. They are then hidden behind
stones and bushes in the garden, or, if the
| weather be cold, in corners or under furni-
ture in the house. And on Easter morning
what an excitement there is to see what the
| good little hare has brought. Not only real
eggs boiled and colored, but sugar ones too,
and often wooden ones that open like boxes,
disclosing, perhaps, a pair of new gloves or n
| bright ribbon He even sometimes brings
hoops and skipping-ropes, and generally his
own efigy in dough or candy is found trying
to scamper away behind the nest.-F. Il.
Corae, 50. NicholdSJor Apra.