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THE CATHOLIC JOOTUUX ifeli'Mftfei } RED BiOSSOMS SftE SVofio tftiEN CHRISTMAS WAS YOUNG wmmmmd "j," -" - American and Liberty Rosea, Carna To Unc!*r*tahd My»t«rie« of th« YuN- tion* and lmmorteIlM„Amor»fl Pop. tide, It Hi Necessary t» Search ular Chri«tm»« Flowers. Ancient Hirtory.
P CHRISTMAS eve comes In X the midst of the rash and mild and warm and Christ excitement of Christmas mas morning follows its gen preparations certain ques tle prophecy, the city florists tions will flash across the will be happy. That will mind, and we find ourselves mean that %he thousands of boxes of wondering why it is U>at we do the Christmas flowers which must be de very same things Christmas after for the home livered on Christmas forenoon can go Christmas, Why do we hang stock out with only the ordinary packing. ings, light Christmas trees, trim onr 1 But should there be freezing weather, homes and have plum pudding? Doyour The WELSBACH GAS BOWL every flower must be packed in cotton/ To understand the origin: of these which doubles the labor and the time customs we must wander far back '! necessary. Even with the mild Christ Int6 the forgotten past-^-ages before with kinetic burner |is adapted to mas, which is the florist's delight, the Julius Caesar set foot on British soil, force in the big retail flower stores Christmas :• r »r St. Augustine told the story of the works all night the night before Christ every room in the home because it is Cross to the men of Kent. Hundreds :> . mas. Prom midnight until 7 o'clock of years ago—long before the year 1 ,'< in .the, morning'all hands jxre busy —the ancients, as we call the people : > packing the boxes which in a few ,' scientifically designed to give More of those times, all worshiped the sun,} ,> hours are to convey Christmas remem the great giver of light and life. In Kg : light and BETTER light brances.. At 7 o'clock the delivery the month of March they built big ; wagons -start, and before noon all the; fires to it, asking ir to shine upon the fragile blooms have reached the fem seeds they had planted and warm i: inine hands for which thejywere pur them into life. In the autumn they}; chased. Probably 20,000 such boxes held another festival, thanking the at Welsbach Gas Appliance Co. are delivered every Christinas morn sun for the harvest, and again, in the ing in New York. One dealer in a winter time, they held the, greatest fashionable residence district has sent festival 'of all to celebrate tlte coming] 34 No. Fitzhugh St. out between 300 and 400 every Christ of the springtime. mas morniug for many years. Foremost In ancient Egypt, In Assyria, in w»*J The "mixed box" ranges from $10 Greece, on Roman soil and In thef to $50 tn price. It is a very modest northlnnds these festivals were cele little box for the first priced-just half brated year after year and always a dozen roses, a dozen carnations, a about the same time, the winter one Christmas Store bit of "Christmas green." In the SS0 being held about New Year's time, box there will be probably half a Wherever the Roman eagle was *• dozen American Beauties, half a v-">t found., this, feast was called the Sat dozen long-stemmed liberty roses of urnalia and It was marked by univer r? the rich, velvety, deep crimson vari- sal license and good feeling. V4i ijlety ; some violets, some "valley." some AJ1 at once Christianity .appeared Every depart is >pfct *Ifugnonette to sweeten the whole box; upon the scene. As the policy of the e *" .perhaps some sweet peas and hya early church was to reconcile heathen a cinths, a bit of heliotrope and always ^converts to the new- faith by adopting with merchandise tha t is chwactcr- I some holly and n red satin ribbon to some of the heathen customs and fes tie the whole. tivals, the new religion accepted and These expensive boxes are simply retained many, and the r*esult. as is isucally distmctive-merchaiKh* pretty trifles, sent to the rich, by easily seen, tins been the strange those who are not sufficiently indebted medley of pagan and Christian rites ofthehighqud^yc.h^vecome. or on suffrtemly intimate terms to which we use at Christmas time to a I send more costly or substantial gifts. day. Ev The very ova noseenee of the (lowers After Britain wn« Christianized byf habitually,to e^tfiom this store' makes them superlatively luxurious. the Humans, the Saxons and northern i Fifty dollars for flowers that fade in tribes came, bringing their old north 3 BOND BREAD a day tunkes the attention more deli ern rites, and as Christianity at last cate than four or five times that replaced paganism the Christians kept amount put into some more durable the old pagan rites, merely changing trifle. • " their meaning. h a Ued Is pre-eminently the Christmas For many years no two lands eele-j 3 color, and red carnations and red roses bra ted the same day as the birthday i are the favorite purchases. The red of Christ. They did not know the Immortelles, nlso, go In great bunches exact day, ami we do not know lt;> for Christmas decorations In houses but this date has now become the of both hl«h and low degree. These most important one In the world's .Immortelles are real flowers, though history. % 1 some people have a notion they are t McCurdy & Co. Inc. made of paper. * The natural^.color is yellow, and they grow in the south of t France, where great fields of them may The Old Age of Santa Clsui. be seen dried and dyed for the mar In Anna Fnrquhar'a "Convictions" El General Baking Co. ket. It is it great Industry there. Eu In The National Magazine, she says: ropeans use them largely to the exclu "Snntu Clans rotters under his pack, t) sion of fresh flowers for all occasions wearing a long, old ft*, these days. JnTTTmiMllTl^^ They" H re dyed In all colors for- the Eu Probably in his youth he hnd no Idea ropean market, and thousands upon of growing old or departing this life; * • r thousands of botes of the red ones are therefore when his enthusiasm and * * • X Imported to New York every year for JnyoiiMiesft began to wane nnaecottnt- " " the Christmas trade. They canuot be ably, he must have opined that The ^ * successfully grown ID America, owing world wns totteringr-not his own gen- JJ ] B«BMMI5273 RodMtefeievWc J 052 % to climatic differences. A few have erous throne of life. Nowadays he '„ , been produced In Texas, hut the flor creeps down the chimney stealtlrily as "m • ists sny they are not "right." If somewhat ashamed of his mission, '* • like a polar burglar, and his,eight tiny ,• • reln«leer make smalt clatter on the) T lawn, for many of their Joy bells have T ANTHRACITE Tree* and Fire«. been lost. When Santa lays a finger ££ It is doubtful whether any single aside of' his nose reflectively lu our t, Wm. L. Van de Walle agency has caused more flres than tinier, he exclaims, without a bit of'J. \ Christmas trees. These nre covered Jolly shake below the waist: 'Degen- [J. with Inflannnable ornaments and kept erntes! Degenerates! Has my world •#• until the brunches are n» dry as tira- come to such a pass that people wish [•§• der. The practice of decorating with to pny me for my presents? Can It COAL be that little children nre^so surfeited candles and lighting these in order to Plumbing and Gas Fitting beautify the tree is the main source with toys tliat they stop to ask how of danger. There is something so much they cost before accepting them. pleasing and satisfactory about Christ There was little Wiliie. lust year, who mas trees that no one feels like giv said to his nmtnmn, when he first saw Repair Work a Specialty BUCKWHEAT FOR STEAM AND ing them up, or opposing their use, a beautiful woolly dog, "What's It got but they are a source of loss and dan Inside? Candy or money? DonH want a dog 'nless It's got somethin* In BOILER PURPOSES ger. Something should be done to ,M eliminate the danger, even though It sider should reduce the number of trees. Until regulations from the outside in 23« No* Sin** terfere^ with the practice, it will be well for every person who indulges in | Games of Heathen Origin the luxury to have a garden hose LEWIS EDELMAN ready for Immediate use in case the ANY of our most famil tree catches fire. Thosp who have no M' iar Christmas games have jr R«id«KeTeJepWBei!250l €kat« Rod***. N. Y. J 88 Portland Avenue meaos for extinguishing a fire should a hen then origtnfi and some of not "have a tree—From the Kansas ^ their requirements once played a m City Journal. most important part in. the heathen rites and mysteries. Ev PHONES •5E8F 576 ery one knows how, when play ing the popular Christmas game in ii uiii11nmiin illiiIIlit111nili i About the Mistletoe of "snap dragon," all other lights in the room are extinguished -OI.I his "Art of while we try to snatch raisins C Si inipuus. " observes. "If from blazing brandy, hut prob one frnmp mistletoe about the- ably few are aware that the * f H neck ilie witches can have no a* ancient Btttish Druids were ac Sj> power of him." Some lingering '" customed to worship, in a tem 1 j| superstition remains in the ple otherwise dark, a flame of Xmas Greetings f, present day. and in many houses burning spirits into which they gj a bun«-h of the mistletoe is siis- cast and out of which they H DAVIS & FRIEDMAN ' pended from the celling, under plucked ce'rtain sacred objects, P„; which the male part of the as- and that they thus performed & setnhly have the privilege of some of the most awful solem Footwear for Men and Women Si) taking the ladies and saluting nities or their religion. §| them. At the same time they mote S? should wish them a happy new m |f year and present them with one +?, __59 Clinton Avenue North The Christmas Season. f& of the berries for good luck. In Though Christmas seems to gain other places people try by lots rather than lose In popular favor as Masonic Temple § by the crocking of the leaves the years roll by, yet It Is worthy of 48-50 SOUTH AVCNUC « and berries in the Are. note that the Christmas season has been much curtailed from what It 10 ) Give him a Tire for Xmas, bought at the originally was. For several eenturft* JOHN A, DICKS, Proprietor, ROCHESTER, N.Y. Art Unsatisfactory Plan* it began with the eve of All Saints' "Why, Johnny," said the caller, as day or "Hallow eve," October 31, and the lud. wept bitterly, "crying on continued until Candlemas day, Feb \ Wilber Auto Supply Co. Christmas morning?" ruary 2, in England, It Isjaow com Every Room with Hot and C«td Watcr-UM»^«tc in I "Yuh—yessir," sobbed JOhnny. "We puted only from Christmas ere to all agreed In our family this year to "Twelfth night," January 6, while ID Rtspcot. Steam Newt. Rates $1.50 and u». CciMral- f 521 W. MAIN STREET gug-give each other only what we tar own country It begins on Christ needed triost.** mas eve' and practically ends on venicat U Lehiffa and all Rillriad Statiam. Christmas night. Yet even now It real I "Well. thaf> isn't each a bad Idea,; It Vulcanizing rear and It? Nothing to cry about, anyhow, ly begins on December 16. marked fa eh?" the church calendar, "O Saplentfa." \ Accessories National Tires. ••It'* rur-rotten," sobbed Johnny, from the name of an anthem tut* "Dad tiH
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