The News and Observer. VOL. XLVII. NO. 89. tan ill i oiii mmm haiues 11 tins mi ■ cm*! ion. B" •- <• •• ifiLcWfi ’ The Christmas Tree. It is said that Christmas trees were used to place gifts upon as early as 1(532. France adopted the Christmas tree about 1840 and Prince Albert in troduced it into England the first Christmas after his marriage. The Queen still keeps up this custom, hav ing a tree lor her own gifts, one for her children and grandchildren, and one for the household. Since then the custom has become world-wide. The “Tree of Candles,*’ i. of more ancient date. There is an old French romance of the thirteenth century iu which the hero sees a tree whose branees from top to bottom arc covered with burning caudles, while on the top is a figure <>/ a child shining with n still greater ra diance. ibis tree symbolized humanity the upper lights being the souls of the good, those below, of the wicked, while the child represented Christ. Tim poetic idea of the Christmas tree as a symbol of the renewed life of nature which be- gins with the lengthening of the days comes from Germany. From the Norse mythology comes the suggestion of the Christmas tree as typical of the new born sun in that it was bedecked with lights, and was an emblem of spring on account of its rich green. Probably the Norse mythology was the origin of the “tree of candles” more than of the present. Christmas tree. On the intro duction of Christianity the Christmas tree, although not known then by that name, became the type of Christ. The following quotation from L. P. Lewis gives these emblems of the Christmas tree: •'Tin* tree itself, stately and tall, was symbolical of ilis majesty and gran deur; the green, of His godliness and immortality; the lights, of 11 is glory and of the Star in tie East, and the angel on top (which*was then never omitted), of the angels who gave to the shepherds the words still spoken each Christmas Day, ‘Peace on earth, good will to men.’ ” Self Culture for December. RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA, SUNDAY MORNING, DECEMBER ' The Pickaninny’s Soliloquy. I s des a little pickaninny, black as any j^tk, An some folks keeps a-teasm me I* v say in’ “Missin’ lank," An’ some ole pious folks dey say I \ hain’t no ’mortal soul, Par 1 needn't mine do troubles dat •’round my head may r »'l; But I thank de Eawd t >* one thing—l 11 It ell yon es you pans— One thing Pse like de white folks :U-- I’se got a Shuty Clause. I always ’gins to inis;So when de Fitristunts days cones nigh, ’Cause 1 wants to make some pennies to buy a ’possum pie; I likes to have a nick or two to buy dose poppjn’ tilings An’ rockets dat gods *‘S-w-o o-s-Ii an’ (lies —and den a top dat sings. An’ Piins-mus Eve I takes a wa!>< nit threw de sto’s 1 .strolls An’ den 1 hangs my stockin’ up, al- dong'll it’s full o’ holes. Perhaps I’so des a tiny coon without a sign o’ soul; Perhaps I won’t git way up dare to hear ’em call do roll: Peril:iivs dero’s luiffiu’ l kin do ’cept sing am’ dance an’ -a «v; ; Perhaps d’ere’s muffin’ I km git ’cept lickin’s es I shirk An’ yit. dcre’s one conelu non dis picu nninny draws: l*s got a soul or snmp'u —’cause Pse got a Sanity Claus*. Brother Dickey's Philosophy. Des erbout de Chris'nrus season is do time ter give good gifts*. De only trouble is, ums’ er us waits for de yuther folks ter give ’uni. l)ey do say dat troubles never comes single. In In '. 1 alius did think dey wuz 'ii de married state. He dat gives ter de po’ leu’s ter de Lawd. But some folks thinks dat de Lawd is too fur oil ter trust. Old Fashion Christmas Dinner. One ol’-fasliioned Chris’mas dinner’s wuth a dozen now-a-days, ThatV delivered by instalments, in the sleek new-fangled ways. Take me back, (> almanac! to the time when sev’ral “courses” Come together in a bunch, an' united all their forces! ’Twas a time when, j’ined together, old an’ young an’ saint an’ sinner Could be found all liratlured round one old-fashioned Chris’mas dinner! 1 Thus said Ahab Adams, merchant, from a stress of thought to free him, To his brother Shubal Adams, who had come from Maine to see him.] Oft I Iliipk that dinner over-how once nurre I'd like to try it! But, yon see, it can’t be managed: all my money wouldn’t buy it. Can’t fetch back the old-time frame work; can’t arrange the proper meetin’; SECTION ONE—Pages I to 8. PRICE E'’ o v% Most of all the folks I’d ask here, long ago has quit their eatin’. First I’d want a slice o’ winter that would fetch out what was in you; Air a slutlf o' glitterin’ blades sharp as if they meant to skin you; Froze-up cloud-boats near the hills, trying’ hard to make a landin’, frees with snow-white blankets on, sleepin’, like the bosses, standin'; Fences peakin’ through the drifts, clear plate-glass across the river— All the chimneys breathin’ steam crawlin’ upward with a shiver; Sun a yellow chunk of ice: failed to fur nish any heatin’, An’ remains for nothin’, ’cept to be present at the meetin’; Critters in the barn sharp-set as they was before you fed ’em; Snow and frost unusual sassy—yell out every time you tread ’em. That would be a val’ble mornin’, wuth the trouble of appr’isin’! {lad that Christinas happened ’round, on a day so appotizin’l ilieii I’d want our Dad on deck—up an* down as last year’s eider — Made us too the mark, you know—but a fust-class good provider. Alien he slung his banner out—“ Come an’ hev a Chris’mas dinner,” ivery one that got the word knowed his stomach was a winner. How they hus’led through the snow!— horses kep’ their bells a-ringin’, {miners creakin’ like a sign—gals a cacklin’ an’ a-singin,: >l’ folks wrapped up double-bulk— baby-bundles half a dozen — Dogs that wouldn't have thanked the dogs of the king to call ’em cousin! So I’d hev 'em come an' come, ere the morning hour was through with: ome in wagon-loads on runners —more than we knowed what to do with! Mother —wouldn’t I liev her there?— would I! —well, somehow or other l hain’t learned .so I kin speak stiddy yet, concernin’ Mother. 1 see times that 1 wohid give half my days of growin’ older, ’or half an hour of her, with her gray head on my shoulder. Thus said Ahab Adams, merchant, proud of his success, with reason, \ud bis good financial prospects grow ing brighter every season.] Vill Carleton in Frank Leslie's Popu lar Monthly for December. Vhen Boys go Home For Christmas. A’hen the boys go home for Christmas won't they have a jolly time! Won't the cabin Hours be sandy, an’ the fiddles sing in rhyme? Yu’ from Billvilie up to Glory won't they all be feelin” prime— When the boys go home for Christmas in the mornin'! Vhen the boys go home for Christinas, don’t you know that they will meet Phe friends they' knew in youth-time, when the world with flowers was sweet? They’ll know the hearts that loved ’em. by the music of their beat When the boys go home for Christmas in the mornin’! When the Isays go home for Christmas, many hearts they loved they’ll miss— Songs that were ever sweeter than a dreamer’s song, like this! Sven hearts that heard their own hearts —and lips they loved to kiss, When the boys go home for Christmas in the mornin’! Vhen the boys go home for Christmas from here and everywhere, Let them leave behind life's lonesome ness—forget the vacant cliiadr; May they see the tranquil! spirit of the Christ who made it there — When the boys go home for Christmas in the moruin’! —F. L. Stanton. A Christinas Greeting. You think of tile dead on Christmas eve, Wherever the dead are sleeping. Ynd we from a land where wo may not grieve. Look tenderly down on your weeping. You think of us far, we are very near. From you and the earth though parted; We sing tonight to console and cheer The hearts of the broken-hearted. Pile earth watches over the lifeless clay Os each of its countless sleepers, Yml the sleepless spirits that passed away Watch over all earth's weepers. We shall meet again in a brighter land. Where farewell is never spoken; We shall clasp each other, hand in lmud Ami the clasp shall not be broken. We shall meet again in a bright, calm clime, Where we'll never know a sadness. And our lives shall be tilled, like a Christ mas chime, With rapture and with gladness. The snow shall pass from our graves away, And you from the earth, remember; And the flowers of a bright, eternal May Shall follow earth’s Decemlber. When you think of us, think not of the tomb Where you laid us down in sorrow; But look aloft, and beyond earth’s gloom, And wait for the great tomorrow. —From Father Ryan’s Christmas Chant. Willie’s Text. .After tivc-ycar-old Willie had gone to bed on Christmas eve, his mother went into the room to set* if he had hung up bis stocking properly for Santa Claus. Much to her surprise she found that the little fellow had appropriated one of hers for the occasion and had attached i slip of paper on which he had printed hi a bold hand one of the Sunday School texts: “ThE Loßd LOvvKtT a CheaßfnLL GiVveß. "—Chicago Daily News,