Y Llan

DECOltATION OF CHURCHES AT CHRISTMAS. 1, BY JOSEPH JACOB. I BISHOP STUDBS, when he was Bishop oi Chester, on one occasion attended a, gar- den party in the Peninsula of Wirral. A reverend brother, who appeared in a par- ticularly gaudy blazer," was rather taken aback when lie spotted the Bishop, and accordingly when they met apolo- 1:1 gised for appearing in it. "All right," said the Bishop looking to the right. and to the left and with that merry twinkle in his eye which was so characteristic of the man, All right, I don't see any Churcn Association people about." Now the Christmas decoration of churches is one o.f those old-as-the-hills customs which all the upset of the Re- formation was powerless to alter. Even the most strait-laced member of the Church Association, no less than his sus- pected brother of the English Church Union, would have felt there was a strange void—a something wt-,itin-g- ,ere he to have entered God's House on the twenty-fifth of December ard found none of these familiar decorations which as long as they can remember have always been associated with the birthday of Christ. There are no end of Church ac- counts still in existence which prove the L universality of the practice in pre-Re- formation days. John Evelyn, whom 1 always look upon as the ideal English squire, wrote two famous books: Sylva 01 a Discourse of Potest Trees-,a work which made possible in future years a Nelson and a Beatty-and-a Diary wherein are recorded many of the customs of his time." ? ? If public worship on Christmas Day was prohibited during the period of the Commonwealth, it is very certain from an addition that Evelyn made to one of the later editions of his Sylvia that im- mediately after the Restoration church decoration at Christmas-time went on just as before. Writing about the holly he says, We still dress up our churohes and houses on Christmas and other fes- tival days with its cheerful green and rubilant berries." That custom never died out, but so far as one can judge it has been the rule in very many churches ever since the days of John Evelyn until we come to compara- tively modern times of Wordsworth, who thus describes a typical church at Christ- mas as being- Green with fr&sh holly; ev'ry new a perch; On which the linnet or the thrush might sing. r The high-backed pews at Whitehall were | taken down about 1870. I have spoken to many old inhabitants who very well remember them, and the barrel organ and the primitive central stove for heating. At the ends of those high-backed -pews holes were bored, and into these holes small branches of holly were stuck every ChrisLmas Eve by the sexton. These can- stituted the whole of the decorations. No doubt many another country was served in the same manner. Then a period came where the scheme was much more elabor- ate, and the choice of evergreen Wcf's no longer limited to the holly ard the ivy, but laurels, auouba, Portugal laurels, cupressus, yew, box and anything of a green nature were introduced. We are still in this era. In Herrick's time (c. 1650) people were very particular about the' greens that were used. The following verses are from his Ceremonies for Candlem,asse Eve— Down with rosemary and bayes, Down with the mistletoe; Instead of holly, now upraise The greener box for show. Then youthful box, which now doth grace, Your houses to renew, Grown old, surrender must his place Unto the crisped yew. The appropriateness of particular ever- greens for particular seasons must have become a sort of second nature to our an- cestors, and for Christmastime it was holly and ivy. How this came about is largely a matter of surmise. One theory connects their use with the practice of the Druids of hanging bunches of holly and similar evergreen around their dwellings for a refuge for the spirits of the wood in the cold, frosty days of winter. Another theory is that it is a relic of the old heathen festival of the Saturnalia, when it was customary to send holly branches with the presents that were usually given at that. season, which happened to be the previous week to 'that of the Christian Christmas. It was a time of great licence. Bacchus and ivy were always connected together, because of the sup- posed power of the plant to lessen the in- toxicating effects of wine. Wreaths of ivy would be worn by those who were having a high old time." Whether this is the real beginning of the Christian custom will probably always remain a mystery' just as the identity of Junius or the Man in the Iron Mask, but the association of holly and ivy with the Saturnalia and their being the two plants with which Christians have from time immemorial I decked out their churches at Christmas- tide is very suggestive. Two more his- torical questions are worthy of mention. First, was the poet Gay correct or incor- rect in what he says in the following lines ?— Christmas, the joyous period of the year, Now with bright holly all the temples strow, And with laurell green and sacred mistletoe. It is usually said this is a mistake, for mistletoe was never used for. decorating. On the other hand, the poet had a wide knowledge of rural life, and there does not appear to be any reason why he should be guilty of a terminological in- exactitude. The second point of interest is the time Christmas decorations should remain up. For a longer time than the oldest inhabitant to whom I have ever spoken, which means from ninety to a hundred years, it has been and still is the custom in Whitewell Church to keep them up to Candlemas Eve. Herrick, tho parson poet of the seventeenth cen- tury, has a good deal to say of what hap- pened on that day— Instead of holly, row up-raise The greener box, for show. It would be of interest if the editor could find room for some reminiscences if readers who have studied the history of everything connected with this subject would tell us more about i.t. We are all interested.

TEIJTH AI^T^rEE Y, M. 0. A -+" PRESENT POSITION. SOME of the legends of the Great War are long time dying. And the legend of the ivusiians in England," (hough more sensa- tional, was less lorg-lived than that of the 11 hug, war profits of the Y.M.C.A. It was persistent among certain officers and men ;n France, who, even when confronted by a balance-sheet, replied with a smile, that they didn't understand fgures" or that these accountant wallahs can always get round it." It is persistent still in the minds of a good many members of the general public. Fortunately the critics of the Association during the war were far outnumbered by its supporters; even so, it is essential that the mind of critic and friend alike should be disabused once and for all of a legerd as unfounded as this. Moreover, it is to be noted at oiice that had the Y.M.C.A. reached the date of the Armistice with any substantial balance in hand on its war operations, it would have regarded it, not as a matter for congratu- lation, but as a sign that by at least so much it had failed to carry out the work for which the public had entrusted it with subscriptions. A Real Crisis. As it is, the Y.M.C.A. is now putting the facts of Its financial position, and the causes which have led up to it, very frankly before the public. The statement reveals a real crisis, and at the same time a real case for public help. Some vital figures may be briefly, stated. At Novem- ber 30, 1918, just after the Armistice, the Y.M.C.A. had a deficiency of liquid assets amounting to 939,389, by May 31 this had increased to some 9425,000, by August 31 to £ 605,000, and by December 31 next it is estimated that the total deficiency will amount to 705,COO. From this it is clear that almost the whole of this debt on war work has been incurred in the year follow- ing the Armistice. The reasons, if not obvious at first sight, have only to be stated to be understood. In the first place the general public assumed, without much further thought, that war work came to an abrupt end on the day the Armistice was signed, they therefore subscribed S:600,000 less to the Y.M.C.A. in the ten months after the Armistice than in the year before. Secondly,, work overseas for our troops rapidly increased before it began to decrease. The Y.M.C.A. was urged to go forward with the Armies of Occupation, and, on its principle- that it does" not hesitate to count the cost when any clear call is made, it opened rearly one hundred centres in Germany, and spread across by Constantinople to Tifas and Batonm and the borders of the Caspian. Thirdly, work overseas became more ex- pensive; distances to be coTered becamf rapidly and vastly greater, and many of the old centres left behind in France were run at a steady loss owing to the re- duction of troops in many areas. At the same time the growing restlessness of the men and the relaxing of fighting discipline made it more than ever essential that a full social programme should be carried on. Fourthly, there were heavy losses on trading stocks; over 9500,000 worth of goods were held up for two months at French bases owing to total lack of trans- port, which was strained to the utmost by the Army's advance; contracts already made could not be cancelled, etc. Free Giits. But not the least of the figures connected with the Association's war work is that for Free Gifts. It reaches a total of £ 841,755—or considerably more than the present deficit. Under this heading is in- cluded over £ 300,000 for free writing paper for the men, over £ 140,000 for pioneering education in the B.E.F., over £ 33,000 spent in caring for relatives visiting seriously wounded men in France, over £ 50,000 to provide tea, a smoke, etc., to' walking wounded coming out of the line. Under these headings are concealed some of the most poignant stories of the war, the real romance of the Red Triangle, the cup of cold water" made priceless by the spirit in which it was given. It is by this spirit alone that the Y.M.C.A. could have risen. as in so many fields it did, to the height of its calling, and it is in this spirit that it looks forward to a great opportunity of national service in the future. In its present embarrassment it comes, therefore, to the public, not ashamed of the past and full of hope for the days to come.

-=: = '-==. :e -=11 i ^erve Failure and as in I — _U "1e!* "ewarkable Successes by the Great Nerve Restorec asse"8 Tablets. Convincing Testimony of the Grateful Cured. II ■ Six Vears Suffering. Ended Cured by Dr. Casseil's Tablets. I. Mr.L. Parry. Mr. Lemuel Parry, Nythfa House, Fennant- road, Ponkey, near Wrexham, says: For, the benefit of humanity I feel I must testify r°nJw cure which Dr. Caswell s Tablets have effected in me. Before I commenced taking them I was paralysed 1 from the waist down, and had been so for six ?ebfd tA 'r? }ime 1 was in bed be lifted m and out of bed just as a child would oe. My legs were quite cold, and there was no feeling in them I could not feel a needle pushed in. "I had advice at various times, but I was considered incurable. At last I decided to try Dr. ^9,sse^s Tablets, and after a time I could mrVfV rnv 1orro o 14-4-4-1« 1 J1 T an<fin the™ StarfUrl grew sponger £ backhand my Ws 5? and m the end was able to go out on crutches. Now I can go about with a walking-stick, but still take the crutches if going veiv far AU whn are astonished at my cure." AU who know me TT i t I Weak"and Wasted Baby Made Strong and Well by Dr. Cassell's Tablets. Mrs. Burgess, 41, Phythian St., St. Helens, says —"My little Edith was born with a peculiar swelling at the bottom of her -back and had to have an operation. After tht she was always weak and puny and seemed. to get thinner every day. She did not eat well but just lay about, a frail little thing with no spirit in her. At two years old she only weighed 21 pounds, and hadn't even begun to walk. I tried everything I could think of, and had good medical advice for poor little Edie, but it was no use. She just wasted away to a little skeleton, and what flesh there was on her poor little bones was quite soft and flabby. Then a friend advised me to give her Dr. Cassell's Tablets. I did, I Baby Burgess. and it was really astonishing how they helped her. She picked up wonderfully and quite soon was eating better than ever she had done. Then she began to put on flesh and become quite active. Now; she is running about ever so well and strong. I had her weighed not long ago-she is just 4 years and 9 months now—and she turned the scale at three stone." tt of living nerve force were repl^lsh^^in^l^S^T^ho^Z^ Cassell's building up new strength and vitality till tU reservoirs- V' v symptoms,they overcome the actual cause of nerve iailurp hv mm ^-e^ became again vitally strong. Dr. Casseil's Tablets do not merely relieve v •• uai cause of nerve failure by nounshmg the nerve cenires, and so bring about cures which seem almost likemiracles; Dr. Casseil's Tablets ,¡. HOME PRICES. -md 3s, (the 38, size being the more economical). Sold by Chemists in all parts of the world. Ask always for Dr. Casseil's Tablets and refuse substitutes. ;{4¡:"i 'Dr. Cassell's Tablets are the recognised home remedy for Nervous BreaL-flown Neurasthenia Indigestion Palpitation SDinal WpAtniL • Sleeplessness Stomach Disorder Nervous Debility ■ KenriL Malnutrition Vital Exhaustion Neuritis Kidney Trouble Wasting Diseases Brain Fag Specially valuable for Nursing Mothers and during- the Critical Periods of life. FREE iNFSSMATIOti as to the suitability of Dr. Cassell's Tablets in your case sent on request. Dr. Cassell's Co., Ltd., Chester Road, Manchester, Eng. 7 I