Show the mistletoe Bar harpers pers meekly the legend of the mistletoe is an inheritance from the religion odthe of the druies the cathedral arches under which the celts belts worshiped I 1 wei were re the spreading braD branches CheS of the oak the roof a dense foliage of greenery and the mistletoe the mystical parasite of the tree was a symbol lull full of meaning for it was believed to renew its life by some agency differing from that which propagated all other plants and to exist by a devine power here under the oak the favorite tree of the celtic sun god at the period of the winter solstice priests and people sacrificed while white bulls and human victims the mistletoe was gathered and dispensed in small sprays to be hung bung by the worell worshipers i pers over their doors as amulets against evil and propitiation to the sylvan deities the scandinavian legend of the mistletoe which tells the story how loki the god of 6 fire re made the mistletoe the agent of the death of balder most glorious of children is id familiar to all students etu denta of norse sag bagas the mistletoe letoe continue 3 to bo be specially specialty cultivated in england for the gale sale which is always large at christmas tide but the apple tree has taken the place of the oak as the soil boil on which the plant feeds feed the int in t generously the kis ki diesing s ng privilege connected with the mistletoe during the days of yule ia is probably tho the most familiar relic of ita its traditions both the tile yule fire and the mistletoe letoe were of old believed to have special virtue virtu e as safeguards against the powers of W 1 I 1 yet hen they became tho roughly embodied ill in the christian legend it waa was not SO mue much 11 thia this altheir suga suggestion estion of the divine power which at christmas kept the prince of Dark neta and his satellites in abject sub that gave them thein their value all readers of shakespeare Shaka speare will remember the legend and its association with the crowing of the cick as put in tho the mouth of marcellus in hamlet it faded on the crowin crowing of the cock borne some may ay that ever gal iut that deou c cornea ato Wb rtin our 6 vilua vi oure oua birth Is celebrated the bird of all night light long and iben then they bay say epert cua can walk abroad the night a then no planet planets strike no fabry takes not witch hath power to charm so go hallowed and to 0 o gracious grac iou li Is the time |