Show ki easter ster in the t e nation N t is Q A FA 5 ak z M cm 31 JL ra 14 W M P V A 3 by ELMO SCOTT WATSON raster easter Is celebrated in var various ous forms all over 01 er the united states there Is no oth er city which lias has a more interesting variety of observances than the nations capital washington D 0 As As in other places there are special church services on easter morning its broad streets and avenues witness the annual fashion parade when everybody er dons ills his or her new attire and the familiar easter symbols oi of 11 lilies lies eggs eggs and rabbits are much in evidence everywhere washington Is a city strong in tradition one of the lie most interesting intel estling of t these hese and one which makes the observance of easter there unique its Is the an annual in ual easter egg rolling roiling on the spacious epa clous lawns of the white house on easter monday thousands of children gather at no agoo pennsylvania avenue that Is the white house street number and swarm over the grounds secure in the knowl dege that keep off on the grass and kindred ad munitions monitions ions lons are null and void for that day dressed in their best clothes and carrying with them their cherished bur burdene derin of tinted easter eggs the youngsters are the welcome guests of the president dent and the first lady of the land who give as much thought and energy to arranging tor for this event as they do for any greit great state dinner held in t the lie stately rooms of the white house there the children enjoy some happy hours rolling theli easter eggs while their elders tool took on enviously for this is strictly a childrens party and no adults are allowed on the grounds unless they are accompanying a child but it Is a familiar sight to see ee some grownup grovv asking a youngster joung ster to take me in and for once the i young oung may say fray to the old yes ies you toll may go or no you vou cant go instead of the old saying that to the young but the grownups are not entirely shut out cut of the white house faster easter festivities for on one day dav of easter week the executive offices of the white house are thrown open to easter week visitors in washington and the president sh shakes akes hands with the long line of people usually numbering from two to three thousand which pass through his office to greet the chief executive of the nation easter baster sunrise services have become a fa millar custom in many parts of the country and soma some of them staged on mountain tops are curious reversions vers tons to accent ceremonies of communing with nature in recognition of the rebirth of all life in tile the springtime one of the most interesting of these services Is one held in washing ton on the morning of easter sunday a ceremony in which there Is a touch of pathos amid tile spirit of rejoicing in the promise of rebirth which such a service symbolized this is the service held at the walter reed heed hospital the home of hundreds of men whose bodies and minds were broken in the world war A feature of this service Is the forming of a great human cross on the lawn by the orderlies and nurses in their hilr white uniforms another easter sunrise service sen ice in washington which Js Is unique Is described bed by joyce macarthur Aln eArthur lu ili the washington star as follows T this aits easter sunday good pilgrims tre are ascending the slopes of mount st sepulchre in hi brookland Bro oLland to join the franciscan fathers in annual ceremonies commemorating the last triumphal entry of jesus into jeru jera 0 o 1 1 y 1 president and mrs hoover wave a greeting to the thousands of children who gather on an the lawn of the white house on easter monday for the annual easter egg rolling 2 A part of the crowd which annually throngs the white house grounds to roll their gayly colored easter eggs as the guests of the president and the first lady of the land the washington monument and the beautiful fountain on the south lawn of the executive mansion can be seen in the background 3 the easter sunrise service at the walter reed hospital which is 13 attended by disabled world war veterans nurses and orderlies at the hospital form the great human cross 4 mrs coolidge while she was first lady of the land visiting one of the washington greenhouses to select her easter lilies salem and in honor of the sepulcher sepu leher and as the pilgrims come upon the arched sate gate they stand worshipfully before these words graven in stone Ho stinna to the son of david I 1 blessed Is ile he that corneth in the name of the lord this Is the hollest holiest day of the holy week begun with palm sunday the franciscans have observed impressive ceremonies will which ell lack fack nothing save sae historic setting to make them conform with devotions at the saviors tomb in jerusalem pealing chimes proclaim the triumphant um pliant resurrection the great sorrow Is past and the faith of ills his followers Is verified with a resounding alleluia I 1 in the universal anthem of joy elaborate easter ceremonies are observed by many churches and faiths but nose none so exacting as those in memorial church of the holy land on mount st sepulchre re on palm sunday the brothers brot liers distributed tri buted palms to the faithful recalling thereby tho the manner in n which the people greeted christ as ile he passed into the city they invoked divine protection by surrounding the blessing of the brandies branches with all the impressive ritual ordained by tile the ch church after which the pilgrims preceded by friars of tile the community knelt before the celebrating priest to receive tile the blessed palm this writer then tells of the ceremonies and processions professions process ions on holy thursday on good friday und and on holy saturday all leading up to tile the climax of the observance on easter sunday alie events of that day he describes as follows and now easter sunday morning I 1 the holy crusaders crus adeis that this morning the roads loads to mount st sepulcher will be thron thronged ged by the faithful hosts come to the monastery for the great pascal day da and today his children 1 will l be mindful of the words of the mass of tills this festival 1 I ant am risen and ani am yet vet with thee alleluia ill this morning the first holy mass wl will 11 be chanted in the sepulcher and the holy communion distributed to the pilgrims who conic come to the mount for eastertide A and n d in the name of holi friers the ce celebrant brant of this mass will extend easter greetings to all present as well ft ell as to their friends to all near and far whoever is unable to attend the auspicious elous ceremonies all da day y the illg grinis will toll up the slopes elopes of the mount and the stream will not cease until the hour a appointed for the compline service sen ice every place will be filled and the celebrant will say from froin distant places and neighboring towns our guests have conic come like the holy wom v omen of scripture to see tha th a place where tile the lord loid was laid when eventide veils ells the surrounding low hills blessed calm calin will descend upon the cloistered grounds and front the stillness in those walls the falth faithful ful divine truth will reach every pilgrims ear we know k n ow christ to have truly risen do thou victorious L ing ling have hae mercy on us all alleluia band and thus the friars attending him at the sanctuary on mount st se ire re in washington ington bring tile the spirit of eastertide to pilgrims wor or slipping at the services find and other people in the cit city who are unable to come one must go to tile the land or rome home to see a ceremony conducted in this elaborate and deeply devout fashion but observing easter in some unique fashion is riot not tile the only reason why the connection of our national capital with this annual event is of special interest to the rest of the country there is another reason and that Is because one of the federal departments located there Is doing a work which concerns easter observances throughout the nation time was when we had to depend upon bermuda for our supply of eadi easter lilies then the stock became diseased and the united states had to turn to japan for its supply of illy bulbs from which grew the glorious white blossoms which are the truest symbol of easter that we ve have in recent years 5 ears however the united states department of agriculture has taken steps toward the building up of an easter illy industry in this country and considerable progress Is reported from washington it Is true tant many of our lilies are now being grown from froin bulbs imported from both bermuda and japan but experts in the department of agriculture believe that the time may come when we will be entire Ir independent of those sources of supply some of the most important work in reg regard gard to developing american grown easter lilies has been carried on by bj dr david griffiths horticulturist in tile the department of agriculture for a long time american florists believed that lili illy bulbs could not be produced here for one thin tiling they feared that the long period required in their production would cause them to be infected with disease and entail heavy financial losses also florists were skeptical of the desirability of using bulbs year after year due to their unhappy experience with als ease case in imported stock it was doctor griftiths belief that the bulbs could be made to flower more enore than once rind and lie he collected some discarded otes ones from the dump pile of a washington florist these lie planted in beds at the arlington va experimental peri mental farm and eventually demonstrated that by the use of careful cultural methods the bulbs not only could be made to flower again but that the lilies could be grown outdoors in climates hitherto believed entirely to toe cold and harsh for their survival 10 Q by new baier union |