CHRISTMAS TREES. 



FRED. A. WATT. 



OUR Christmas tree is a relic of 

 the old heathen times and came 

 down to us as a part of the 

 Yule festival. It seems to have 

 originated in Germany and can be 

 traced back as far as the year 1604 with 

 certainty, and as it was an established 

 custom at that time it is evidently much 

 older. 



How the early man conceived the 

 idea is open to dispute, but in my opin- 

 ion it is due to an old superstition 

 which has some believers even to this 

 day. It is said that any maid who is 

 not kissed under the Mistletoe at 

 Christmas will not be married during 

 the year following. I have no doubt 

 that the anxiety of the young ladies to 

 be always found under the Mistletoe 

 on that day has led to the profuse green 

 decorations, from which it is only a 

 step to the Christmas tree. 



It was introduced into the Court of 

 St. James in 1840 by Prince Consort 

 Albert of Saxe-Cobourg, and the cus- 

 tom spread rapidly through the aristo- 

 cratic families of London and was 

 almost immediately adopted by all 

 classes throughout England. 



It was introduced into the court at 

 Paris in 1830 by the Duchess of Orleans 

 and is now a French custom. 



It seems, however, that in our own 

 country it has taken deepest root. 

 Here, by reason of the democratic na- 

 ture of the people, it may be said to be 

 distinctively American, as the German 

 who first introduced it undoubtedly 

 becamean Americancitizen longagoand 

 his successors are probably numbered 

 among our best citizens even to the 

 present time. Our people of all na- 

 tionalities have adopted it and we find 

 it installed in our churches, our family 

 gatherings, our schools, and private 

 clubs. Our nineteenth century inventor 

 has even tried to change it into an af- 

 fair of cast iron, througli whose hollow 

 trunk and branches gas pipes ate con- 

 ducted and gas jets among the branches 

 take the place of candles. One of the 

 results of all this is that the demand 

 for Christmas trees and Christmas 



greens has grown to enormous propor- 

 tions in our larger cities and furnishes 

 employment during the latter part of 

 September and through November and 

 December to a number of people who 

 make a business of gathering the gay 

 green branches and transporting them 

 to market. 



While traveling through the southern 

 part of Maine a few years ago, I was 

 struck by the symmetry and beauty of a 

 tract of Evergreen Trees and remarked 

 that they would make good Christmas 

 trees. I afterward found that such was 

 likely to be their fate, as men who make 

 a business of "clam-whopping" and 

 fishing during the summer months 

 turned their attention during the fallto 

 the business of gathering these trees 

 and shipping them to New York, Phila- 

 delphia, and Boston. 



In looking the subject up to deter- 

 mine what became of all these Trees I 

 found an industry which I had not 

 dreamed of. I find that the Christmas 

 greens for New York City were first 

 shippedfrom Keyport, N. J. Thatasthe 

 demand for them assumed larger propor- 

 tions the raw material was exhausted in 

 that neighborhood, but the inhabitants 

 having become interested in the busi- 

 ness, and finding it a source of profit, 

 have continued to advance into the 

 surrounding country, little by little, un- 

 til now they are gathering Spruce from 

 Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, 

 Princess Pine from Vermont, White 

 Pine from Michigan and even Wiscon- 

 sin, Laurel and Holly from the South, 

 and in fact they can now gather only 

 Balsam on the home grounds in paying 

 quantities. 



In addition to the above-named ever- 

 greens, quantities of Ground Pine, Cape 

 Flowers, Fir, Hemlock, the plants of 

 the Club Mosses, berried Black Alder, 

 Quill Weed, and Mistletoe are sought 

 out and gathered wherever found and 

 shipped — the Christmas trees to New 

 York where they lie piled up by thou- 

 sands along West street facing the dock 

 lines, for several weeks before the holi- 

 days, and the other greens to Keyport 



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