XIV 



HOLLY AND MISTLETOE 



Most of the American holly on the market 

 comes from Delaware and Maryland. The holly 

 is mostly found growing in shrub form: but in 

 the bottom lands of the South it sometimes be- 

 comes a slender tree, some thirty or forty feet 

 high. The southerners, however, do not see it 

 at its best: for it needs a rich background of 

 snow to be appreciated. English holly has 

 darker, more waxen leaves, and the berries are 

 a deeper scarlet than those borne by our species. 



The association of holly with the season of 

 merry-making and the festivities of Yule-tide 

 dates back far beyond the birth of the Babe at 

 Bethlehem. Heathen peoples all over the 

 Northland used to celebrate the Yule-tide — the 

 wheeling of the sun, in a great sun feast. For 

 to them the winter was a time of great suffering 

 and hardship, and they rejoiced when the sun 

 turned toward them again. He always brought 

 them peace, plenty, and happiness. And they 

 met and rejoiced together and sent sprigs of 

 holly to their absent friends as tokens of their 



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