PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 
18$ 
fifty feet from the ground, a magnificent bunch of Mistletoe, 
that must be the growth of years. Having thus obtained our own 
Mistletoe on the oak, it may be a justification to mention some 
of the early associations that cling around the plant. The 
history of the Mistletoe goes back to Pagan times, and is men- 
tioned by the Romans at the beginning of the Christian era. 
But it is amongst the people of Northern Europe that its mystic 
characters were so prominent. In England, long before the 
coming of the Romans, the Mistletoe was the sacred plant of the 
people, and was held in the greatest reverence by them in con- 
junction with the Druids, who were their Priests or " medicine 
men," to use the title given to the religious leaders of more 
recent savage tribes. The Druids, we are told, worshipped in 
groves of oaks, and, considering the rarity of the Mistletoe, we 
must assume that when they knew of a wood wherein it grew 
on an oak they looked upon it as a sacred spot, in the same way 
perhaps as we regard our Cathedrals as the centre of religious 
life. They marched with great solemnity into such a wood at 
mid-summer and mid-winter, dressed in white garments and fol- 
lowed by a choir of chanting voices to collect the Mistletoe from 
the oak. The Arch-Druid himself mounted the tree, and, with 
a knife of pure gold, cut off a bough and dropped it into a white 
cloth held up to prevent the " heaven descended " plant coming 
in contact with the earth. 
After numerous rites and feastings the sacred emblem was dis- 
tributed and kept as a charm against sickness and evil spirits. 
Modern research into the primitive worship of the nations of 
Europe has shown that the people considered the spirit or soul 
of a tree so far helped in its growth that the shedding of the leaves 
in autumn was a sign of death, and the putting forth of a fresh 
crop of leaves in the following spring was a coming to life again 
of the spirit of the tree. A Mistletoe bough, flourishing with its 
green leaves and glossy white berries amidst the bare branches 
of the oak, appeared to these superstitious people as the visible 
sign of the immortal part of the tree, which protected its life 
through the apparent death of winter. Thus the ever-green 
Mistletoe became an object of special reverence, and was wor- 
shipped as the very soul of the whole forest. 
There is nothing fantastic in this idea of the external soul, 
because on many of the painted frescoes, brasses, and monu- 
ments that are left in our churches it is not uncommon to see a 
representation of the soul of the departed being carried by angels 
to Heaven in the guise of a little figure in human form. In this 
manner the oak, with its strange-looking companion, appealed 
to the minds of the nations, and when Christmas-tide became a 
religious festival to the English people after their conversion 
from Paganism, the Mistletoe continued to be a decoration for 
their joyous sports, although banished from their churches as 
being something irreligious and pertaining to cruel rites and 
sacrifices. 
