"Light And Shade."

heard just outside the house the voices of the carol singers . It was a very calm night , and one of the voices , that of a youth , was so fresh and delightfiilly musical that she quickly arose and hastened to the window , thc better to hear the melody . The snow lay thick on the roofs and balconies of the houses , and as the sheen of the moon caught the frosty particles they glittered like brilliants . Thc carol singers , or waits as they arc more familiarly called , are not generally favoured with very good vocal organs , nor are they characterised for the artistic execution of harmony , but those songsters that Mrs . Tracey listened to on that memorable night were naturally gifted and exceptionally clever .

lorgctting for the moment that her husband bad manifested signs of wearimM .-i before retiring to rest , and that it was . under those circumstances , unwise to disturb him , she approached thc bedside and said , "Albeit , my dear , awake and listen to the carol singers . Htwk ' . Is not that a lovely alto voice ? " Xo reply was given , although she had spoken loudly and had gently touched thc sleeping man . Alarmed at his silence aud being without a light , she went to the casement and raising thc blind allowed thc moonbeams to shine full on his face . He lav

"Light And Shade."

motionless , aud his cleanly cut features , as the luminous rays streamed upon them , were marble like in their statuesque composure . " Albert , my husband , arc yon ill ? Oh , speak to mc , " she cried . Then frantically approaching his side , she placed her trembling hand on his face . It was cold , oh , so cold . He reclined as if peacefully reposing , but , alas , it was the sleep that knows no awakening . The " vital spark of heavenly flame had flown . "

u . 1 i ml ... 1 . , .. 1 ... ,. . i ' . i L' 1 . i-r „ i- ' . . „ I I * . il . „ J _„ l . . . ,-j-He was dead . The bright light of his life was for ever plunged in the dark shade of thc unknown world . A terrible agonising scream issued from the lips of the bereaved woman , no welcome tears came to relieve her terrible anguish , her poorbrain reeled and she swooned away . At that solemn instant in the still night air thc clear dulcet notes of tho carol singers rose aud fell in mournful cadence as they unknowingly , vet appropriately , sung thc dead man ' s requiem :

' His brow was calm , no change was there , No sigh had lill'd his breath ; Oh ! did he wear that smile so fair In slumber or in death ?"

Christmas.

Christmas .

IIOSK who remember thc "Old Drury" pantomimes of twenty-live to thirty years ago , will recall the cherry greeting of the favourite clown Matthews , whose gibes anil flashes of merriment often set the whole audience , old and young , in a roar of inextinguishable laughter . Each succeeding year Matthews , on first entering , in his suit of motley , exclaimed : '' Here wo are again ; how do you do to-morrow ? " Alas ! How many to-morrows have gone by since ""*¦ " then ! Thc bright lively boy of those days is now the sedate middle-aged father of a family ; and no one would , for a moment ,

suspect the now comely matronly form to be a development of the little giggling damsel , whose happy face put every one that looked at her in u good temper , aud caused them to forget the frost on their " pons" and the rheumatiz in their joints . Ah , the years roll by more quickly than they did then . As Campbell sings in his " Hivcr of Life : "

" The more we live , more briet appear Our life ' s succeeding stages : A day to childhood seems u year , And years like passing ages . " But as tho careworn check grows wan , And sorrow ' s shafts Hy thicker ; Ye stars that measure life to man ,

Why seem your courses quicker Y " Yes , here we are again . Christmas is again with us . To young and old alike , thc present season , with its glad surcease from toil , makes a pleasant break in the long , dull monotony of winter . Tho Anglo-Saxon race , more than any other , has made the most of Christmas . In truly characteristic fashion , it is made n time of feasting . The old title , Yule , is lineally descended from the liothic Jul

or Jol , which signifies a " sumptions feast . " Even now , Jul or Jool is the name by which thc festival is known in Scandinavian countries , Denmark , Norway , and the numberless islands that stud the Baltic and adjacent seas . Thence , attracted by the more genial climate unci fertile lands , came the piratical hordes wo arc proud to call our forefathers . They soon nmdo their foothold firm , and

with them they brought many of their ancient customs that were to become the groundwork of the religion and laws of their new home . They were huge eaters and drinkers , as well as great lighting men ; but , in their rough way , they possessed two virtues of the Teuton—they were reverent to the gods , and tender with their women and children .

Their gods , like tho gods of nil early nations , were largely created in their own image . Valhalla was an ideal and exaggerated picture of a Norse hall of tho heroes . Tho gods loved and fought , like their subjects , clown on earth , and had , indeed , for the most part , sprung from the earth themselves . Later on , when tho wise teachers of Christianity converted this rough material , they welded some of the old ways into the now faith . Some of the Christmas customs have

come down from this heathen source . Hone , in his " Kvery Day Book , " mentions that at a Christmas party a discussion arose with respect to what was the great point and crowning glory of the season . -Many were for mince pie , others for the noble sirloin and plum pudding , others again for the wassail bowl ; but when a demure maiden lady , who had not yet spoken , was asked , she meekly repliedthc mistletoe . Now , " a most interesting legend comes down to us from the

Christmas.

Northern mythology respecting this venerated shrub . How it became conuected with the agreeable and popular custom culled kissing is not abuudantly clear , but it was probably on tho principle that any excuse is better than none . To gentlemen of a Pickwickian turn of mind , it may be added to the list comprising the origin of tho Hampstead ponds , and other cognate legitimate objects of enquiry . But thc legend runs that Baldur , the Apollo of the Scandinavian

mythology , the most beautiful of the gods of Asgard , the Northern Olympus , was invulnerable to all things except one . An old prophecy foretold that he was to die by the hand of Hodur , but there still remained a hope of restoration . His mother , Frigga , summoned before her the spirits of all things , and exacted an oath from fire and water , from all metals , as well as from stones , diseases , birds , beasts , poisons , and all creeping things , that none of them would do harm to Baldur ; only one little white-berried shrub , was on account of its apparent

insignificance , neglected . But we all know what mighty things from little causes befall . Loki , thc Scandinavian god of evil , was also a handsome god in form and feature , but his thoughts were not comely . He was jealous of Baldur . And Baldur was not only beautiful , but ho was an exceedingly obliging young divinity . His talent of invulnerability made him quite an acquisition in Asgard . Now these Northern gods were much addicted to rough sports , as befitting tho gods of a warlike and hardy people .

Baldur , as it did him no harm , allowed them , when they were at their military sports , to make use of himself as a sort of target . When Loki looked on and saw his fellow gods besporting themselves—some throwing darts and launching arrows at Baldur , some hacking him with swords and battle-axes—his heart was filled'with envy . He did not see why Baldur should have all the houour to himself . He therefore made a diligent search for something that would hurt Baldur . Having treacherously found out about thc mistletoe , he repaired to the eastern side of Valhalla , and , having furnished himself with it , lie returned .

The gods were still at their old games . He then induced Hodur , who was blind , to throw the twig at Baldur , he guiding his hand . It pierced the Ucu . utifu . 1 god through the eye and through tho brain , aud he fell dead . All the Acsir , or gods , were struck speechless with horror . They were only restrained by tho sacredness of the place from executing summary vengeance on the cruel Loki . Ho was , however , ultimately thrown into it eiivern ileop in the bowels of the earth , and when earthquakes rumble in thc subterranean depths , it is Loki struggling to get free .

Tho mistletoe became henceforth the symbol of Love and Protection . It was revered by tho Druids , in thc older worship of the Celts ; and Pliny , the Roman naturalist , describes how they cut it only from tho oak trees , whore it is extremely rare . They used a golden sickle to cut it , and sacrificed two white oxen to the god it for the time represented . The shrub is for the most part gathered from apple and pear trees ; limes , poplars , and other trees are also its

favourite hiilnfufs . It is named from the fact that the missel , or mistle thrush , is fond of its berries , aud in eating them , the seed , to which viscous matter adheres , sticks to tho bill of the bird , which , to free , itself , rubs it on the bark of the tree ; hence it is propagated . Jesse , in his " Country Life , " speaks of the harm this parasitical shrub does to the trees , referring to " the dead and decaying branches , which the mistletoe has deprived of their nsnal nourishment . " Ho gives u list of nearly forty trees on which it grows . Shakespeare says : —

" A barren and detested vale you see it is : Tho trees , though summer , yet forlorn and lean , O ' ercomc with moss , and baneful mistletoe . " That the use of thc baneful shrub is by no means diminishing may be gauged from the fact that hundreds of tons of it are importel into England at Christmas

time chiefly irom Nonnwdy . IhousmU ot pjuuds are paid for it . It is computed that the county of Heivfor . Uhiro mwU In th'j weak preceding Christmas a hundred tons or more to London and other large towns . From Labrador t > Japan , from the Hebrides to the islands under the Southern Cross , those shrubs are the objects of veneration to the Anglo-Saxon . O . ir Tiunsatlautic brethren are equally infected with visciinania . We have little space lo

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FEEDING THE DESERVING POOR . Will the Readers of the FREEMASON help the Committee of FIELD LANE REFUGES AND RAGGED SCHOOLS , YINE STREET , CLERKENWELL ROAD , To provide a DINNER on CHRISTMAS DAY for 700 of the Destitute , and for some 700 Poor Families in this neighbourhood . FUNDS ARE ~ URGE ¥ TLY NEEDED . Treasurer : WILFRID A . BEVAN , Esq ., 54 , Lombard Street , E . C ; Bankers : Messrs . BARCLAY , BEVAN & Co ., 54 , Lombard Street , E . C , Secretary : Mr . PEREGRINE PIATT , Field Laue Institution , Vine Street , Clerkenwell Road , E . C .