EASTER LILIE& liy Easter-lilies, pure and fair and sweet, I know that bidden in your hearts of gold Still lies the secret you each year re peat— An oft-told story that can ne'er grow old— Of birds that sing, Of bells that ring, As o'er the earth now steals the Spring. ( know not why It is, but.pvery year The story seems more wondrous strange and new; I bend above my lily-buds to hear Them whisper softly what I know Is true; — , That Winter's past; That Spring comes fast; That life and Joy are here at last! The story that the Easter-lilies tell Brings light and peace to the whole world to-day; And hearts bowed down by grief and sadness swell II suugs of praise, and even doubt ers pray. l.len can be brave. For, strong to save, Our King has triumphed o'er the grave! Alng out, O lily-bells! Gone is all gloom! All nature sings at this glad Easter tide. (Ve see no more the shadow of the tomb; To us the pearly gates swing open wide! Past Is the pain; Death is in vain; He who was dead now lives again! " Hoke Day." A custom that has existed for sev eral centuries is still maintained in some towns on the Lower Rhine. On Easter Monday the Town Crier calls All the young people together, and to the highest bidder sells the privilege of dancing with a chosen girl, and her only, during the entire year that fol lows. The fees flow into the public poor-box. In many country districts of England the second day after Eas ter is known as Hoke Day, and is no ticeable for a curious custom which existed in some villages until compar atively recently, and was certainly practiced as far back as the thirteenth jentury. This practice, known as hoking or hocking, consisted In lift ing a person oft the ground. It was usual for the men to lift the women on the Monday, and the women to re turn the compliment on the following day. San Dunce on Eaater Morn. There were formerly numerous rites and ceremonies connected with Easter eve, which was sometimes called Holy Saturday, but these have nearly all passed away. In some parts of Ire land, however, the finishing of Lent is still celebrated by a huge feast. At midnight the air is filled with the cry "Out with the' Lenc."Then there are feasting and merrymaking for a cou ple of hours, and the people retire to bed in order to rise early and see the sun dance on Easter morning, this be ing a common superstition among the Irish peasantry. This Is a very an cient belief, a poet of the Elizabethan period writing: "And, oh! she dances such a way No sun upon an Easter Day Is half so fine a Jlght!" Kantertlde. Tell the Joyful tidings: Christ the Lord is risen. Garden chamber, rock hewn, Could not be His prison— But a quiet dwelling Where He, sleeping, lay Waiting for the dawning Of the Easier Day. HISTORY OF EASTER. , FcaCaio of Fcatlial and Vv lint II Rrlngra to All. Of al) the festivals celebrated by the i Christian Church none'is more JoyfaJ ' Kan that commemorating the resur ection of the Son of Man, Easter! That means light out of darkness; ivilization over barbarism. It is sig lificant of the triumph of humanity, if the new world of brighter sunshine nd happier lives, which began upon he message and meaning of the first faster morning, sweeping away the ild world—the world of Pagan gods, 112 darkness, of hopeless sin. Above ill it means Christ; the resurrection nd the life. The history of the observance of faster is in a measure the history of '.he Church. Among the early Christians the res irrectlon was an Idea for which men ind women gave up their bodies, but he sanctity of special places or sea sons was wholly alien to their lives ind methods of thought. In the wrlt ngs of the New Testament or of the Vpostolic fathers there is to be found 10 trace of the celebration of Easter is a Christian festival. Early in the second century the observance of the seriod began among the Christians, lhe diversity of usage between the Jewish Christians and the Gentile Christians was gradually brought to in end by the Church of Rome, and the point was finally settled at the Council of Nice in 325. Discrepancies in the time of observ ing Easter existed, however, until the eighth century. During the latter part of the fourth century the churches of Gaul kept Easter on March 21, those of Italy four weeks later, on April 18, while those of Egypt did not celebrate the festival until April 25. tn the ancient church the celebration of Easter lasted eight days. After the eleventh century, however, it was lim ited to three days and afterward to two. The origin of the Easter egg, one of the most delightful of the customs of the season, is of great antiquity. It is supposed to typify the bursting of the spring into life. A peculiar custom, for many years in vogue in certain rural districts of Scotland, was that of seeking the eggs of wild fowl on Eastern morning. Success in the search was a good omen. Spring is bursting into life. There Is an added blueness to the ether; a greener tint to the grass. The cold earth is thawing under the hot glare of the midday sun. And this is another of the numberless meanings of the Eastertide. Easter is the Resurrection; and the Resurrec tion is life. And she who above all others is guilty of Easter bonnets is Dame Nature. The mountain freshets, far from the throngs of men, are breaking forth. The early flowers are raising their heads. The branches of the trees are taking on a tint of fresh ness and vigor. The poetry of Easter: "Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my father's house there are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. 1 goto prepare a place for you." From the mystery of the Crucifixion and the Resurrection the greatest painters and musicians of all times have drawn their loftiest Inspirations. Blot out from art and music all per taining to the divine significance of the Eastertide and the highest works of human genius will be lost to the world. Easter is music. But in the solemn chants of the earlier centuries ihere was something Incongruous. The strains which Issued from with in the gray cold walls of the monas tery to greet the world, and to rouse It to thoughts of the Resurrection were at best ill-fitting. They loved well and worshiped well, no doubt those early zealots. But men behind graj walls cannot well know the real slgnl ficance of the Eastertide. For it is e message of great joy. See, the chains of death are broken Earth below and Heaven above, Joy in each amazing token Of his rising. Lord of love. A Pointed Question. Dolly—l have a changeable silk dress to wear on Easter Sunday. Polly—Why, ain't your other dressep changeable? Ancient Ensllali Obaervancea. Some of the most curious English observances connected with Eastertide are those relating to the old tenures by which certain landed property Is held throughout the country. Thus for many years the Manor of Hallator., in Leicestershire, fas distinguished by a singular and whimsical custom. A piece of land was bequeathed to the use of the rector for the time being, who la return was enjoined to provide "two bare pies, a quantity of ale, and two dozen of penny loaves, to be scrambled for on Easter Monday an nually." The custom IF. still continued but Instead of hare thi reator provides two largo pies made of veal and ba con April girl wiLh April eyes, Gleaming with a sliy surpriso, We r.ssert When you pass us laughing by, ! Since you smile and since you sigh, You're a Uirtl Lady herald of the spring, Buds and bees and birds you bring, », Promise, 100, Of the shining .summer hours; April girl of sun and showers, Hail to youl OSTARA, GODDESS OF EASTER. She Has Given Her Niinle to One of the Oreateiit l-Lveut* in t lie Christian Year. Ostara, the Goddess of Easier and of Spring, is one of the most attractive personages in German mythology, which is also the mythology of what we are in the habit of calling the An glo-Saxon race. This heathen goddess has given her name to one of the greatest events In the Christian year. The name is a form of the modern German "Ostern" and of the English "Easter." The early Church found it wise to adapt to Chris tian purposes many institutions and customs of a pagan nature which had become established in the affections of ) TfiE licwnr.N GODDESS. the people. So the observances which in heathen times honored the advent of Ostara, the Goddess of Spring, sur vive to a certain extent in the Chris tian celebration of the Resurrection. I Apart from the religious services, however, those observances with which the heathen Teutons honored Ostara still linger in their primitive form in many parts of Germany and pessibly of England. In New York and other centres of Anglo-Saxon civ ilization they have assumed a more complex character. The German rustic's feasting at Easter time, according to a German mythologist, repiesents the ancient sacrifice to the goddess. That sacri fice is offered by the urban American in the form of flno raiment and a bon net, which his wife wears. When he has to pay the bill for these things he may console himself by remembering ' that he is helping to perpetuate an ob | servance of primeval ant.quity. New clothe 3, however, are not ap propriate for woman alone at Easter time. Man also at this season begins to notice that his winter garments are shabby and, if he can afford it, replac- I es them in honor of Cstara. i Cstara is represented in mythologi cal art as a dazzling maiden, simply but beautifully clad. She is surrounded by winged babies, birds, flowers, rab bits and other things emblematical of Easter and the springtime. The sun, it is reported, used to take three jumps for joy at the appearance of Ostara on Easter Day. Easter eggs are supposed to be laid by no common hens, but by Easter hens. The goddess Ostara was espe cially favorable to hens, which are us ually to be seen with many eggs in her pictures. Easter eggs should be red, because red was the favorite color of the Thunder God, and the first thunder storm of Spring was sacied to Ostara. | The Easter fire which German peas ants make is the funeral pyre of the Winter God. Into it they sometimes , throw a BtulTed figure containing snow ! shovels and sleds. Thnt once retre- fJ CATHARTIC CURE CONSTIPATION 25c 50c DRUGGISTS '""trn bat hjiro eoM Cirwt ta slio COD . JT. BamrßaneM. rrl«,|W,«. jW>"-' Sradl for law, ft* fUhrtrMlaa. tm|»,-n>. A) cooil aj call* for S.O. ClU.lo.ao of ail our fljrloi, ahadi, aprou uua icuier*, s&>. AacoaJajavUtiarfdOL ELKHART ftWBIMM UO IHBUM too. CO. XV. a. fur, ■*•>, " gaiani., pm are tho seat or the starting point' tf ! many maladies, all of them serious, j all taore or less painful, and all of them tendihg, unless cured, to a fatal end. No organs of the body are more delicatt or more sensitive than the kidneys. When symp toms of disease appear in them net a moment is to be lost if health i3 to bo restored. Tho best way to treat the kidneys is through the blood, cleansing it from the poison ous matter which is usually at the ; bottom of kidney complaints. For this purpose there is no remedy equal to : Ssrsspsrllli "For many years I have been a constant sufferer from kiJney trouble, ami have tried a number of largely advertise 1 kidney cures without benefit. At last a friend r.d \ued me to try Ayer's Sursaparilla. The use of eight bottles of this remedy e.itirely cured my malady."— MAßY MILLER, 12S8 Hancock Street, Brooklyn, N. Y. I se-.<-u n.o s.aiu of winter, ; but the Church substituted Judas Is cariot. Cnrloti» Fonlm-c of Enater, A curiois feature in the services of the Roman Catholic Church on Easter Sur.dny is the paschal candle, a huge i wax candle, richly painted and decora- I ted with flowers. It has, moreover, : five spikes inserted in it, which are filled with spice. They represent the wounds of Christ, and the candle itself when lighted signifies Uis resurrec tion. In the Greek and Armenian churches the paschal candle is divided into three branch*. \ to represent the Trinity. The Kumnn Eniter. In Rome Easter Day is observed with much pomp and ceremony. The day is ushered in by the firing of can non from the Castle of St. Angelo, and in the evening the dome of St Peter's Is Illuminated. After Aiuining mass tho Pope appears on (be balcony in front of the Cathedral and bestows his benediction on the crowds aHnemol«d below. Doc tin- Sinightlace (reprov'njlv)—l al of Latest patterns of Wall Paper with ceilings and to n.alch. All full n eaitre ments and all white EUgant designs as lew \ asjc per roll. \ Window Shades\ with roller fixtures, fringed and pmin. Some as low iis 10c; better, 25c, 35c, £oc, \ Elegant Carpets \ rainging in prices 20c., 25c., 35c., and &Bc. \ Antique Bedroom Suits V Full suits #IB.OO. Wovm wire springs, #1.75. Soft top mattresses, good ticks, #2.50. Feather pillows, $1.75 per pair. GOOD CANE SFAT CHAIES for | nil. 1 3.70 ml. l:„