S we rejoice at the
Easter season, our
thought is centered
on its significance to
us—the Resurrection
of the Saviour, In
contemplating the
beauty of this basis
of Christianity we
seldom recall the
fact that a festival
at this season ante-
dated the birth of
our Faith; that the
ancient peoples, both
Hebrews and Gen-
tiles, celebrated a
joyous holiday about the time of the
spring equinox.
Christ's own race had kept the Pass-
over during the month of Nisan—the
first month of the natural year—ever
since the Lord had spared their chil-
dren and their possessions when He
slew the first-born of both man and
beast in old Egypt. Christ Himself
fe
\Y
(TN
changed eggs in springtime, as a sym-
bol of re-creation, The Christians
adopted this custom but modified it.
They dyed their eggs red to signify
that while there was a re-creation, in-
deed, it was secured only through the
Blood of the Lamb. To-day, when we
exchange eggs of all colors, all sizes
and with all sorts of wonders hidden in
them, we have lost sight of their sig-
nificance to the first Christians.
When the missionaries of the Cross
advanced to the countries of Northern
Europe, they found that here the peo-
ple had a joyous feast day about the
time of the Resurrection, in honor of
Fostra, the goddess of springtime.
When they converted these nations
they still kept the festival, interpreting
it to be now in honor of the God of ali
seasons. However, we still have a re-
membrance of the pagan goddess,
Eostra, in our English title, Easte
Throughout the early Chr
world, Easter was the greatest feast in
the calendar, and it soon came to be
—
throw difficulties In our way. Her
cycle always has a fraction of a day
tacked on its end, and so a skilled
mathematician 1s necessary to foretell
the correct date of her changes, How-
ever, if an expert calculate the recur-
rence of her phases, the rest of us or-
dinary people, by following the Nicean
rule, can find the date of Easter for
ourselves,
Even If we had no exact date, we
Consider the lily, how she grows;
She toils not, neither does she spin;
Yet Solomon with all his clothes
Was not arrayed like Evelyn.
—Puck.
would probably feel the inspiration
the old pagans cherished. With the
story of the Great Sacrifice for our
| sakes, added to the instinctive joyous-
~
J
by
kept the feast faithfully, and around
it are grouped the most dramatic inci-
‘dents of His life. It was at the Pass-
over that He astonished the doctors in
the temple; it was during the annual
gatherings for this holiday that many
of His miracles were performed; and
it was at this same feast that the
Great Tragedy occurred—that the fan-
atic multitude chose to free Barabbas,
the murderer, and to crucify the Man
of Peace.
With the earliest Christians, the feast
of the Passover waseasily transformed
into a commemoration of the Resurrec-
tion of the Redeemer. As the blood of
the paschal lamb on the doorposts of
their forefathers had saved them from
the destroying angel, so now the blood
of the Lamb of God would deliver them
from their own destroying weaknesses.
As in the past they had rejoiced over
their escape from the bond of Egypt,
so now they exulted in their freedom
from the eternal chains of sin. They
exhibited their joy to the surrounding
world. Their houses were decorated
with greens and blossoms and their
persons adorned with fresh garments.
In glad tones they uttered a new
greeting, “Christ is risen;” to which
was replied, “Christ is risen, indeed!”
or “And hath appeared unto Simon!”
Customs typical of the Resurrection
were copied from neighboring ~~ n-
tries. The Persians had long ex-
BY
= QUENTIN MATSYS
Five
Conceptions Christ
/BY HoLMAN|I |
HUNT
-alled “The Great Day.” It still holds
a unique sovereignty, for upon its time
depend the dates of all the movable
feasts and fasts of the church year.
The exact date of Easter made a
schism in the early church. The
churches in Asia Minor commemorated
the Resurrection on the 14th of Nisan,
the Jewish Paschal, no matter on what
day of the week this occurred; while
the church in Europe celebrated the
feast as near the 14th of Nisan as pos-
sible, but always on a Sunday, because
they said Christ had risen on a Sun-
day. For two centuries the fathers of
the church argued the question, and
then, at the Council of Nice, in 325,
they compromised. It was decided,
first, that the 21st of March should be
accounted the vernal equinox; second,
that the full moon happening upon, or
next after the 21st of March, should
be taken for the full moon of Nisan:
third, that the Lord's day next follow-
ing the full moon should be Easter
day; and fourth, that if the full moon
be on a Sunday, Easter day should be
the Sunday after. It is very probable
that few of us of this generation have
known that [laster can never occur
during ithe period of Luna’s greatest
brilliangy.
With go simple a rule, it would seem
that anyone of us could compute the
exact dae of Easter for years ahead,
but the fict is the moon's mosvements
asfiers
ness ot’ the spring, we seem to acquire
a new personal dignity. Our hearts
tell us that if we are worth saving our
lives must be worth living, and with
genuine cheerfulness we welcome this
gladsome season when nature burst
forth afresh to accompany the resur-
rection of the soul of man.—Katherine
Chandler, in The Household.
| the sac
| black or
| prints, scarcely color the egg at all.
| Purple seems desirable, and dark blue.
| Deep pink roses often come out beau-
Some Fascinating Enster Eggs.
MEREDITH,
ad &
ce ————
MARGARET
Easter eggs were a great thing with
us little girls in Virginia, 1 do not re-
member whether there was any talk
of new Easter clothes; but then that
would have been, in our eyes, a small
matter in compa: ison.
The prettiest ones by far were dyed
with calico.
Get the calico either small figured,
wee sprigs of fowers and the like, or
with a flow r large enough to decorate
the whole side of the eg”
A plece about four by seve. inches
will serve the purpose, or twc pleces
three and a half by four inches; larger,
if the figures require it, in order to
be well placed upon the egg.
In covering, put the right side of
the goods to the egg, and tack or pin
the caiico tight over it, and follow
this tacking witn close sewing (see il-
lustration), drawing the calico tight
and as smooth as possible, especially
where ‘the fig res are, as you wish
the figures to lie lat sgainst the egg,
and whole figures, if possible, rath.’
than parts. Outside of these smooth
places the pleats and “idges (resem-
bling the spurs of a mountain range)
need extra stitches and extra tighten-
ing to adjust teem right. ‘There is un-
limited scope for skul It is worth
| Easter eggs, show ng the eges wrapped m
the calic
ind 2 ter the cloth is removed.
rifice of a :;ood many eggs as a
manual art lesson.
We were advised ‘o use calicoes
which faded easily; but that was ex-
advice: the tolerably fast
succeed better. The brown,
of fast colored
aggerated
dark colors
scarlet
2ood
tiful. A white or very light ground
is generally best.
Prints not intended to be washed
| do well: for instance, the cheaper drap-
| eries, like thick silkaline, and the thin
| furniture
| fashioned “curtain calico’
especially old-
’ (lately fash-
has a sort
coverings,
ionable again), which of
varnished glaze.
Results, however, differ so endlessly
that no absolute rules can be given;
| and, indeed, experimenting is a great
part of the interest. Flower clusters
or other combinations of several col-
| ors are desirable, because when some
| of the colors do not
| ers may come out finely and produce
lan
“take” at all, oth-
excellent, though unexpected, ef-
| fect.
We boiled our eggs (thus sewed in
1
1
their covers) in weakened lye; but 1
| diving in town) boil them in washing
| soda and water; a lump the size of a
| walnut to g quart or less, which boils
| fully dissolved.
down generally to still less. Put the
wos into the boiling mixture at any
Only be sure that the soda is
Let them boil nearly
If your calico is, how-
ime,
alf an hour.
ever, of somewhat fast colors, an hour
| way:
may be better. The danger is of boil-
ing off the pictures which you have
boiled on. The fast colors will stand
a good deal of boiling, getting prettier
and prettier, whereas the less fast
may soon begin to fade vut of the egg
as well as cut of the covering.
Use a spoon -n handling the wet egg
soda or lye eats the skin), Hold it
a minute gently in a cloth. You can
hastity rip a space of the seam to de-
cide whether to boil leager; but if
eggs are plenty, and you are not very
wise, you would better not. If not.
set it on the top of a vase or any sup-
port which wii only touch it at points.
It will dry very speedily. Waiting does
spoil fun.
Cut off the calico at the seam, and
be careful not to break or scrape the
egy.
The colors will seldom be the same
as those of the calico; often quite dif-
ferent. Experimenting uses up a good
many eggs, but you can hardly fail 0
get some very pretty results,
Do not boil many at once in a can
if there is ranger of the colors run-
ning much; and in boiling successive
lots, if the solution has grown dark,
make a fresh one (half a dozen wal-
nut sized Jumps of seaa cost a cent).
If this is too much for the family
patience, there is another entertaining
Get some of the ready prepared
ege dyes, to be used cecld. Boil the
ezes hard, and after they are thorongh-
ly cooled, m.rk woras cr figures upon
them with melted wax. len dye and
afterward carefully tear off the wax.
Or you can scratch pictures in white
lines on the plain, dark dyed eges with
a penknife.
Seyeral rainy spring aays could be
made very catfertaining hy these pro-
cesses, and pleaty of Laster preseats
provided for little cousins and school-
matgs.~Tue Houselidu..
MEN WHO WERE BARBERS
“ern
And Became Statesmen, Writ.
ers and Men of Affairs.
From the Memphis Commercial Appe al.
Ea — LA wn a
T has been the delight of
the biographers to show
I how the printer's devil
the poor farm lad, the
Ror’ street wail and the me:
chanie’s lad have struggled
onward and upward to distinction,
Apparently they have ignored
barber's achievements,
Nevertheless, there are numerous in-
stances of barbers wlio have become
celebrities in various fields of human
endeavor.
In former times the barber's craft
was dignified with the title of pro
fession, be it known. It was conjoined
with the art of surgery. In the time
of Henry VIII. of England it was en-
acted that the barbers should confine
themselves to the minor operations of
lood-letting and drawing teeth, while
the surgeons were prohibited from bar
bery or shaving. Later on—about the
middle of the eighteenth century—the
two callings were entirely separate.
The striped pole in front of shops
to-day is symbolic of former times,
suggesting the period when the bar-
ber was also a surgeon and indicating
the ribbon for bandaging the arm in
bleeding.
It was long after the vocations be-
came distinct that Edward Burtenshaw
Sugden rose to eminence. Sugden was
the son of a hairdresser in Duke street,
Westminster, and was assistant in the
shop. When he was forty-one years
of age he was made king's counsel
and chosen a bencher of Lincoln's Inn,
Under the first administration of Lord
Derby he was raised to the peerage as
Lord St. Leonards.
It goes without saying that there
were not lacking envious persons to
twit him with his former occupation,
and this story is told: Once when ad-
dressing a crowd in the interest of his
own candidacy to Parliament a man
called out to know what soap was
worth and how lather was made.
“I am particularly obliged to that
gentleman for reminding me of my
origin,” said Sir Edward. “It is frue
that I am a barber's son and was once
myself a barber. If the gentleman
who so politely reminded me of these
facts had heen a barber he shows
here that he would have remained one
to the end of his life.”
Then there was Charles Abbott, a
barber's son, “a scrubby little lad who
used to wait on his father with razors
and a pewter bowl.” Abbott was
also made a peer of England.
An English wi has said of a
certain inventive Englishman: “While
his inventions have conferred infinite!
more real benefit on his own country
than she could have derived from the
absolute dominion of Mexico aud Peru,
they have been universally productive
of wealth and enjoy: ?
the
ter
This genius was Sir Ric Ark
wright, and his inventions we n the
cotton spinning industry. He was
a0
born in 1732, turned from wig ma
when the trade fell off, became enor-
mously wealthy, was made a peer, ¢
died in the sixtieth year of his
English literature has bee:
richer by at least three barbers.
Jeremy Taylor was hb t up in
his father's shop at Cam! p, Eng-
land. He is perhaps the mos
of all the barbers, his books
popular after 250 ye:
truthfully that his wor
literary. Weighty witl
sermons and books ef devo
read among us for their
devotion and their rap
poetic eloquence.
work is “The Li
The greatest
Charles Dibdin taking
—was William I
barber in Edinbur
“The Shipwreck” 1
famous but won him a
Royal Navy. This poem,
was based on own
When yet ycung he had a
take a voyage on an ]
Engligh
bound for Venice. The ship was over-
3
made
famous
ume
eet and deep
most importan
of Prophesy
ish naval poei—
as second
was a
is poem
him
the
yy the way,
experience,
10
He
chance
vessel
taken by a dreadful storm off Cape
i, only tl
One of the
its of the
nination
poem.
Colonna and avas wi
of the crew being saved.
was Falconer, and the i
voyage and its disastrous
formed the subject g
Strangely enough the ter
sea which he so eloquently
did not deter him frem follo ;
and he was lost in the wreck of
other ship a few years later.
Allan Ramsay, the Scotlish poet,
who died the year before the birth of
Burns, is justly celebrated in the liter-
ature of England. “The Gentle Shep-
herd” is especially worthy of remem-
brance, being a pure, tender and gen-
uine picture of Scottish life and love
among the poor in the country. He
carried on the song of rural life and
love and humor which Burns per-
fected. Allan Ramsay was at one time
a prosperous wig maker.
Jenjamin Franklin made more than
a national reputation with his “Poor
tichard’s Almanac.” No doubt Frank-
lin got the name for his almanac
from William Winstanley, the barber
who issued the “Poor Robin” almanacs
from 1662 onward. It was this same
barber who set the example of pub-
lishing the “almanac joke.”
(Charles Day, who made a fortune in
blacking, was a barber before he in-
vented his famous shoe polish. Craggs,
svho was secretary of the South Sea
bubble, was a barber turned promoter.
At on time he was enormously
wealthy, Being a fearless plunger he
went as far as the most daring in his
speculations and when the erash came
his fortune went with it and he com-
mitted suicide.
Giovanna Belzoni, who learned the
parber’s trade in Padua, had a varied
career, ending in bis enrichment. He
an-
removed to Rome when a young man
but went to England in 1803. Nine
years later he bega traveling, in time
becoming one of the most gifted Egyp-
tian explorers. He removed “young
Memnon” from Thebes to England,
was the first to penetrate into the sec-
ond great pyramid of Ghizeh and
opened up several splendid tombe,
Few barbers, however, have been as
successful as the penurious and miser-
ly speculator of London, John Cour-
toiz. Ie did not hesitate to pocket &
stray penny when in bis best circum-
stances, It is related that Lord Gage,
at a meeting of the East Indian Cowm-
pany, once found Courtois present.
“Ah, Courtoig, what are you doing
here?’ he asked.
“I am Lere to vote, my lord,” was the
answer.
“What! You a proprietor? And with
how many votes?’
“I am a proprietor and have four
votes,” said the ex-barber.
“Ah, indeed! Well, before we go to
vote, suppose you fix my curls a bit,
Courtois.”
the curls deftly, pocketed the fee glad-
ly. although at his death a short while
afterward he left a fortune of a mil-
lien dollars.
WOMAN!
A Scientist Gives His Views of the
Falr Sex.
Dr. Bernard Hollander of the Eth-
nological Society is too learned a schol
ar to say that he understands woman,
but in a recent lecture on the interests
ing subject the other day he €aid much
that was acute and sympathetic, and
that shows that he has at least ob:
served, even if he does not understand
well, the sex that, as he says, “is not
mentally inferior to man, but only dis-
similar.” Woman, he says, is often
gifted by nature, but she rarely has
the sirength of impulse to exert her
powers, that characterizes man.
she had, there is no reason why she
should not equal man, or even excel
Lim. This is proved frequently al
difficult examinations where the most
brilliant students are often women.
The lecturer traced the scientific
bearing of the points he advanced, and
occasionally generalized upon the
vexed questions of woman's character
and capabilities as a whele; as in the
following passage:
“A woman loves extremes. A mar
may like or dislike a person or object,
a woman loves or hates it. A woman
can be generous in her action, but not
always so in her feelings. Women, as
a rule, are good conversationalists.
They love talking. Men will talk, too,
if you give them a subject, but women
can talk for hours upon nothing. Xj
her conversation, at least to men,
not uninteresting, and sometimes mo§
ckarming, for, unlike man, she doe!
rot talk of herself. She is quick te
enter into his thoughis and Jeelings,
and can readily identify herself with
ms.”
hen follow a score of subtle con
tracts and distinctions, such as: “Map
loves power, woman loves admiration
A man respects, woman adores. A
man has pluck, a woman fortitude. A
man has push, a woman patience. Man
is greater in conquest and achievement,
woman in self-sacrifice. Man may take
the lead, but it is the woman whe
ides. Man may oppress woman, buf
it is woman that influences man.
Women dearly love to cstablish a do-
ninion over any creature that is larger
and stronger than themselves, and a
study of history will show us how of
ten they have obtained their ways
where man is concerned. Some men—
not always of the weakest sort—seem
to take a real pride in submitting to
the commands and puunizslL.ments of the
women they love.”
Many women, he said, acquired cul
ure at the expense of their emotional
ature; they starve the heart at the
expense of the intellect, till they find
themselves inc of love. Not be-
ing happy themselves, bow can they
make man happy? ile wants repose,
and they are incapable of giving it.
Women themselves suffer most be-
ise of this univer education, the
of which, Mr. Hollander de-
is that it is easier to obtain
a secretary ‘han it is to obtain a good
cook, and that, too, at lowen wages.
nani au
Hated to Do It. i
During the last Congressional eam-
aign the candidates for the honor of
enting a certain Kast Tennessee
trict, says the Washington Post,
gathered to meet the voters at a coun-
try court house.
There was a rough looking old moun-
aineer in the audience. He looked
over the aspirants on the platform with
a critical eye. One of them had done
him several favors, and he felt in duty
bound to vote for him.
“Not a very promising lot, are they 2”
he remarked in an audible whisper to a
man three seats away. ‘‘Them’s only
the kind we used to run for constable
when I was a boy. Thar's my candi-
date—that yaller headed chap, third
from this eend. I've got to vote for
Lim, but I'd give $10 if I hadn't seen
him first.”
etiect
clared,
di
y
Skipped With the Coin.
When a ruined gambler kills himself
at Monte Carlo the employes of the
Casino, to avoid a scandal, fill his pock-
ets with gold and bank-notes. Thus
the real cause of his suicide does mot
appear. A Yankee
Carlo with about $i00 in five-franc
pieces. He lost the money slowly
and painfully, and late that night, in a
black corner of the gardens, he fired a
revolver, and, with a loud groan, fell
full length on the grass. Instantly
three or four dark, silent figures rushed
up, filled his pockets with money, and
left him there to be discovered in the
morning by the police. But long bes
fore morning the enterprising Yankee,
his pockets distended with gold, had
shaken the dust of Mante Carlo from
his feet.
And the wealthy proprietor arranged
1 :
came to Monte »
/
1y
CAs
“Ara
ball of
der vo
perate
“Cert
ta Jon
windoy
read th
“You
Thom]
to the
it you
down |
eon at
The
in the
York b
be pat
Ther
and al
bickeri
on the
well tc
Mrs.
ly one
leader
they hi
organi
which
was |
'Aramil
tive of
ed bi-
Digby,
ty, wh
was ac
Some
fad th
Alaban
given
marks,
rivalry
Jane T
ed in |
they a
erend
Jones.
the pe
‘Alaban
ciousne
console
playing
“Do
evenin
after t
minute
+7. d¢
modest
Thursd
“Str
dear,”
sently.
never |
and vi
At tl
membe
cussiol
It was
have a
ant sul
fast, a
Isted
All ©
been p
ta, anc
old la
matter
“Ara
tittle d
linson;
stand.”
Whe
came z
with’ 1
ropm,
ww otlimax
minta
dimple
Revere
these
night t
In o
bama,
little 1
points,
now é
sigh.
povert;
clan,
her st
her co
darn I
night.
Mrs.
dent i
lar, tl
Thomli
Seat
of the
ing ca;
Ther
bell a
gave a
Quic
spirite
“for,”
hinder
were C
Whe
were
about
dream: