OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS COLUMN. FOR BOYS AND GIRLS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2666, 19 April 1905, Page 82

OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS COLUMN. FOR BOYS AND GIRLS.

[Conducted by M\GISTEE, to whom ft 3 communications must be addressed J

EASTERTIDE

I suppose that many of you havo noticed that Easter cloos not come on the same date two years in succession; but very few take the trouble to find out what governs the fixing of the date. Easter Sunday "is the first Sunday after tho first full moon that occurs after March 21, the time of the vernal equinox [vernal in tne Northern Hemisphere, autumnal in the Southern. — Magistek.] It thei 'fore always occurs between March 22 and April 25." By this it will be Eoen that Easter is late this year.

Easter is really a festival held in honour of Eastre t the Goddess of Spring, and tlio word is allied to East, " the quarter of the sunrise." As the vernal equinox marked the increasing light ancl warmth ofi spring, so at that time men's hearts- grew glad with the prospects of the return of summer and the fruits of harvest. As the crucifixion of Christ and the consequent rejoicing of Clni-stians, because they had be^ii redeemed, coincided, pfenorally speaking, with the heathen festivities to the Goddess of Spring, it was natural, when, heathens became Christians, to use the name " Easter " to indicate the new feast, the most important festival in the Christian Church, a festival following the 40 days* fasting of Lent. In the ancient church, says one authority, the celebration lasted eight clays- During- this time the courts of justice were closed, alms dispensed, ancl slaves received their freedom. "On Easter Day the people saluted each other with tho Easter kiss, and the exclamation, Surrexit ' (' He is risen ') : to which the reply was made, ' "Vere surretfit ' (' He is risen, indeed ') : a custom still retained in the Greek Church. Thus, in Russia, at the time of salutation, red eggs are exchanged, and cage birds are let loose, as emblematical of that liberty which is consecrated by the Easter solemnities."

The following interesting account of Easter Day I came across last year in an. American paper a correspondent sent to> me : — " Easter Day rises to its apotheosis in. Jerusalem. The ancient city is surrounded by native Christian tribes, wild sons of the desert, whose faith has come down to them from some missionary of the early church. Half civilised, but devout, these simple people gather to pour out their devotion, upnn the very stones which, to their unquestioning faith were pressed by the feefc of Jesus.

" From the sand-swept deserts to the south they com 1 : from the mountain fastnesses to the north ; from the isles of Greece: fi*om the heart of the Caucasus: from the valley cf the Nile. Ancl mingled with these eastern pilgrims are devoufc Catholics from Italy, Spain, and France, while here and there some adventurous American tourist gazes curiously on the motley throng. And. since to the Moslem Jerusalem is also a holy city, second only to Mecca, the Arab too keeps Easter afc the sacred tomb. And since this is likewise Passover week, the Jew of Palestine goes up to the city of his fathers. Strange iittle ancient city, that has shrined the faith of co many diverse peoples. Types of the unchangeable Orient, they pour in countlesa multitudes through its narrow gates, on camels, on Arabian horses, on foot ; such a throng, except for the scattered Westerners, as the eyes of Jesus might have gazed on.

JEKUSAIJEXr OF

TO-DAY.

" Jeruealom covers only 300 acres of ground. Scarcely a town of 500 inhabitants in America occupies so little space. One can imagine the press in the arm-wide streets : tho crowds in the courtyards ancl dark old houses. The great mass of the pilgrims live in the open air. " Ten thousand street vendors sit on every side, selling the quaint old handsome wares of the Orient ; beaten brass, woven russ, carved wood and cunningly-fashioned bead ; for Easter is good trading time in. Jerusalem. Syrian and Copt. Armenian and Bedouin, Circassian and Turk, fcurban-eel patriarchs of tribes, veiled women of the East, it is all a brilliant kaleidoscope to the dazed eye of the wandering Occidental.

" Easter in Jerusalem is in the hands of the great Greek branch of the Catholic Church, and the Greek patriarch of the city has charge. But politically Jerusalem, belongs to the Turk, and the soldiers of the Sultan are Dres-ent in force to keep order amoris? the jealous native sects, who sometimes fall on each others' throats afc the very doors of the semtlehre.

" The sc^ne of the Celebration is in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built by Emperor Constantino in the fifth century, and believed to cover the exact spot of the crucifixion. It is a vast building of yellow stone, with a great square vestibule, an. excellent place wherein to study the devotions of the pilgrims. In the centre a slab of rose-coloured marble rests on supports, and this stone the people believe to havo been the onr on which the body of Jesus was laid to be prepared for bu'-i'al. So they kneel about it all day, and pray and weep, and kiss it until its polished surface has been all kissed rough, and slowly but surely it is boinjj kissed away. There kneels an Armenian »ea«ant, in his sheepskin coat, and beside him a weli-dressecl man fiom Fomc Latin country. There a. pilgrim from far Sibeiia elbows one from tho Abyssinian wilds. They lay rosaries on Iho stone, that the beads may be blessed. Ihev burn cake* of incense. They measure and cut webs of linen, and rub the <loth over the stone, to make winding sh-eet^ w herein to sleep sweetly on some distant day.

"Then they pa=w into the vast rotunda.where the chapel in the centre contains tho sepulchre itself. Here is a piece of the .-tone which tho angvls rolled away from, tho mouth of the tomb ; and those slabs o£ marble, let into tho side of the room, form (lie reooptaclo in which the foody was laid. And all day and all night the people crawl by on their knees and ki^,s these, things.

CEKEiIOXIES FOR A WEEK

"All the week there are ceremonies ancl pilgi ullages. There is tho washing of the apostle-, fret, when tho patriarch doffs his iobc^ of fatin and rope.-? of jewels, and washes the feet of 12 of his micct^. The devout tell their beads at U.v. seven sta-

tions on the Via Dolorsa, the way to Calvary, or search out the house of ( Pontius Pilate, or the mournful garden of Gethsemane. All day processions pass up ■and dwon the streets, and all day the cooking- and sleeping, the buying and selling and bargaining goes on. "On the Saturday before Easter comes one of the quaintest and oldest of Easter ceremonies — the descent of the sacred fire. The sacred fire has come down from heaven for the Greek Church, fresh eaoh year, for many centuries, at exactly 2 p.m. on the day before Easter.

" The people surround the sepulchre the night before, in order to secure good position^ and the vast rotunda is full of their sleeping forms. All the forenoon they hold their places, while the streets ■without slowly pack until a compact mass of humanity stretches from the doors of the church to the gates of the city. The sepulchre in the centre is closed and dark. The patriarch is within alone, praying for the fire from heaven. Without. those nearest wait to see the first streak of light beneath the door. At 2 o clock it comes. If there was the scratch of a lucifer inside no one heard it. A great cry goes up— the sacred fire has come down once "The patriarch stretches forth his lighted candle. Those nearest light their tapers and pass to the next. In seven minutes, by count, every candle in the church is lit. In 15 minutes all Jerusalem is aglow. Then the flame runs out to Bethlehem, and Nazareth, and the Sea of Galilee, and so -all over Palestine; and then creeps out along the shores to the farthest confines -of the Mediterranean, even as its prototype, the light of Christianity, jouneyed after the first Easter day." As we live in the -Southern Hemisphere we miss a great deal of the meaning of the •word Easter, and do not get the full significance of the idea involved in presenting Easter eggs. The following piece of poetry shows, by " internal evidence," that it was written for the Northern Hemisphere : —

EASTER MEANINGS. G-. M. HovriOiD. ''Vhat's the meaning of Easter?" I asked of a bee, "Who was flying quite blithely AU round about me ; Bat he only hummed as he fioated b3 r , And looked at me saucily from a small eyo. " Come, explain to me Easter," To a lily I said; There came but this answer — < A nod of the head. And the flower on its stalk swung stately and grand; But what it was saying, who could understand? Then I asked" of the south wind, This query again : "Canst thou tell me of Easter?" Alas ! all in vain ; 3?or the wind only whistled its answer to me, Which made it no plainer than blossom or bee. Then I said to myself, This Easter, 'tis plain, Hath brought back to earth Its beauty again. It makes the bee hum, and the lily to sway, And. old earth to grow young as the south wind doth play. And thus, whilst the lily was nodding to me, And the gay b&e was humming 'round flower and tree, And the Eouth cwind was whistling in rollicking S-ee, They all were revealing, as plain as could bs, sChat Easter is here, — that Easter means life; Bringing joy out of -death, and peace out of strife.

And now for a couple of selections of % lighter nature : — HIS MA'S OWN BOY. Uere teacher, pleze excuse my tun Per absents yesterday, I harld to have him home because My servint went away. He washes dishes, sweeps and dusts As expert as cud be ; We've all see proud of him at he me, He's such a helpp to me. " Say mother," he sez yisterday, " We kids all luve Miss Drew ; She's jisi ez nice ez she kin be, An' mighty pretty, too." An' wh&n I maid him stay at home, His fase grcwd awful sadd, " I can't see teecher, then," he =ez ; "Alass! ain't thatt too badd!" ITy sun rites all my notes fer me — He's ritin' this to you; I hirt my hand a weke ago, Jsr maybe it was two. But Willies such a darlin' "hoy, Hs's helped me all he cud ; Excuse his absents if you pleze, Yures truly, Mrs Wood. Kansas City Journal.