the spirits, thus protected, would go forth in the spring to reclothe the forests with beautiful foliage and unlock the ice-bound streams. A survival of this superstition was found among the English peasantry not more than two hundred years ago. They hung evergreens in their cottages in the belief that they would attract sprites, and that the boughs would remain unnipped by the frosts and furnish a shelter for the woodland deities. "Standard trees" in the city were originally "nailed fule of holme and ivy" showing that the external aspect of Christmastide was a public concern in the days of our ancestors. In Poor Robin's Almanac," 1695, is this allusion to the Christmas evergreens:

With holly and ivy,

So green and so gay, We deck up our houses As fresh as the day. With bays and rosemary And laurel compleate

And every one now

Is a king in concrete."

These must be taken down by Twelfth Day.

"Down with the rosemary, and so

Down with the baies and mistletoe,
Down with the holly, ivy, all

Wherewith you drest the Christmas hall
So that the superstitious find

No one least branch there left behind."

As mistletoe and holly are our principal decoration, it may be well to know the origin of their use and their supposed power. The Druids at Yuletide used to cut the mistletoe to place upon their altars with elaborate ceremonies. Their name for it was All-Heal or All-Healing. There was a large procession, headed by the Druidical priests, with bards singing canticles and hymns; then a herald preceded three Druids, furnished with implements for severing the sacred plant; then the prince or chief of the Druids, accompanied by all his followers. The chief mounted the oak and with a golden knife detached the mistletoe and presented it to the priest, who received and bore away the branches with great reverence. Two white bulls were sacrificed during the rite. On the first day of the new year, the branches, after resting on the altars in the interval, were distributed among the people as a sacred and holy plant, the Druid priest crying, "The mistletoe for the New Year." Just when the mistletoe became known as the "kissing-bush" is not known. There are many superstitions in regard to the mistletoe,—it being usu

ally accounted friendly in British traditions, though in other nations it has been used for evil. In Northern mythology it was used to destroy the "god of light." Balder, the "white god" or the "god of light," dreamed that his life was in danger, and his mother, Frigga, exacted a promise from all animate and inanimate things, from sickness, and from fire and water, that they would bring no harm to her son. Because she thought the mistletoe too insignificant she omitted to make the same request of it, and the evil god Loki fashioned an arrow of it, which he put into the hands of Hoeder, Balder's blind brother, who, joining the other gods in playful attacks upon the invulnerable Balder, unconsciously gave him the fatal wound.

Many English girls believe that they will not be wedded inside of twelve months unless they have at least one kiss under the mistletoe. In many counties a berry is plucked from the mistletoe with each kiss, and when there are no berries no kisses are allowed. Mistletoe used to be considered a charm or amulet to ward off the baleful influence of witches. It was also considered that its influence was irresistible, that no one could possibly pass beneath it without yielding to its power, and hence both matron and maid must submit to the salutation which has since become customary.

The holly, with its traditions and customs, comes down to us from the old Romans and Teutons, and "bringing in the holly" used to be a matter of some ceremony. The good folk of Rutland, England, never bring holly into the house before Christmas Eve, believing that to do so would entail upon them a year of ill luck; and in Derbyshire it is believed that the roughness or smoothness of the holly that comes into a house at Christmas foreshadows whether husband or wife will rule during the coming year. The superstition that the holly is to remind us of Christ's suffering is of later origin than most of the Christmas customs. A little Christmas carol, in the Christmas number of "Harper's Magazine," 1898, prettily embodies this idea:

"The holly berry's red as blood,
And the holly bears a thorn;
And the manger-bed is a Holy Rood,
When Jesus Christ was born."

In the Black Mountains at the present day the custom of bearing home the

Yule log is still carefully observed in all its ancient detail. The house-father fells the chosen tree, then he utters a prayer, and carefully lifts up his log and bears it home on his shoulder. His sons follow his example, each bearing a log for himself. The father then leans his log up against the house, being careful that the freshly cut end is uppermost, the lesser logs or ends surround it. As the father places each log he says, "A merry log day."

The fire thus kindled is not allowed to go out until the following year, or great evil will befall the household. Portions of the preceding Yule log lighted the new logs, and the remains of each year's fire were carefully stored away among the household treasures for this purpose.

In the Highlands of Scotland it is, to this day, considered a great misfortune if the fire goes out, and it is said "Tae nae luck, ye've let oot the fire." The Yule log of England is chosen for its knots and rugged roots, a cross-grained block of elm being usually chosen, as it will burn longer. This used to be decorated with garlands of greens and ribbons and drawn to its place with much merriment.

Formerly the members of a family and the guests sat down in turn upon the Yule log as the throne of the Master of Revels or the Lord of Misrule, sang Yule songs, drank to the Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, and as part of the frolic ate Yule dough or Yule cakes, drank furmenty, spiced ale, and from the wassail bowl.

Then they played Yule games, and finally kindled the Yule log from brands kept from the previous year. Herrick

writes:

"Kindle the Christmas brand, and then Till sunneset let it burne;

Which quencht, then lay it up agen, Till Christmas next returne.

"Part must be kept, wherewith to teend
The Christmas log next yeare;
And where 'tis safely kept, the fiend
Can do no mischief there."

A similar custom was retained on the Continent called Souche de Noël. In Norfolk and other counties, as long as any part of the Yule log remained burning, all the servants were regaled at their meals with the best of cider and ale.

The early English and Irish people called Christmas the "Feast of Lights" and used to burn the "Christmas candle," which was so large as to burn several nights before being consumed. It is one of the most interesting of the Christmas

customs, for very early it was made symbolical of the "Light of the World," and its burning became a religious observance. Whether it was, as is claimed, a pagan rite, offered to the sun for its returning warmth at Yuletide, is not really known.

Used as a Christian symbol, however, the Christmas candle grew larger and larger until it assumed such huge dimensions as to last the whole twelve nights of the holidays. The candle was often ornamented with a lamb, typical of the Lamb of God. These candles are still sold in various places at Christmas time. In the buttery at St. John's College, Oxford, may still be seen an ancient stone candlestick bearing a figure of the Lamb. This candlestick used to be placed upon the "high table" each of the twelve nights of the Christmas festival, and in it burned the famous candle of St. John's.

One of the Christmas games used to be "jumping the candles." Twelve candles, representing the months of the year, were placed at intervals on the floor, and each person in turn was required to jump over them. If all were successfully passed over and still burned brightly, good fortune would be the jumper's during the coming year; but if any candle flame was put out it betokened ill-luck coming in the month it represented. If all were put out, the bachelor or maid who committed the direful deed would not only not marry during the coming year but might expect a disappointment in love. This custom is now used on Halloweennight.

A hundred years ago the English chandlers used to pay tribute to their patrons in the form of huge mould candles, and the coopers presented their patrons with great logs, called Yule dogs or blocks, and direct descendants of the Yule log.

The poor little Puritan children were not allowed to keep Christmas, because to do so savored of popery in their elders' eyes. Governor Bradford, on the second Christmas in the New World, 1621, wished people to work, but if they would not work they must not play; if they kept Christmas at all it must be as a "matter of devotion." One thing, however, the children did have in the early days of New England was the "Christmas candle." This candle was home-made, of tallow, large, with the wick divided at the lower end to form three legs, while at its heart was concealed a quill well filled

with gunpowder. On Christmas Eve it was lighted, and the quaint little Puritan folk sat around it, telling stories, until suddenly the candle went off with a bang, filling the children with glee, and giving them their only taste of holiday fun.

Germany is the Fatherland of the Christmas tree and of Kriss Kringle, the "Merry Man;" and Kriss Kringle still adorns the top bough of every tree, large or small, in Germany.

It is said that Christmas trees were used to place gifts upon as early as 1632; they certainly were by 1744, as Goethe in "The Sorrows of Werther" alludes to the custom. France adopted the Christmas tree about 1840, and Prince Albert introduced it into England the first Christmas after his marriage. The Queen still keeps up this custom, having a tree for her own gifts, one for her children and grandchildren, and one for the household. Since then the custom has become world-wide. The Tree of Candles," is of more ancient date. There is an old French romance of the thirteenth century in which the hero sees a tree whose branches from top to bottom are covered with burning candles, while on the top is a figure of a child shining with a still greater radiance.

This tree symbolized humanity-the upper lights being the souls of the good, those below, of the wicked, while the child represented Christ. The poetic idea of the Christmas tree as a symbol of the renewed life of nature which begins with the lengthening of the days comes from Germany. From the Norse mythology comes the suggestion of the Christmas tree as typical of the new-born sun in that it was bedecked with lights, and was an emblem of spring on account of its rich green. Probably the Norse mythology was the origin of the "tree of candles » more than of the present Christmas tree. On the introduction of Christianity the Christmas tree, although not known then by that name, became the type of Christ.

The following quotation from L. P. Lewis gives these emblems of the Christ

N°

O ARTICLE of our varied manufacturing trades seems to reach nearer the individual heart than does a piece of jewellery. Its selection and possession is a source of pleasure and of joy to both giver and recipient. In these days of rapid change in fashions, fads, and novelties, no subject of such general interest to the public heart seems less understood than does that which relates to the fabrication of these articles of domestic trade. To the jeweller versed in the general methods of the art, the errors of impression, tradition, and hearsay held by our people in general are often as ludicrously wide of the truth as, doubtless, are his own upon other subjects apart from his training and experience.

To answer the queries embodied in the one forming the heading of this article necessitates the formulation of a series of questions frequently asked of the practical jeweller. They are best classified under headings pertaining to solid gold, gold

plated, and the cheaper varieties, which for our present purpose will be considered as brass, pure and simple.

The terms, "solid gold," "solid 18-K gold," "solid rolled gold," "solid gold filled,” “ 14-K rolled gold filled,” “solid 14K rolled gold .plate," etc., as set forth in the thousands of advertisements daily under the eyes of the masses of our people, prompt the first question,-What is solid gold?

Strictly speaking, the only solid gold that should be so recognized is the pure metal, or gold of twenty-four karats fine, which is the "fine gold" of the jewellery trade. Trade usage as well as general custom calls any alloy or melted mixture of metals containing gold, "solid gold." The varying quantity of gold in proportion to the other metals mixed with it determines the "quality," "karat," or "fineness" of the mixture: thus, a mixture of eighteen parts of fine gold and six parts of "alloy" is known and recognized as

solid eighteen-karat gold. Fourteen parts of fine gold and ten parts of alloying metal give us fourteen-karat solid gold, and so on. In every case there are enough parts of alloy added to the presupposed karat quality to reach the twenty-four karats equivalent to fine gold. This gives us the manner of preparation of the many grades of solid gold in the gold jewellery of the trade. The various qualities run from eighteen karats down through the medium and lower grades even to the poorest, which in its wearing quality is no better than so much brass. In mixing the metals the alloy used in reducing the fine gold to the required quality is largely copper and silver, in a general proportion of two and a fraction to one, respectively. Other metals are often used in small proportions with copper and silver for many and varied technical reasons.

To the question, as applied to our jewellery, What is solid gold? we can therefore answer that, regardless of quality, it is an alloy of metals containing gold throughout its length and breadth and thickness. As to its quality we must take the word of the jeweller of whom it is purchased; he purchasing the goods himself from the manufacturer who furnishes them to the trade and who alone can guarantee the quality as represented.

Fine gold itself is of too soft and ductile a nature to be satisfactory as a piece of jewellery. The other metals are added with the view of giving greater hardness and resistance to wear, of attaining a desirable color and an alloy capable of receiving and retaining a high finish, and of giving a large show for the money.

A standing joke on many of the oldtime jewellers who used the old-fashioned large copper cents for their alloys was that in weighing up the metals they would not stick at a cent in giving good weight, but would throw in an extra one for good measure. The value of that great copper disc before and after melting can be appreciated even by the uninitiated.

The average quality of the gold jewellery worn has, in one sense, materially and steadily dropped for many years. Where, twenty-five years ago, fourteen karat metal was considered poor enough, the same line is now drawn at ten karats. The great quantities of goods of even lower quality that, placed on the market, find a ready sale as substitutes for better goods, make it a matter of extreme doubt if the

average of quality used will even reach the standard of ten karats fine. In a second sense it is true, also, that a large class of our people wear a better grade of jewellery than formerly, owing to the cheapening influence of modern tools and machinery and the production of larger quantities of articles at low figures. They are thus able to wear a medium-grade gold article where, under old conditions, plated or other wares had to answer their purpose.

A common impression of many inquirers of the jeweller is that our gold coins are pure or fine gold. It is often hard to convince them, when disposing of mutilated coins, that they are but nine tenths fine, or but twenty-one and sixth tenths karat, and not twenty-four karat gold.

The higher the quality of solid gold alloy, the greater is its specific gravity. The experienced jeweller is at once suspicious of the piece of jewellery that first impresses him as light in weight for its apparent size, and the acid-bottle, file, shears, or other tearing-out tools or tests are at once used. The better grades also show a yellower tone or color, as a rule, than the lower qualities. This is often too closely imitated in the lower grades by the makers using alloy to produce this color even at the sacrifice of other conditions more desirable. As a rule the lower grades have a red tint partaking of the color of red gold.

It

Green gold is usually an eighteen-karat gold with the alloy entirely of silver. is very soft and is used mainly for trimmings, such as leaf and similar effects.

Roman or Etruscan gold is simply a name given to the finish of gold jewellery, and is closely imitated in all grades down to brass goods. The genuine Roman gold of to-day is usually a fourteen-karat alloy specially prepared to "take" the Roman finish. The articles are made from this alloy; then, instead of being polished and finished in the ordinary manner, they are dipped in a solution of sal-ammoniac, salt, saltpetre, and muriatic acid. This combination, properly manipulated, eats from the surface of the articles every particle of the alloy and leaves a finely fretted

and satin-like finished fine-gold surface. This is the "Roman" of it. The "United States of it is often in the substitution of "any old thing" for the fourteen-karat gold, the imitation of the finish of the surface by sand-blasting or scratchbrushing, and the electro-plating of the entire article with fine gold. Brass so treated can only be distinguished by cutting into it, if properly finished and plated; and articles so made, if well and thickly plated with fine gold, are infinitely cheaper than the genuine Roman manufacture, and, being so, give a reasonable satisfaction in that they will often wear well until the purchaser becomes tired of them or the style becomes so obsolete as to consign them to the box or drawer of old jewellery relics to be found in most families.

After weighing the metals to secure the desired proportions, they are placed in a crucible, melted and stirred thoroughly, and poured into an ingot or mould. The resultant bar of gold is then rolled between the flat rolls of a rolling-mill and reduced in thickness to a strip of the required measurement. From this may be cut the many forms desired. The strain and pressure of the rolls soon hardens the slowly thinning strip of metal, and many alloys quickly become quite brittle, particularly if not melted carefully and intelligently. The experienced workman knows at once when this hardening has gone far enough, and overcomes it by annealing the piece. Heating it uniformly to a red heat accomplishes this, and restores it to its native degree of malleability. Alloyed gold, when annealed, acquires a rustybrown color and loses a small fraction of its weight by reason of the oxidation of the copper in the surfaces. It looks to the novice far more like a piece of chocolate than what it is. The oxide is removed by dipping or boiling the piece in a "pickle" made from nitric or sulphuric acid. To prevent oxidation in annealing, the piece is coated with a solution of boracic acid or similar chemical, which forms a light glaze over the surface while hot, and thus keeps the air from it. The color of the metal as it comes from the pickle varies with its quality and general alloyed proportions. Eighteen-karat gold has a yellow appearance approaching the finegold color, yet it is of a green tinge. Eight-karat metal has a dirty white color, more or less toned by green or yellow.

The grades between vary in color from one to the other, and neither would, from its appearance, ever be accused by the novice of being gold.

This brings us to the question, What is rolled gold plate as differing from other gold plate?

Rolled gold plate may be described as a mechanical rather than chemical application of a sheet of gold to a bar of brass, as distinct from a chemical or electro deposit of a film of gold upon a purely brass or other metal article previously fashioned as a piece of jewellery. For rolled plate the sheet or ribbon of solid gold obtained as described, - by melting and rolling,after being brought to the relative weight desired in proportion to the bar of brass, is after due preparation securely fastened to the flat surface of the brass by strong clamps, placed in a fire or furnace, and either soldered or fused upon the brass bar.

For colored effects in rolled plate, "variegated" plate is made by soldering narrow strips of colored gold alloys upon the bar of brass. These strips of red, green, yellow, etc., are laid lengthwise upon the brass bar in contrasting color or alternation, and are clamped and plated as if of one piece. The fastenings being removed and the plated bar cleansed in "pickle," it is rolled under heavy pressure into a plated ribbon of the desired thickness. Any grade or karat of gold ribbon may thus be applied to both sides of the bar or to a brass rod. Twelve-karat is the quality used for most of our rolled plate, though ten-karat is put into more popularpriced goods. The proportion of gold to brass varies in view of the needs of the goods to be made, from one quarter gold to a thinness of proportion far beyond one one-hundredth and often requiring the plating of a ribbon of the first rolled plate upon a second bar to get the gold thin enough to meet the demand for cheapness. In the poorer grades there is little beyond the color of the gold left on the finished jewellery, but be the rolled plate ever so poor it is still superior in wearing quality to electro-plate.

To see a sheet of gold of the apparent thickness of writing-paper-so thin that when sharply shaken it emits a sound much like the shriek of a strong windto see it thus plated upon a bar of brass of the thickness of one's finger, the two being thereby made one; then to see it