J.G.B.

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DRESSING THE CHRISTMAS TREE IN GERMANY.

(_From a Correspondent._)

This is performed with great ceremony and mystery, on Christmas Eve,
by the elders of the family, without the knowledge of the younger
members. They deck a large evergreen with presents of various kinds:
to toys, bonbons, and such trifles, are added things of more value and
use--working materials for the girls, knives, &c. for the boys, and
books of amusement and instruction for both. Little tapers are attached
to the branches of the shrub; and at break of day the children are
roused from their slumber, and when all are ready (for no one is allowed
to enter singly) they are admitted into the room, where the illuminated
tree greets their eyes. Great is the anxiety of the young party to see
who has been provided for, since the idea they are taught to entertain
is, that these tempting objects are bestowed by an invisible agent, as
a reward for good children, and that the naughty and ill-conducted will
find no share allotted to them.

Hêbel, in one of his pretty, simple poems, describes a mother sitting by
her sleeping child, as she prepares its morning surprise. She enumerates
the various gifts she hangs on the tree, pausing in her pleasing task as
a moral reflection is suggested by any of the objects she has collected,
and concluding by a prayer for the future welfare of her darling.