and jealously guard its sacred precincts. Immediately
beneath the nave of the cathedral is a commodious marble chamber,
constructed over the spot where the far-famed stable was said to have
stood and reached by a flight of stone steps, worn smooth by the tread
and kisses of multitudes of worshippers. The manger is represented by
a marble slab a couple of feet in height, decorated with tinsel and
blue satin and marked at the head with a chiseled star, bearing above
it the inscription in Latin, "Here was Jesus Christ born of the Virgin
Mary." At the foot are several altars, on which incense is ever kept
burning and from which mass is conducted, while a score of hanging
lamps shed a fitful light over the apartment.

Many theories have been advanced as to the explanation of the
mysterious "Star in the East" which guided the wondering shepherds,
but it is now thought to have been Venus at the height of its
splendor.

The early Christians decorated their churches with evergreens out of
respect to the passage of Scripture in Isaiah--"The glory of Lebanon
shall come unto thee; the fir tree, the pine tree and the box together
to beautify the place of my sanctuary"--and the pagans believed them
to be omens of good, as the spirits of the woods remained in their
branches.

Holly is known in Germany and Scandinavia as "Christ's thorn," and is
emblematic everywhere of cheerfulness, forgiveness, "peace on earth
and good will to men."

The oak mistletoe or "missel" was held in high veneration by the
ancient Druids, who, regarding its parasitic character as a miracle
and its evergreen nature as a symbol of immortality, worshipped it in
their temples and used it as a panacea for the physical ailments of
their followers. When the moon was six days old, the bunches were
ceremoniously cut with a golden sickle, by the chief priest of the
order and received with care into the spotless robes of one of the
company, for if they fell to the unholy ground, their virtues were
considered lost.

Then, crowned with oak leaves and singing songs of thanksgiving, they
bore the branches in solemn procession to the altars, where two white
oxen were sacrificed to the gods.

The custom of "kissing under the mistletoe" dates back to the days of
Scandinavian mythology, when the god of darkness shot his rival, the
immortal Apollo of the North, with an arrow made from its boughs. But
the supposed victim being miraculously restored to life, the mistletoe