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from Paris. This secured a pleasant drive both ways and one met acquaintances on the route.
There was an abbey at Longchamps and thither the fashionable saints would drive, in the quiet garb prescribed by good taste during Lent, but, the penitential season over, the toilets made that thoroughfare the place for all Paris to congregate to see the inauguration of the spring fashions.
The significance of the hare in connection with Easter is of German origin.
Instilled by nursery lore and very ancient is the belief of German children that on Easter eve a snow-white hare visits every household where the little folks have been "good, obedient, truthful and kind to each other" since the previous Easter. Timid after the nature of its kind, it waits until everybody is asleep and then soft-footed it brings and secretes in odd, out-of-the-way places any number of wonderful coloured eggs that the children may find and enjoy on Easter morning. " Early to bed and early to rise" is the rule in nurseries of Germany on that particular night, the little Hanses, Gretchens and Karls in bed, but not asleep, waiting and watching for the beautiful and beloved guest, meanwhile wondering whether their conduct has been such as to merit visit and gift. Finally sleep triumphs, drooping lids close over dreamy eyes, and the "Easter Hare" comes and goes unseen and unheard as in former years. The day previous the mother goes to market as usual, and on her return, hidden under vegetables and household stores, are eggs galore, together with lengths of cheap, gaily coloured prints. These are very carefully guarded that they may not be discovered by the "kinderchen," thus spoiling their belief in the hare. In the kitchen late at night the loving parents wrap each egg in a piece |
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