How, where and by whom was the Christmas tree, as we now know it, brought into the Christmas festivities and associated with the Christ-child and Saint Nicholas? I am sorry to say that it is impossible to give positive answers to any of these questions. There is, indeed, a very popular German tradition which makes Martin Luther the inventor of the modern Christmas tree. One bright Christmas eve, it is said, as Luther was journeying home through a snow-covered country, he was more than ever struck by the wondrous spectacle of the star-lit sky above him. It is a very common saying, one which dates back to an old Greek philosopher but which has been repeated by many other wise men of modern times, that if a grown person who had all his life gone to bed with the setting sun and got up with the rising one, and who, therefore, had never seen the moon or the stars, were suddenly to be awakened at midnight, he would be overwhelmed by the glorious mystery of the spectacle overhead. We who are accustomed to the sight from our cradles can hardly realize the shock of such a surprise. Because we have seen the moon and stars ever since we could remember we forget how wonderful they are, and how beautiful is the scene they present. We take them as a matter of course. Now Martin Luther was a poet as well as a preacher. One great difference between a poet and an ordinary person of slower imagination is that he adds to the wisdom of manhood the freshness and simplicity of childhood. He retains the young heart with the mature brain. As Carlyle, a great modern writer, has said, he sees the world “rimmed around with wonder.” Carlyle being, like Martin Luther, a poet, even though he rarely put his thoughts into verse and rhyme, never lost the sense of wonder and awe towards the manifestations of God in the universe. God is everywhere, though we poor, purblind folk only now and then catch glimpses of Him. If we could clear away the mists that have gathered round our eyes during our progress through the world we would know that He is everywhere. It is the poet who keeps his eyes clearest for the Blessed Vision. [Illustration: Christmas tree of the English royal family. From the “Illustrated London News,” December, 1842.] Luther arrived at home, so the story continues, with brain and heart full of the feelings and the thoughts that had been inspired in him by the firmament of shining stars. He tried to explain to his wife and children just what those thoughts and feelings were. Suddenly an idea struck him. Going into the garden he cut off a little fir tree, dragged it into the nursery, put some candles into its branches and lighted them. Ever after that, we are told, Luther fixed up a Christmas tree in his home for the instruction and entertainment of his wife and children. The custom was imitated by his neighbors and finally spread all over Germany.