ound to every house, and says that his
master sent him. The parents and older children receive him with pomp
and reverence, while the younger ones are often badly frightened.

He asks for the children, and then demands of their parents a report
of their conduct during the past year. The good children are rewarded
with sugar-plums and other things, while for the bad ones a rod is
given to the parents with instructions to use it freely during the
coming year.

In those parts of Pennsylvania where there are many German settlers,
the little sinners often find birchen rods suggestively placed in
their stockings on Christmas morning.

In Poland, the Christmas gifts are hidden, and the members of the
family search for them.

In Sweden and Norway, the house is thoroughly cleaned, and juniper or
fir branches are spread over the floor. Then each member of the family
goes in turn to the bake house, or outer shed, where he takes his
annual bath.

But it is back to Old England, after all, that we look for the
merriest Christmas. For two or three weeks beforehand, men and boys
of the poorer class, who were called "waits," sang Christmas carols
under every window. Until quite recently these carols were sung all
through England, and others of similar import were heard in France and
Italy.

The English are said to "take their pleasures sadly," but in the
matter of Christmas they can "give us cards and spades and still win."
Parties of Christmas drummers used to go around to the different
houses, grotesquely attired, and play all sorts of tricks. The actors
were chiefly boys, and the parish beadle always went along to insure
order.

The Christmas dinner of Old England was a thing capable of giving the
whole nation dyspepsia if they indulged freely.

The main dish was a boar's head, roasted to a turn, and preceded by
trumpets and minstrelsy. Mustard was indispensable to this dish.

Next came a peacock, skinned and roasted. The beak was gilded, and
sometimes a bit of cotton, well soaked in spirits, was put into his
mouth, and when he was brought to the table this was ignited, so that
the bird was literally spouting fire. He was stuffed with spices,
basted with yolks of eggs, and served with plenty of gravy.

Geese, capons, pheasants, carps' tongues, frumenty, and mince, or
"shred" pies, made up the balance of the feast.

The chief functionary of Christmas was called "The Lord of Misrule."

In the house of king and nobleman