ite saint is so much spoken of in connection with eating
good things that in the Valley of the Meuse they call him _le bon
vivant_, which means the person who lives well.

Just as in England bonfires are lighted on Guy Fawkes' Day, November
5, so in Belgium they light them on the evening of St. Martin's Day.
Indeed, they are known as St. Martin's fires, and the children call
lighting a bonfire "warming the good St. Martin."

About a month after St. Martin's comes the Day of St.
Nicholas--December 6. During the night before this saint is supposed
to ride through the sky, over the fields and above the housetops,
mounted on a donkey or a white horse, with a great basket stuffed
full of toys, fruit, sweetmeats, and other nice things. Down the
chimney of every house where there are children sleeping he drops some
of these things, if the children have been good, or a whip if they
have been naughty.

So on the Eve of St. Nicholas Belgian children, before they go to bed,
fill their shoes, or sometimes a basket, with hay or carrots, and
place them near the chimney of their sleeping-room, so that when St.
Nicholas comes to the house he may find something for his donkey or
horse to eat, and in return leave presents for them.

Having made these preparations, the children ought to sing or repeat
verses addressed to the saint. Here is one of them--the one they sing
at Lierre:

"Sinte Niklaes,
Nobele Sinte Niklaes!
Werpiet in myn Schoentjen
Een Appeltjen of een limoentjen!"

This means in English: "Noble Saint Nicholas, please throw into my
little shoe just a small apple or lemon."

There is another of these rhymes which is not so polite, in which the
saint is told that if he gives something, the child will serve him for
life, but if he doesn't, the child will not serve him at all!

[Illustration: A FARMSTEADING.]

Next morning the children wake early, and jump out of bed to see what
has happened during the night. They expect to find, if St. Nicholas is
pleased with them, that the hay and carrots have disappeared, and
that their shoes are full of presents; but that if they have not been
good enough, the shoes will just be as they were the night before, and
a birch-rod stuck into the hay. But, as you may suppose, it always
turns out that St. Nicholas is pleased. The presents are there, and
amongst them there is sure to be a gingerbread figure of the saint,
which they may eat or not, as they please; so they