uding to military operations. It did more than allude, it
ventured to doubt the wisdom of our generals. As many other journals
have done the same I do not understand why the _Patrie_ should have been
singled out for vengeance.

CHAPTER XV.

_December 25th._

Real Christmas weather--that is to say, the earth is as hard as a
brickbat, and the wind freezes one to the very marrow. To the rich man,
with a good coal fire in his grate, turkey, roast beef, plum pudding,
and mince pies on his table, and his family gorging themselves on the
solid eatables, a frost at Christmas is very pleasant. Poor people
cowering in their rags before the door of a union, cold, hungry, and
forlorn, or munching their dry bread in some cheerless garret, may not
perhaps so fully appreciate its advantages; but then we all know that
poor people never are contented, and seldom understand the fitness of
things. Here in Paris, the numbed soldiers out in the open fields, and
the women and children, who have no fires and hardly any food, bitterly
complain of the "seasonable" weather. With plenty of money, with warm
clothes, and a good house, a hard frost has its charms, without them it
is not quite so agreeable. For my part I confess that I never have seen
a paterfamilias with his coat tails raised, basking himself before his
fire, and prating about the delights of winter, and the healthy glow
which is caused by a sharp frost, without feeling an irresistible desire
to transplant him stark naked to the highest peak of Mont Blanc, in
order to teach by experience what winter means to thousands of his
fellow-creatures. We are not having a "merry Christmas," and we are not
likely to have a happy new year. Christmas is not here the great holiday
of the year, as it is in England. Still, everyone in ordinary times
tries to have a better dinner than usual, and usually where there are
children in a family some attempt is made to amuse them. Among the
bourgeoisie they are told to put their shoes in the grate on
Christmas-eve, and the next morning some present is found in them, which
is supposed to have been left during the night by the Infant Jesus.
Since the Empire introduced English ways here, plum-pudding and
mincepies have been eaten, and even Christmas-trees have flourished.
This year these festive shrubs, as an invention of the detested foe,
have been rigidly tabooed. Plum-puddings and mincepies, too, will appear
on few tables. In order to comfort t