ch household was busy making ready for the day of
days, the season of seasons.

What a time those _hausfraus_ had polishing up their silver, pewter,
brass, and copper treasures, in opening up best rooms, and newly
sanding the floors in devious intricate designs! What a pile of wood
was burned to bake the huge turkeys, pies, and puddings! What pains
the fathers took to select the rosiest apples and the choicest nuts to
put in each child's stocking on Christmas Eve. Fortunately, children
obeyed the injunction of Scripture in those days, and despised not the
day of small things.

How fortunate it was that there were no trains or other rapid modes
of conveyance to bring visitors from the Puritan Colonies at this
season. There was no possibility of any of their strict neighbors
dropping in unexpectedly to furnish a free lecture, while the Dutch
families were merrily dancing. The Puritans were located less than two
hundred and eighty-five miles distant, yet they were more distantly
separated by ideas than by space. But a little leaven was eventually
to penetrate the entire country, and the customs that are now observed
each Christmas throughout the Eastern, Middle, and Western States, are
mainly such as were brought to this country by the Dutch. Americans
have none of their own. In fact, they possess but little that is
distinctively their own because they are a conglomerate nation,
speaking a conglomerate language.

According to the late Lawrence Hutton, "Our Christmas carols appear to
have come from the Holy Land itself; our Christmas trees from the East
by way of Germany; our Santa Claus from Holland; our stockings hung in
the chimney, from France or Belgium; and our Christmas cards and
verbal Christmas greetings, our Yule-logs, our boars' heads, our plum
puddings and our mince pies from England. Our turkey is, seemingly,
our only contribution." Let us add the squash-pie!

[Illustration: CHILDREN OF MANY NATIONALITIES AT CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION
IN A NEW YORK SCHOOL.

Chinese, Italians, Swedes, Irish, English, German, French, Russian,
Austrian.]

These customs which have become general throughout the United States,
varying of course in different localities, are being rapidly
introduced into the new possessions where they are engrafted on some
of the prettiest customs observed by the people in former years. In
Porto Rico on Christmas Day they have a church procession of
children in beautiful costumes, which is a very at