ed for help and tried to roll
herself in the bed clothes; but the bed, being covered with a lace
coverlet and curtained with muslin was also set on fire, and soon the
whole room was ablaze. By the time help arrived the girl's clothes
were all burning into the flesh; but such was her vitality that, in
spite of the dreadful state in which every inch of her body was, she
survived the accident many hours.

Similar disasters occurred at Christmas festivities in 1889, at
Detroit, and in 1891, at Wortley, Leeds. In the former several little
children were fatally burnt, and in the latter fifteen children were
set on fire, eleven of them fatally.

[Illustration]

CHRISTMAS LITERATURE

is too large a subject to enter upon at length, for a bulky volume
would scarcely suffice to describe the numerous Christmas annuals,
illustrated Christmas numbers, newspaper supplements and variety
papers which have become popular at Christmastide since the first
appearance of Dickens's "Christmas Stories." The development of the
Christmas trade in this light literature has been marvellous, and it
is increasing year by year. And the same may be said of the charming
gift-books which are published annually just before Christmas.

CHRISTMAS LETTER MISSIONS.

Through the various letter missions that have been established
thousands of Christmas letters and illustrated missives, bright with
anecdote, are despatched annually to the inmates of convalescent homes
and hospitals, and are heartily welcomed by the recipients, for every
one likes to be remembered on Christmas Day.

THE POST-OFFICE OFFICIALS AND POSTMEN

have, however, been very heavily weighted with these new Christmas
customs. They have inflicted upon postmen and letter-sorters an amount
of extra labour that is almost incredible. The postal-parcel work is
also very heavy at the festive season.

THE RAILWAYS AT CHRISTMAS.

"Home for the holidays, here we go;
Bless me, the train is exceedingly slow!
Pray, Mr. Engineer, get up your steam,
And let us be off, with a puff and a scream!
We have two long hours to travel, you say;
Come, Mr. Engineer, gallop away!"[92]

This familiar verse recalls the eagerness of the schoolboy to be home
for the Christmas holidays. And adults are no less eager to join their
friends at the festive season; many travel long journeys in order to
do so. Hence the great pressure of work on railway employes, and the
congested state of the t