raffic at Christmastide. Two or three days
before Christmas Day the newspapers publish what are called "railway
arrangements," detailing the privileges granted by this and that
company, and presenting the holiday traveller with a sort of
appetising programme; and any one who will spend an hour at any of the
great termini of the metropolis at this period can see the remarkable
extent to which the public avail themselves of the facilities offered.
The growth of railway travelling at Christmastide has, indeed, been
marvellous in recent years, and it becomes greater every year. The
crowded state of the railway stations, and the trains that roll out of
them heavily laden with men, women, and children, wedged together by
parcels bursting with good cheer, show most unmistakably that we have
not forgotten the traditions of Christmas as a time of happy
gatherings in the family circles of Old England.

* * * * *

But, as there is also much Christmas-keeping in other parts of the
world, we pass now to--

[79] Huish's "Life of George the Third."

[80] _Gentleman's Magazine_, 1790.

[81] Copied from an undated leaflet inserted in the
British Museum copy of Brand's "Antiquities," by the late
Mr Joseph Hazlewood.

[82] Hone's "Every-day Book," 1826.

[83] Herbert H. Adams.

[84] "A black Christmas makes a fat kirk-yard." A windy
Christmas and a calm Candlemas are signs of a good year.

[85] The "savoury haggis" (from _hag_ to chop) is a dish
commonly made in a sheep's maw, of its lungs, heart, and
liver, mixed with suet, onions, salt, and pepper; or of
oatmeal mixed with the latter, without any animal food.

[86] F. Lawrence.

[87] "Old English Customs and Charities," 1842.

[88] "Biographical Lectures."

[89] "History of Berks," vol. xxv.

[90] "Grim, King of the Ghosts."

[91] "Old Times and Distant Places," 1875.

[92] Eliza Cook.

[Illustration]

_CHAPTER XII._

MODERN CHRISTMASES ABROAD.

CHRISTMAS-KEEPING IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS, 1850-1.

"The bluejackets are generally better hands than the red-coats at
improvising a jollification--Jack, at any rate, does not take his
pleasures sadly. The gallant bands that have from time to time gone
forth to a bloodless campaign in the icy north, have always managed to
keep their Christmas right joyously. Certainly they could not complain
of uncongenial skies or u