ust weep--
We may rejoice in weeping"

CHRISTMAS IN ABYSSINIA.

Wherever Englishmen are on the 25th of December, there is Christmas.
Whether it be in the icy regions of the Arctic zone, or in the
sweltering heat of tropical sunshine, the coming round of the great
feast brings with it to every Englishman a hearty desire to celebrate
it duly. And if this cannot be done in exactly home-fashion, the
festival is kept as happily as circumstances will allow. In this
spirit did our soldiers keep Christmas in Abyssinia, in 1867, with the
thermometer at seventy-five in the shade, and even here the edibles
included at least one traditional dish--a joint of roast beef. There
was also an abundance of spur-fowls, guinea-fowls, venison, mutton,
&c., and the place in which the festive board was spread was decorated
with branches of fir and such other substitutes for holly and
mistletoe as could be found.

CHRISTMAS-KEEPING IN INDIA

at different periods shows the same determination of our British
soldiers to honour the Christmas festival.

In 1857, the saviours of our Indian Empire very nearly lost their
Christmas. The army was encamped at Intha, within sight of Nepaul,
waiting for the rain to clear off and the tents to dry, ere it moved
on to drive the Sepoys into the Raptee. The skies cleared on Christmas
morning, and Lord Clyde was for marching at once, but relented in time
to save the men's puddings from being spoiled--not only relented, but
himself gave a Christmas banquet, at which the favoured guests sat
down to well-served tables laden with barons of beef, turkeys, mutton,
game, fish, fowls, plum-puddings, mince-pies, &c. To allay the thirst
such substantial fare created, appeared beakers of pale ale from
Burton and Glasgow; porter from London and Dublin; champagne, moselle,
sherry, and old port, 'rather bothered by travelling twenty miles a
day on a camel back.' Following the chief's example, each regiment had
a glorious spread, and throughout the wide expanse of tents sounds of
rejoicing were heard, for the soldiers kept Christmas right merrily.

Similarly,

THE BRITISH SOLDIERS AND SAILORS IN SOUTH AFRICA

did their best to observe the Christmas festival in good old English
style, even during the sieges of Ladysmith, Kimberley, and Mafeking,
when provisions were to be had only at famine prices. The ingenious
Tommy Atkins, in distant lands, has often found sylvan substitutes for
mistletoe and holly, and nat