organ peals out, the priests and choir chant at this midnight hour the
Christmas hymn, and at last (in some out-of-the-way towns) the
priests, in gaudiest robes, bring out from under the altar and expose
aloft to the crowds, in swaddling-clothes of gold and white, the Babe
new-born, and all fall down and cross themselves in mute adoration.
This service is universal, and is called the "Misa del Gallo," or
Cock-crow Mass, and even in Madrid it is customary to attend it. There
are three masses also on Christmas Day, and the Church rule, strictly
observed, is that if a man fail to attend this Midnight Mass he must,
to save his religious character, attend all three on Christmas Day. In
antique towns, like Eija, there are two days' early mass (called "Misa
di Luz") anterior to the "Misa del Gallo," at 4 a.m., and in the raw
morning the churches are thronged with rich and poor. In that strange,
old-world town, also, the chief dame goes to the Midnight Mass, all
her men-servants in procession before her, each playing a different
instrument.

Christmas Eve is over. It is 1.30 a.m. on Christmas morning, and the
crowds, orderly, devout, cheerful, are wending their way home. Then
all is hushed; all have sought repose; there are no drunken riots; the
dark streets are lit by the tiny oil lamps; the watchman's monotonous
cry alone is heard, "Ave Maria purissima; las dos; y sereno."

The three masses at the churches on Christmas Day are all chanted to
joyous music. Then the poor come in to pay their rent of turkeys,
pigs, olives, or what not, to their landlord, and he gives them a
Christmas-box: such as a piece of salt fish, or money, or what may be.
Then, when you enter your house, you will find on your table, with the
heading, "A Happy Christmas," a book of little leaflets, printed with
verses. These are the petitions of the postman, scavenger, telegraph
man, newsboy, &c., asking you for a Christmas-box. Poor fellows! they
get little enough, and a couple of francs is well bestowed on them
once a year. After mid-day breakfast or luncheon is over, rich and
poor walk out and take the air, and a gaudy, pompous crowd they form
as a rule. As regards presents at Christmas, the rule is, in primitive
Spain, to send a present to the _Cura_ (parish priest) and the doctor.
Many Spaniards pay a fixed annual sum to their medical man, and he
attends all the family, including servants. His salary is sent to him
at Christmas, with the addition of a