turkey, or a cake, or some fine
sweetmeats.

On Christmas Eve the provincial hospitals present one of their most
striking aspects to the visitor. It is a feast-day, and instead of the
usual stew, the soup called _caldo_--and very weak stuff it is--or the
stir-about and fried bread, the sick have their good sound meats,
cooked in savoury and most approved fashion, their tumbler of wine,
their extra cigar. Visitors, kindly Spanish ladies, come in, their
hands laden with sweets and tobacco, &c., and the sight of the black
silk dresses trailing over the lowly hospital couches is most human
and pathetic. At last _night_--the veritable Christmas Eve comes. The
chapels in these hospitals are generally on the ground floor, and
frequently sunk some feet below it, but open to the hospital; so that
the poor inmates who can leave their beds can hobble to the railing
and look down into the chapel--one mass of dazzling lights, glitter,
colour, and music: and thus, without the fatigue of descending the
stairs, can join in the service. At half-past eleven at night the
chapel is gaily lit up; carriage after carriage, mule-cart after
mule-cart rattles up to the hospital door, discharging crowds of
ladies and gentlemen in evening dress; thus the common people, chiefly
the young, with their tambourines and zambombas, pour into the chapel
from _Campo_, and alley, and street, and soon the chapel is filled;
while above, sitting, hobbling, lying all round the rails, and gazing
down upon the motley and noisy throng below, are the inmates of the
hospital. The priest begins the Midnight Mass, and the organs take up
the service, the whole of which, for one hour, is chanted. Meanwhile,
the tambourines and other musical instruments are busy, and join in
the strains of the organ; and the din, glitter, and excitement are
most exhilarating. And thus the occupants of the Spanish provincial
hospitals join in the festivities of Christmastide, as seen by one
who has dwelt "_Among the Spanish People_."

CHRISTMAS CUSTOMS IN NORWAY.

A writer who knows the manners and habits of the people of Norway, and
their customs at Christmastide, says:--

"At Christiania, and other Norwegian towns, there is, or used to be, a
delicate Christmas custom of offering to a lady a brooch or a pair of
earings in a truss of hay. The house-door of the person to be
complimented is pushed open, and there is thrown into the house a
truss of hay or straw, a sheaf of corn, or a