t, aside from the Christmas customs we all know so well, Uncle Sam has
many strange and special ways of observing Christmas; for in this big
country of his there are many different kinds of people, and they all do
not celebrate Christmas in the same way, as you shall see.

=IN THE SOUTH=

Siss! Bang! Boom! Sky-rockets hissing, crackers snapping, cannons
roaring, horns tooting, bells ringing, and youngsters shouting with wild
delight. That is the way Christmas begins down South.

[Illustration: CHRISTMAS IN THE SOUTH]

It starts at midnight, or even before; and all day long fire-crackers
are going off in the streets of every city, town, and village of the
South, from Virginia to Louisiana. A Northern boy, waking up suddenly in
New Orleans or Mobile or Atlanta, would think he was in the midst of
a rousing Fourth-of-July celebration. In some of the towns the brass
bands come out and add to the jollity of the day by marching around and
playing "My Maryland" and "Dixie"; while the soldier companies parade up
and down the streets to the strains of joyous music and fire salutes
with cannons and rifles.

To the girls and boys of the South, Christmas is the noisiest and
jolliest day of the year. The Fourth of July doesn't compare with it.
And as for the darkies, they look upon Christmas as a holiday that was
invented for their especial happiness. They take it for granted that all
the "white folks" they know will give them presents; and with grinning
faces they are up bright and early, asking for "Christmus gif', mistah;
Christmus gif, missus." No one thinks of refusing them, and at the end
of the day they are richer and happier than at any other time during the
whole year.

Except for the jingle of sleigh-bells and the presence of Jack Frost, a
Christmas in the South is in other ways very much like that in the
North. The houses are decorated with greens, mistletoe hangs above the
doorways, Santa Claus comes down the chimneys and fills the waiting
stockings, while Christmas dinner is not complete without the familiar
turkey and cranberry sauce, plum puddings and pies.

=IN NEW ENGLAND=

For a great many years there was no Christmas in New England. The
Pilgrims and the Puritans did not believe in such celebrations. In fact,
they often made it a special point to do their hardest work on Christmas
day, just to show their contempt for what they considered a pagan
festi