208 CHRISTMAS DAY. 



solitude. After this we met together in the cabin, and 

 gave our thanks in our own modest way for the bless- 

 ings which kind Heaven had vouchsafed us ; and 

 then each one set himself about his allotted duties. It 

 is needless to say that these duties concerned chiefly 

 the preparation and advancement of every thing 

 which concerned a " Christmas dinner." The officers 

 dressed the cabin with flags, and the sailors decorated 

 their walls and beams with stripes of red, wdiite, and 

 blue flannel which was loaned to them from the 

 ship's stores. The schooner was illuminated through- 

 out, and every lamp was called into requisition. An 

 extra allowance of oil was granted to the occasion, 

 and the upper-deck was refulgent with light. Two 

 immense chandeliers were constructed for the dinner- 

 tables, and some gold and silver paper, strings of span- 

 gles, and strips of braid, kindly presented to us by 

 Mr. Horstmann for the winter theatricals, which have 

 never come off, covered the wood of which they were 

 composed, and gave them quite an air of splendor; 

 while two dozen of spermacetti candles brilliantly 

 illuminated the apartments in which they hung. 



A short time before the dinner-hour I visited the 

 men's quarters, at their request, and was as much 

 gratified with the taste that they had exhibited as 

 with the heartiness with which they entered into the 

 spirit of the day. Every nook and corner of the hold 

 was as clean and tidy as possible. Everybody was 

 busy and delighted. The cook might, however, be 

 regarded as an exception to the latter rule, for the 

 success of everybody's projects depended upon his 

 skill, and he was closely watched. I halted at his 

 red-hot galley-stove, and wished him a merry Christ- 

 mas. " Tank you, sar ! " said he ; " but I gets no time 



