180 Idylls of the Field. 



Rocky Mountains, from Panama to the north of 

 Canada, far surpasses the domestic breed both in size 

 and in the beauty of its plumage. Audubon writes of 

 wild turkeys of thirty and forty, and even alludes, 

 though somewhat doubtfully, to a monster of sixty 

 pounds' weight. 



The weight of the famous bird which Scrooge de- 

 clared would need a cab to carry it to Camden Town 

 is not stated in pounds. Perhaps it is merely a 

 question of resistance of material to find how much it 

 would take to snap a bird's legs ' off short like sticks of 

 sealing-wax.' 



The festival in which the penitent figure of Dickens's 

 pleasant story played so prominent a part is honoured 

 again to-day by all sorts of men under all sorts of con- 

 ditions. 



In lonely outposts high up among Himalayan snows, 

 on the wild waves of distant seas, on the fringe of the 

 New Zealand bush, under the fierce Australian sun, 

 men to-day will lay aside for a brief space the thought 

 of danger and the race for wealth, to dream of home, 

 and kin, and far-off firesides that for them may never 

 brighten more. 



In many a jovial circle here at home will be read 

 and re-read the ever-welcome story of those midnight 

 visitors, that to the reluctant Scrooge played the part 

 of ministering angels. 



Never was the touch of the master brighter or better 



