126 THE HOME OF A NATURALIST. 



the youngest. The three houses were as nearly as 

 possible equidistant from each other — something less 

 than half a mile. Amongst the three families, we 

 managed to make the most of the festive season. 

 Christmas proper, namely, the 25 th of December, was 

 " kept " by , us, the members of the other two families 

 spending the day with us; and on New Year's day, 

 Aunt Mary had us all at her decorous and kindly 

 board. But the juveniles reckoned these as very mild 

 and milk-and-water affairs. Yule, namely, the 6th of 

 January, was the great day, which true to his Con- 

 servative instincts and principles, my uncle celebrated 

 much, I fancy, as it had been celebrated by our fore- 

 fathers in the old house from time immemorial, and 

 into which was crowded an extraordinary amount of 

 feasting and mirth and innocent revelry. He also 

 kept Auld New'r'sday (13th January); and we, the 

 boys, were always invited to his house for the week 

 from Yule e'en till after Auld New'r'sday ; and didn't 

 we just have a right royal time of it ! You shall ■ 

 hear. 



Certain very important preparations for the Yule 

 festival had always to be made. We invariably got a 

 new suit of clothes for the occasion — the cloth not 

 unfrequently the gift of our kind uncle. But whether 

 a gift or a purchase, it was always much easier to get 

 the cloth than the clothes. It required a tremendous 

 struggle to have our outfit ready in time. Our island, 

 it is true, could boast of a professional tailor who had 

 " served his time " in Lerwick, and understood his trade 



