XIV. 



' I ^HE Christmas carol, sung by a chorus of fresh 

 -*- children's voices, is jjerhaps the most perfect 

 expression of the spirit of Christmastide. Especiall)' 

 is this true of the old English and German carols, 

 which seem to grow only sweeter, more mellow, more 

 perfectly expressive of the love and good-will that 

 inspired them, as the years go by. Yet always at 

 Christmas time there is with me the memory of one 

 carol sweeter than all, which was sung to me alone 

 by a little minstrel from the far north, with the wind 

 in the pines humming a soft accompaniment. 



Doubtless many readers have sometimes seen in 

 winter flocks of stranger birds — fluffy gray visitors, 

 almost as large as a robin — flying about the lawns 

 with soft whistling calls, or feeding on the ground, so 

 tame and fearless that they barely move aside as you 



iSi 



