6o AROUND AN OLD HOMESTEAD. 



after the toil of the week to his cottage at the close 

 of day. — 



"At length his lonely cot appears in view, 



Beneath the sheher of an aged tree ; 

 Th' expectant wee things, todlin', stacher thro' 



To meet their dad wi' flichterin' noise and glee. 

 His wee bit ingle blinkin' bonnilie, 



His clean hearth-stane, his thriftie wifie's smile, 

 The lisping infant prattling on his knee, 



Does a' his weary, carking cares beguile. 



An' makes him quite forget his labor and his toil." 



And, later, 



"The cheerful' supper done, wi' serious face 



They, round the ingle, form a circle wide; 

 The sire turns o'er, wi' patriarchal grace. 

 The big Ha'-Bible, ance his father's pride:" 



and hymns are sung, and the Scriptures read, and 

 prayers are offered, in the firelight. 



It was around the logs on winter nights, according 

 to Macaulay's "Lays of Ancient Rome," that the cus- 

 tom was, in the old Roman days, to relate the story 

 of Horatius and his brave defense of the bridge. The 

 hearth was consecrated to Vesta, and the Lares and 

 Penates were the household gods. 



The Yule log was a great institution in old England. 

 It was a huge affair, sometimes a full, unsplit trunk 

 of a tree, brought to the door by horses, or a large 

 tree-root whole; and it was always lit from a chunk 

 of the old log, saved from last year's burning and kept 

 carefully preserved for that purpose. A great deal 

 of the romance attached to the open fireplace clusters 

 about the Yule log and its association of the mistletoe 

 and Christmas-tide. Says old Drayton: 



