A Christmas gambol oft '.vould cheer 
A poor man's heart through half the year.” 
One ought to read the whole of that beau¬ 
tiful poem, by Sir Walter Scott, relative to 
Ancient Christmas, from which the above 
selection was taken, to appreciate its full 
beauty. 
Bringing in the Yule Logs was one of the 
most exhilerating and joyful customs of 
the season; while the burning of the log. 
itself was significant of hospitality and 
good cheer, combining, as it did, light and 
warmth. On Christmas, our ancestors were 
wont to light up candles of enormous size, 
called Christmas candles, and lay a log of 
wood upon the tire; this log was called a 
Yule Clog or Christmas block; sometimes 
these blocks were no less than great trees. 
Oftentimes, these logs were so large that 
they could not be burnt that night, and 
when such was the case, the remains were 
kept till old Christmas Eve. In bringing 
the log, or clog, into the house, required" 
much strength and strong arms; but, as it 
was thought to be a great honor to help 
drag the monarch of the forest to its final 
resting place, you may be sure willing 
hands were not lacking. Parties, dressed 
in all sorts of fantastic costumes and cur¬ 
ious disguises, would go from house to 
house and enact short plays, mostly re¬ 
lating to historical events or to the season 
itself, yet always interspersed with comic 
Interludes to make the people laugh. These 
were generally improvised for the occasion, 
but some were written out and studied. 
Many of the latter are still extant, and 
they are somewhat queer reading at this 
day. The persons who enacted these inter¬ 
ludes were called “mummers,” and their 
occupation at this time was called “going a 
mumming.” 
The Christmas carol, now usually sung 
by children before the houses on Christmas 
Eve, who are called Waits, is of very great 
antiquity, and the first noel —or carol—was 
that well-known hymn sung by the an¬ 
gels to the shepherds at our Lord’s nativity, 
and which is well-known as the “Gloria in 
Excelsis.” I wish space were allowed me 
to copy some of these carols, for, though 
many are quaint, odd and old-fashioned, 
theybear the good will, and convey good 
wishes for this happy, holy season. Did 
you ever read Charles Dickens’ story, called 
“A Christmas Carol?”—and if you have 
not, you should do so at once, for it is the 
treat of a life-time. In that, old Scrooge is 
represented as having closed his heart to 
such a sweet refrain as “God bless you, 
merry gentleman, may nothing you dis¬ 
may;” so you can see what an “awful” 
chilly disposition he had. 
The Hobby Horse at Christmas was to 
the people of the days gone b} T , what the 
clown in the circus is to many of our time; 
and even this hobby horse is introduced 
into the ring by some of the clowns; per¬ 
haps it has traveled down to them from 
centuries ago, like some of their jokes. 
The old custom was as follows: “The hob¬ 
by horse dance is a sport so-called from the 
circumstance of one of the performers 
riding the image of a horse made of thin 
boards, with a bow and arrow in his hand. 
The latter passing through a hole in the 
bow, and stopping on a shoulder, made a 
snapping noise when drawn to and fro, 
keeping time with the music. With this 
danced six others, carrying on their shoul¬ 
ders as many reindeer heads, with the 
arms of the chief families to whom the 
revenues of the town belonged. They 
danced the heys and*other country dances. 
To this hobby horse dance was appropri- 
a vessel, which was kept in turn by the 
reeves of the town, who provided cake and 
ale to put into it. All those who had any 
kindness for the good intent of the institu¬ 
tion giving pence apiece for themselves and 
families. Foreigners, also, that came to 
see it, contributed; and the money, after 
defraying the cost of cakes and ale, went 
to repair the church and support the poor, 
which charges were most cheerfully borne.” 
Christmas boxes came in many and many 
a year ago and still prevail. They were 
formerly the bounty of well-disposed per¬ 
sons, who were willing to contribute some 
thing towards rewarding the industrious 
aud supplying them with necessaries, and 
we have the same, in idea, in our Christ¬ 
mas presents. Churches were decked with 
evergreen, the mistletoe was hung in the 
hall, the mince-pie—which being a com¬ 
pound of the choicest productions of the 
