There was no element of Christmas in John's life, any more than there was of Easter; and probably nobody about him could have explained Easter; and he escaped all the demoralization attending Christmas gifts. Indeed, he never had any presents of any kind, either on his birthday or any other day. He expected nothing that he did not earn, or make in the way of “trade” with another boy. He was taught to work for what he received. He even earned, as I said, the extra holidays of the day after the Fourth and the day after Thanksgiving. Of the free grace and gifts of Christmas he had no conception. The single and melancholy association he had with it was the quaking hymn which his grandfather used to sing in a cracked and quavering voice: “While shepherds watched their flocks by night, All seated on the ground.” The “glory” that “shone around” at the end of it--the doleful voice always repeating, “and glory shone around “--made John as miserable as “Hark! from the tombs.” It was all one dreary expectation of something uncomfortable. It was, in short, “religion.” You'd got to have it some time; that John believed. But it lay in his unthinking mind to put off the “Hark! from the tombs” enjoyment as long as possible. He experienced a kind of delightful wickedness in indulging his dislike of hymns and of Sunday. John was not a model boy, but I cannot exactly define in what his wickedness consisted. He had no inclination to steal, nor much to lie; and he despised “meanness” and stinginess, and had a chivalrous feeling toward little girls. Probably it never occurred to him that there was any virtue in not stealing and lying, for honesty and veracity were in the atmosphere about him. He hated work, and he “got mad” easily; but he did work, and he was always ashamed when he was over his fit of passion. In short, you couldn't find a much better wicked boy than John.