Christmas Day [Illustration: Christmas Day] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [Illustration: We were escorted by a number of gentleman-like dogs] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHRISTMAS DAY BY WASHINGTON IRVING PICTURES IN COLOUR BY CECIL ALDIN NEW YORK: HODDER & STOUGHTON ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ILLUSTRATIONS We were escorted by a number of gentleman-like dogs The editions of Caxton and Wynkin de Worde were his delight Winding all up by a nasal solo The dinner was served up in the Great Hall The little beings were as happy about him as the mock fairies about Falstaff Master Simon led the van ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [Illustration: Christmas Day] WHEN I awoke the next morning, it seemed as if all the events of the preceding evening had been a dream, and nothing but the identity of the ancient chamber convinced me of their reality. While I lay musing on my pillow, I heard the sound of little feet pattering outside of the door, and a whispering consultation. Presently a choir of small voices chanted forth an old Christmas carol, the burden of which was: Rejoice, our Saviour He was born On Christmas Day in the morning. I rose softly, slipped on my clothes, opened the door suddenly, and beheld one of the most beautiful little fairy groups that a painter could imagine. It consisted of a boy and two girls, the eldest not more than six, and lovely as seraphs. They were going the rounds of the house, and singing at every chamber door; but my sudden appearance frightened them into mute bashfulness. They remained for a moment playing on their lips with their fingers, and now and then stealing a shy glance from under their eyebrows, until, as if by one impulse, they scampered away, and as they turned an angle of the gallery, I heard them laughing in triumph at their escape. The house was surrounded with evergreens, according to the English custom, which would have given almost an appearance of summer; but the morning was extremely frosty; the light vapour of the preceding evening had been precipitated by the cold, and covered all the trees and every blade of grass with its fine crystallisations.