[Illustration] CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS; OR, A VISIT AT HOME. Written for the American Sunday School Union. [Illustration: KNOWLEDGE OF THE LORD AMERICAN SUNDAY SCHOOL UNION] _PHILADELPHIA_: PUBLISHED AT THE SOCIETY’S HOUSE. _I. Ashmead, Printer._ 1827. CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS; OR, A VISIT AT HOME. A mother’s hand the tottering step must guide, Her breast the pillow where the infant lies, And heaven, who gave the precious boon, designed That she should train her infant for the skies. The stage coach stopped at the door of the Academy in Abington, an hour later than the expected time, and Howard and George Barrington ran forward with eagerness, as school boys are wont to do, when they are going from a retired part of the country into the city, at the Christmas Holidays. The stage passed rapidly along the fine turnpike road; and at dusk the blowing of the horn announced their near approach to the great city; soon the coachman’s whip was thrown on the top of the vehicle, a loud ring at the door of their father’s mansion was answered by the servant in waiting; the boys beheld the cheerful lighted hall, and were soon locked in the arms of their parents and sisters, who ran out of the parlour to receive them. The parlour too was lighted, not only with lamps, but by a blazing hickory fire, for it was a cold, frosty evening, toward the end of December. “What kept you so late?” said Emma to her brother George, whose hand she still held. “I believe,” said he, “we were not longer than usual in coming, but the stage did not leave Abington for an hour after the appointed time; it was waiting for passengers, and was very much crowded.” “I thought you would never come,” said Emma. Howard, who had been in earnest conversation with his mother, now turned to George, and said, “Did you not feel sorry for poor John when he found he could not get into the coach? I really pitied him, for he was just as eager to go as we were; and I could not help thinking what a disappointment it would be to his parents, who, no doubt, were looking out as anxiously for him, as our parents were for us.” “O, don’t think about it, Howard,” said George. “I dare say he’ll get down to-morrow, and that will do as well.”