“Dey tells me,” said Aunt Crissy, in a sub-dued tone, “dat de cows know when Chris'mas come, an' many's de time I year my mammy say dat when twelve o'clock come on Chris'mas-eve night, de cows gits down on der knees in de lot an' stays dat-away some little time. Ef anybody else had er tole me dat I'd a des hooted at um, but, mammy, she say she done seed um do it. I ain't never seed um do it myse'f, but mammy say she seed um.” “I bin year talk er dat myse'f,” said Harbert, reverently, “an' dey tells me dat de cattle gits down an' prays bekaze dat's de time when de Lord an' Saviour wuz born'd.” “Now, don't dat beat all!” exclaimed Aunt Crissy. “Ef de dumb creeturs kin say der pra'rs, I dunner what folks ought ter be doin'.” “An' dar's de chickens,” Harbert went on--“look like dey know der's sump'n up. Dis ve'y night I year de roosters crowin' fo' sev'n o'clock. I year tell dat dey crows so soon in sign dat Peter made deniance un his Lord an' Marster.” “I speck dat's so,” said Aunt Crissy. “Hit bleedze ter be so,” responded the old man with the emphasis that comes from conviction. Then he intimated that it was time for the children to go to bed if they wanted to get up early the next morning to see what Sandy Claus had brought. This was a suggestion the youngsters could appreciate, and they scrambled out of the door and went racing to the big house. Before sunrise the plantation was in a stir. The negroes, rigged out in their Sunday clothes, were laughing, singing, wrestling, and playing. The mules and horses having been fed and turned in the pasture for a holiday, were capering about; the cows were lowing in a satisfied manner, the dogs were barking, the geese screaming, the turkeys “yelping” and gobbling, and the chickens cackling. A venerable billy-goat, with a patriarchal beard and the rings of many summers marked on his broad and crumpled horns, had marched up one of the long arms of the packing-screw and was now perched motionless on the very pinnacle of that quaint structure, making a picturesque addition to the landscape, as he stood outlined against the reddening eastern sky.