OUR CHRISTMAS PARTY. BY OLD MERRY, Author of “A Chat with the Boys on New Year’s Eve;” “Fireside Chats with the Youngsters;” Editor of “Merry and Wise,” &c. [Illustration] London: JACKSON, WALFORD, & HODDER, 27, PATERNOSTER ROW. MDCCCLXVII. LONDON: UNWIN BROTHERS, GRESHAM STEAM PRESS, BUCKLERSBURY, E.C. CONTENTS. PAGE Preparations 1 The Party 3 The Meandering Musician 9 Great Reform Debate and Demonstration 21 Round the Fire after Supper 32 Frozen up. W. H. G. KINGSTON 35 A Rescue in the Rocky Mountains. R. M. BALLANTYNE 60 Lost and Found. EDWIN HODDER 74 Castle Connor. MONA B. BICKERSTAFFE 87 The Black Dragoon. SIDNEY DARYL 97 A Christmas Dinner at Dr. Lickemwell’s. R. HOPE MONCRIEFF 112 A Wild Yule E’en. CYNTHA 129 Conclusion 144 OLD MERRY’S CHRISTMAS PARTY. PREPARATIONS. “Rebecca, I am going to give a party to some young folks on Christmas Eve, and so you must hold yourself in readiness for the occasion.” Rebecca is my housekeeper, the best-hearted old soul that ever lived; she perfectly agrees with my arrangements in the main, but feels bound, for some reason which I have never attempted to fathom, invariably to object to them at the first start, and then to fall into them enthusiastically afterwards. “Lor a mussy, Sir! them parties—” I must here say that Rebecca despises the English Grammar; next to Baron Munchausen, who she somewhat irreverently calls the “father of lies,” she objects to Lindley Murray. It was not very often that she was really “put out” about anything, but when she was her grammar was much worse than at other times. Just as when a foreigner, who has lived in England for years, and knows the language perfectly, gets into a rage, he instinctively falls back upon his native tongue for expression.