Her father picked Oisette up in his arms, and they went down a long side aisle to visit the manger of the Infant Christ. There it was, very lifelike indeed; piles of straw, heads of cattle, the Infant Christ in wax was lying in some straw, and there were kneeling figures of Joseph and Mary by its side. After a while Oisette and her father were seated in a pew very close to the chancel and she could see the priests, nineteen in all, who waited on the archbishop; then the little acolytes, six in number, who waited on the priests, were a pretty sight. The organ played "Adeste Fidelis." Then the mass began. The incense poured up in volumes toward the groined roof. At last Oisette fell asleep on "bote of de eye," as the French Canadian would express it, and she never awakened until they were traveling homeward again. [Illustration: "SOME OF THE BOYS ARRIVING ON SNOWSHOES BROUGHT FRIENDS WITH THEM"] "Do you know where you are, little one?" asked the father, as he cracked his whip. "I am on the front seat with mon père," she replied with a sleepy smile, and curled up again like a little dormouse. Now one would imagine that when her home was reached, Oisette Mary would, before going to bed, hang up her stocking and prepare for a visit from Santa Claus; or even--it being about two o'clock in the morning--that she might find he had already filled her stocking or decked a Christmas tree for her delight. Not a bit of it! The French Canadian child does not give nor does she receive gifts on Christmas Day. For these people the day is simply a religious festival; a holy day rather than a holiday. So Oisette Mary, at two o'clock in the morning of Christmas Day, was given a bowl of hot pea soup, with plenty of onion in it--and put to bed. CHAPTER III NEW YEAR'S DAY NEW Year's Eve in the Province of Quebec is quite another story; when that time arrived Oisette Mary was allowed to keep very late hours. Her brothers and sisters were all at home; some of the boys arriving on snowshoes brought friends with them. A fiddler came (one could hardly call him a violinist). He sat on a chair which had been placed on a table; from this platform he called the dances and played his fiddle and beat time with his foot and sometimes, too, he sang to the music, and so did all the company. It was an orgy of sound. Oisette kept awake until after supper; she was allowed a generous slice of an especially prepared cake known as "gillete du beurre" which the well-to-do _Habitant_ serves to his guests at this season. Her pockets were full of nuts and raisins, and she was holding a new doll in her arms. As they arrived, every one kissed her on both cheeks, as is the French custom, and every one called out "Heureux Année" to her; which is their way of saying "Happy New Year."