In The Yule-Log Glow--Book 3 | Page 7

air.
But Casper gives a happy shout,
And hastens to the stall;
"Now,
hail!" he cries, "thou Son of God,
And Saviour of us all."
_A. Mary F. Robinson._
CHRISTMAS AT SEA.
The sheets were frozen hard, and they cut the naked hand; The decks

were like a slide, where a seaman scarce could stand; The wind was a
nor'wester, blowing squally off the sea;
And cliffs and spouting
breakers were the only things a-lee.
They heard the surf a-roaring before the break of day;
But 'twas only
with the peep of light we saw how ill we lay. We tumbled every hand
on deck instanter, with a shout,
And we gave her the maintops'l, and
stood by to go about.
All day we tacked and tacked between the South Head and the North;
All day we hauled the frozen sheets, and got no further forth; All day as
cold as charity, in bitter pain and dread,
For very life and nature, we
tacked from head to head.
We gave the South a wider berth, for there the tide-race roared; But
every tack we made we brought the North Head close aboard; So's we
saw the cliffs and houses, and the breakers running high, And the
coast-guard in his garden, with his glass against his eye.
The frost was on the village roofs as white as ocean foam; The good
red fires were burning bright in every 'longshore home; The windows
sparkled clear, and the chimneys volleyed out; And I vow we sniffed
the victuals as the vessel went about.
The bells upon the church were rung with a mighty jovial cheer; For it's
just that I should tell you how (of all days in the year) This day of our
adversity was blessed Christmas morn,
And the house above the
coast-guard's was the house where I was born.
Oh, well I saw the pleasant room, the pleasant faces there, My mother's
silver spectacles, my father's silver hair;
And well I saw the firelight,
like a flight of homely elves, Go dancing round the china plates that
stand upon the shelves.
And well I knew the talk they had, the talk that was of me, Of the
shadow on the household, and the son that went to sea; And, oh, the
wicked fool I seemed, in every kind of way,
To be here and hauling

frozen ropes on blessed Christmas Day.
They lit the high sea-light, and the dark began to fall.
"All hands to
loose topgallant sails!" I heard the captain call. "By the Lord, she'll
never stand it," our first mate, Jackson, cried. ... "It's the one way or the
other, Mr. Jackson," he replied.
She staggered to her bearings, but the sails were new and good, And the
ship smelt up to windward just as though she understood. As the
winter's day was ending, in the entry of the night, We cleared the weary
headland, and passed below the light.
And they heaved a mighty breath, every soul on board but me, As they
saw her nose again pointing handsome out to sea;
But all that I could
think of, in the darkness and the cold, Was just that I was leaving home
and my folks were growing old.
_Robert Louis Stevenson._
"LAST CHRISTMAS WAS A YEAR AGO."
(THE OLD LADY SPEAKS.)
Last Christmas was a year ago
Says I to David, I-says-I,
"We're
goin' to mornin' service, so
You hitch up right away: I'll try
To tell
the girls jes what to do
Fer dinner. We'll be back by two."
I didn't
wait to hear what he
Would more'n like say back to me,
But banged
the stable-door and flew
Back to the house, jes plumb chilled
through.
Cold! _Wooh!_ how cold it was! My-oh!
Frost flyin', and the air, you
know--
"Jes sharp enough," heerd David swear,
"To shave a man
and cut his hair!"
And blow _and_ blow! and _snow_ and SNOW,

Where it had drifted 'long the fence
And 'crost the road,--some places,
though,
Jes swep' clean to the gravel, so
The goin' was as bad fer
sleighs
As 't was fer wagons,--and _both_ ways,
'Twixt snow-drifts

and the bare ground, I've
Jes wondered we got through alive;
I
hain't saw nothin' 'fore er sence
'At beat it _anywheres_ I know--

Last Christmas was a year ago.
And David said, as we set out,
'At Christmas services was 'bout
As
cold and wuthless kind o' love
To offer up as _he_ knowed of;
And,
as fer _him_, he railly thought
'At the Good Bein' up above
Would
think more of us--as he ought--
A-stayin' home on sich a day
And
thankin' of him thataway.
And jawed on in an undertone,
'Bout
leavin' Lide and Jane alone
There on the place, and me not there
To
oversee 'em, and p'pare
The stuffin' for the turkey, and
The sass and
all, you understand.
I've always managed David by
Jes sayin' nothin'. That was why

He'd chased Lide's beau away--'cause Lide
She'd allus take up Perry's
side
When David tackled him; and so,
Last Christmas was a year
ago,--
Er ruther 'bout a week