In the Yule-Log Glow, Book II

In the Yule-Log Glow, Book II,
by Various

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Title: In the Yule-Log Glow, Book II Christmas Tales from 'Round the
World
Author: Various
Editor: Harrison S. Morris
Release Date: August 20, 2006 [EBook #19084]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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YULE-LOG GLOW, BOOK II ***

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IN THE YULE-LOG GLOW

CHRISTMAS TALES FROM 'ROUND THE WORLD
"Sic as folk tell ower at a winter ingle"
Scott
EDITED BY
HARRISON S. MORRIS
THREE VOLUMES IN ONE.
Book II.
PHILADELPHIA
J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 1900.
Copyright, 1891, by J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY.
PRINTED BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY, PHILADELPHIA.

CONTENTS OF BOOK II
CHRISTMAS WITH THE BARON By Angelo J. Lewis.
A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE By Harrison S. Morris.
SALVETTE AND BERNADOU From the French of Alphonse Daudet.
By Harrison S. Morris.
THE WOLF TOWER
THE PEACE EGG By Juliana Horatia Ewing.
A STORY OF NUREMBERG By Agnes Repplier.
A PICTURE OF THE NATIVITY BY FRA FILIPPO LIPPI By Vernon

Lee.
MELCHIOR'S DREAM By Juliana Horatia Ewing.
MR. GRAPEWINE'S CHRISTMAS DINNER By Harrison S. Morris.

ILLUSTRATIONS, BOOK II.
THE DAUGHTER OF THE BARON
THE HOSPITAL
MUMMERS
"A HILLY COUNTRY"

A Droll Chapter by a Swiss Gossip.
"I here beheld an agreeable old fellow, forgetting age, and showing the
way to be young at sixty-five."
Goldsmith.

CHRISTMAS WITH THE BARON.
I.
Once upon a time--fairy tales always begin with once upon a
time--once upon a time there lived in a fine old castle on the Rhine a
certain Baron von Schrochslofsleschshoffinger. You will not find it an
easy name to pronounce; in fact, the baron never tried it himself but
once, and then he was laid up for two days afterwards; so in future we
will merely call him "the baron," for shortness, particularly as he was
rather a dumpy man.

After having heard his name, you will not be surprised when I tell you
that he was an exceedingly bad character. For a baron, he was
considered enormously rich; a hundred and fifty pounds a year would
not be thought much in this country; but still it will buy a good deal of
sausage, which, with wine grown on the estate, formed the chief
sustenance of the baron and his family.
Now, you will hardly believe that, notwithstanding he was the
possessor of this princely revenue, the baron was not satisfied, but
oppressed and ground down his unfortunate tenants to the very last
penny he could possibly squeeze out of them. In all his exactions he
was seconded and encouraged by his steward Klootz, an old rascal who
took a malicious pleasure in his master's cruelty, and who chuckled and
rubbed his hands with the greatest apparent enjoyment when any of the
poor landholders could not pay their rent, or afforded him any
opportunity for oppression.
Not content with making the poor tenants pay double value for the land
they rented, the baron was in the habit of going round every now and
then to their houses and ordering anything he took a fancy to, from a fat
pig to a pretty daughter, to be sent up to the castle. The pretty daughter
was made parlor-maid, but as she had nothing a year, and to find
herself, it wasn't what would be considered by careful mothers an
eligible situation. The fat pig became sausage, of course.
Things went on from bad to worse, till, at the time of our story,
between the alternate squeezings of the baron and his steward, the poor
tenants had very little left to squeeze out of them. The fat pigs and
pretty daughters had nearly all found their way up to the castle, and
there was little left to take.
[Illustration: The Daughter of the Baron]
The only help the poor fellows had was the baron's only daughter, Lady
Bertha, who always had a kind word, and frequently something more
substantial, for them when her father was not in the way.
Now, I'm not going to describe Bertha, for the simple reason that if I

did you would imagine that she was the fairy I'm going to tell you
about, and she isn't. However, I don't mind giving you a few outlines.
In the first place, she was exceedingly tiny,--the nicest girls, the real
lovable little pets, always are tiny,--and she had long silken black hair,