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Speaker 1: Christmas in England by Washington Irving, there is nothing in

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England but exercises a more delightful spell over my imagination

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than the lingerings of the holiday customs and rural games

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of former times. They recall the pictures my fancy used

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to draw in the May morning of life, when as

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yet I only knew the world through books and believed

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it to be all that poets had painted it. And

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they bring with them the flavor of those honest days

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of yore, in which, perhaps with equal fallacy, I am

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apt to think the world was more home bred, social,

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and joyous than at present. I regret to say that

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they are daily growing more and more faint, being gradually

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worn away by time, but still more obliterated by modern fashion.

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They resemble those picturesque morsels of Gothic architecture which we

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see crumbling in various parts of the country, partly dilapidated

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by the waste of ages and partly lost in the

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additions and alterations of latter days. Poetry, however, clings with

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cherishing fondness about the rural game and holiday revel from

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which it has derived so many of its themes. As

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the ivy winds its rich foliage about the Gothic arch

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and moldering tower, gratefully repaying their support by clasping together

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their tottering remains, and as it were, embalming them in verdure.

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Of all the old festivals, however, that of Christmas awakens

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the strongest and most heartfelt associations. There is a tone

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of solemn and sacred feeling that blends with ot and viviality,

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and lifts the spirit to a state of hallowed and

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elevated enjoyment. The services of the Church about this season

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are extremely tender and inspiring. They dwell on the beautiful

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story of the origin of our faith and the pastoral

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scenes that accompanied its announcement. They gradually increase in fervor

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and pathos during the season of Advent, until they break

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forth in jubilee on the morning that brought peace and

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good will to men. I do not know a grander

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effect of music on the moral feelings. And to hear

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the full choir and the pealing organ performing a Christmas

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anthem in the cathedral and filling every part of the

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vast pile with triumphant harmony, it is a beautiful arrangement.

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Also derived from days of yore that this festival, which

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commemorates the announcement of the religion of Peace and Love,

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has been made the season for gathering together of family

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connections and drawing closer again those bonds of kindred hearts

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which the cares and pleasures and sorrows of the world

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are continually operating to cast loose, of calling back the

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children of a family, who have launched forth in life

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and wandered widely asunder once more to assemble about the

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paternal hearth, that rallying place of the affections, there to

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grow young and loving again among the endearing mementoes of childhood.

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There is something in the very season of the year

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that gives a charm to the festivity of Christmas. At

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other times we derive a great portion of our pleasures

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from the mere beauties of nature. In the course of

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a December tour in Yorkshire, I rode for some distance

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in one of the public coaches on the day preceding Christmas.

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The coach was crowded both inside and out with passengers who,

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by their talk seemed principally bound to the mansions of

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relations and friends to eat the Christmas dinner. It was

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loaded also withers of game, and baskets and boxes of delicacies,

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and hares hung dangling their long ears about the coachman's

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box presents from distant friends for the impending feasts. I

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had three fine, rosy cheeked schoolboys for my fellow passengers, inside,

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full of the buxom health and manly spirits which I

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have observed in the children of this country. They were

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returning home for the holidays in high glee and promising

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themselves a world of enjoyment. It was delightful to hear

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the gigantic plans of pleasure of the little rogues and

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the impracticable feats they were to perform during their six

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weeks emancipation from the abhorred thraldom of book Birch and Pedagogue.

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They were full of anticipations of the meeting with the

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family and household down to the very cat and dog,

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and of the joy they were to give their little

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sisters by the presents with which their pockets were crammed.

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But the meeting to which they seemed to look forward

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with the greatest impatience was with Bantam, which I found

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to be a pony and, according to their talk, possessed

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of more virtues than any steed since the days of Bucephalus.

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How he could trot, how he could run, and then

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such leaps as he would take. There was not a

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hedge in the whole country that he could not clear.

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They were under the particular guardianship of the coachman, to whom,

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whenever an opportunity presented, they addressed a host of questions

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and pronounced him one of the best fellows in the

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whole world. Indeed, I could not but notice the more

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than ordinary air of bustle and importance of the coachman,

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who wore his hat a little on one side and

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had a large bunch of Christmas greens stuck in the

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buttonhole of his coat. He is always a personage full

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of mighty care and bud business, and he is particularly

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so during this season, having so many commissions to execute

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in consequence of the great interchange of presents. Perhaps the

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impending holiday might have given a more than usual animation

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to the country, for it seemed to me as if

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everybody was in good looks and good spirits. Game, poultry,

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and other luxuries of the table were in brisk circulation

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in the villages. The grocers, butchers, and fruiterer's shops were

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thronged with customers. The housewives were stirring briskly about putting

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their dwellings in order, and the glossy branches of holly,

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with their bright red berries, began to appear at the windows.

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The scene brought to mind an old writer's account of

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Christmas preparations. Now, capons and hens, besides turkeys, geese and ducks,

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with beef and mutton, must all die, for in twelve

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days a multitude of people will not be fed with

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a little. Now plums and spice, sugar and honey, square

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it among pies and broth. Now or never must music

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be in tune. For the youth must dance and sing

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to get them a heat, while the aged sit by

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the fire. The country maid leaves half her market and

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must be sent again if she forgets a pack of

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cards on Christmas Eve. Great is the contention of holly

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and ivy. Whether master or dame wears the breeches, dice

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and cards benefit the butler, And if the cook do

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not lack wit, he will sweetly lick his fingers. End

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of Christmas in England by Washington Irving