WHERE THE HOLLY BERRIES ARE RED

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 78, 26 December 1907, Page 7

WHERE THE HOLLY BERRIES ARE RED

; ''' ATOHKSHIRE, "YULE-TIDE. - . -;A suburban tradesman, whose signboard usually proclaims his readiness to fill orders, or effect repairs,: or. sbnieth'ing, has partly ■hidden'the everyday;inscription;by affixing a smaller) board,!' , which -.'bears !tho ! familiar '■'! scasonablo " wish. . The result is that tho. wayfa'rer 'now reads,' "A' Merry Christmas promptly 'executed." This miserable motto, • struck £ Dominion representative, who.passed it yesterday afternoon, as having- quite a national significance....His .companion, "who' was " better than wise, being fair," had just beeirtelling him aboutan.EnglishChristmas, and i'iot merely an English Christmas, but a Yorkshire Christmas ■, which is tho most Eng-" lish of all, and he felt' that what' is called Christmas in this country is' quite another thing.',, The old Yule-tide, the Yulc-tido of Merrio ; England, coi\Jd not livo in New Zealand.,. The solar system "condemned it to 'death'. 1 ■. '< '■ ' ' ' ' "' t .-' Ebr the English, and especially , Yorkshire, Christmas is tho creation of peoplo who are dotermiiied to- bo merry in. spite of,, their surroundings. No' soft skies or sunkissed waters invito them, m their December, to :iihe shaded hammock beside the lawn, or the grassy spot' by the, stream, , whoro'tho' pidriic hampers are opened. Natuwis clour and ; forbidding,' locked in frost or mantled with sno\V, or merely., dull and cheerless. Tho heat and light, without' which , human beings.cannot be merry, they must mako for .themselves'.' Tho. sonso of well-being' which, suriimer sunshine brings with it they must ;pro.duc6~ by . means of good fires, plenteous food,,,and generous drinks. . And, because snow and- frost mako poverty pinch the moro. sharply, tho House of Havo must spare the gore "of its bounty to the Houso of Want, erico the English Christmas became tho festival of people who were determined to bp •merry in spite of everything. There is something heroic about it. '•■,'• Six weeks beforehand, said tho lady from the,' Vale of .York,, ''tho making"; of tho 'Christmas puddings .used to begin. They ,'wore, hung ju a long,, row in tho pantry to -mellow." Then, eooii after, the cakes were mado, and.next tho,.mincemeat t'o bis stored ingars. -As Christmas drew iioar, there were lota of other things to bo got. ready, for in,a largo old -.Yorkshire- farmhouse we do not order everything ~>yc want from tho stores. There was much pig-killing; to .bo done, and tho hams and bacon.to,bo cured. And the quantity of cooking! Pork pies, minco pics, fruit pics, potted meats,: spiced bread, tea cakes, fat. geeso and . turkeys to bo killed, plucked and dressed, and tho men folk wore out shooting game. ."■ ... . ... j " During tho \twq or three . days before Christmas°wo. were immensely busy packing grout hampors- with ■ geeso and turkoys, game,' spiced broad* and..rosy apples for town friends., Nobody thought of tho exponso. . Christmas must be kept. ~, "On tho morning of. Christmas Evo we got red-borried holly (I seo only green borries on tho holly horo to-day), and lovely ivy and fir boughs, and decorated tho house. Ami, of course, there was a mistletoe, bough for tho hall, : and another.; for the kitchen. It was one woman's work to cull tho wheat for frumenty 'in, a , great copper, and in the afternoon tho village peoplo used to come for their "portions of it, just as they hat! alwavs done for years and, generations. There wore also rabbits and pork niid spiced bread for -thorn. Old folks, who cbiild not come, themselves, wore 'not forgotten, and tho widows.were toover , 'allowed to go without their share! There was plenty of work .for the ■ maids,- ■ but' if ■ you had heard • tho laughter and shrieks in tho evening whon tho farm hands wore trying to catch thorn unawares under the mistlotoe' bough you would not think they "were quite tired out.

"There was. a groat and special family supper on Christmas Eve,-when frumenty and numerous cakes and pics wero to be oaten. Tho Ynlo log "was on tho. firo, tho Yulo candles, in great old brass candlesticks, woro oh tho table, but I don't think thoy were much brighter than tho face of tho mistress of tho house, beaming with pleasure, because she knew thivs Her distant friends, and the' farm- workers, and tho villago people were all sharing in the good cheer. Also there were piles of mysterious brown paper parcels beside cacii plate at the supper table. : "In the night the carol singers camo. Wo brought thorn into the kitchen, with their great horn lantern, and their big coats and scarves,. and thoro they sat, men women, and boys, drinking tea and eoffco and beer, and standing up between drinks to sing" morn enrols. They stayed about an hour, and +11011 wont on to another farmhouse, or to the squire's. " On Christmas morning, in spite of snow or frost, about fifty village hoys, with chubby'cheeks and blue noses, and worsted wraps, came to the front door and sang:

'.' 'I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year; A pocket full o' money, and a cellar full of boor; A good fat pig, To sarvo' you all t' year; A now calven coo; Mastor and mistress how do you do? Ploase, will you give us a Christmas box ?' "Of course, they got their Christmas boxee. Threepenny bits and sixpences had been put asido beforehr.nd in basins, on purposo for thorn. " Then camo the Christmas dinner, with tho gooso and plum pudding, and mince pios, and after that we sat round the fire, and' were glad that everything had gone off so well." Yes, reflected the scribe, the old Christmas could not survive the voyage from Yorkshire to New Zealand. Wo must have, somehow, _ a now Christmas, native of the soil and conformable to tho latitude.