Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1855-01-26
"God rest you merry gentle felix,
Ls' "ethi"s you di-may,
For Jesus Christ our Saviour,
Was born ON Christina. d.

For some time before Christmas the Waits
were to be heard in the streets of London.
These Waits are sort Of substitute for the
"a r'""I". Thoy "ro generally devotional
songs, and are sung in the nighttime by
ltinerant musicians Despite the sorry music
(tt least | have heard none else) of these
tlrnlS and Waits thnra il something genial
in the rememhrances they stir Of the old
mnstrclsy, before the bigots Of the iron time
had dcspoiled common life Of So much Of its
romance.
There is quite large class Of people in
England who have not yet celebrated their
Christmas day, and will not until the 9th of
January, which is known as 'Old Christ
mas This is remnant of the SUPERSTITION
respecting the change from old to new style
in reckoning dates. The Quakers all shut
up their shops and keep feast on Old Christ
mas day. BY some who have already kept
one Christmas, the second is observed with n
somewhat, abated display II sort of reaec-
ton Ol the first, so that there actually is
more than one Christmas in the year in suite
Of the proverb.
The country at Christmas, though very
different from the country as saw it in Sep
tember. is by no means cheerless. The vcge-
table kingdom is by no means all dead nor the
tuneiul choir all dumb In many spots the
grass still wears its vivid green The broad
turnp-helds have spring-like freshness of
color. The hedges are leafless, but the holly
bush with its thick garIsh foliage appears
all along at intervals, and the ivy thrives lux
urlantly underneath the hedges and around
the hedge-row elms. 1t was Il great disap-
pointment, when | was admiring the little
cottages all hidden in ivy, and the bare clms
green with its entwining boughs to be told by
Il practical man that the cottage walls were
kept damp and its rooms made unhealthy hy
the dense foliage, and that the life of the
elm was choked by the over luxuriant vine.
y walk through the woods shows you many
wild shrubs in verdure,-many which are
leaf 2ss in our winter season are in leaf here.
| must not omit to mention that ON Christmas
morning | was presented with mll-blown
rose taken from bush in the garden
'uiiilS tuc lew ana snort intervals which
are allowed one amid the festivities of Christ
mas week by the profuseness of English hos
pitality, have been interested in walking
about the neishboring villages and hamlets
lie sure to remember that you can 20 in any /
direction across the fields. The right ola field
road is 50 priced 10y the common people and |
50 guaranteed to them 10y immcmoria pres
crlptiOn that the greatest nohleinan IN Eng
land cannot shut up his own ground without .
IA special act of Parliament | have been
struck with the number Of little
villages one sees IN short walk over the
fields Every few moments you come upon
neat Gothic Church with its twin parsonage.
nd few houscs-always including the
'lnn, clustering round it, On almos, every
MIL too, you may see those picturesque uA.
Gets whIch no landscape painter can do with
,ut, the windmills. If you were to live three
months among the brick walls of London.
you can appreciate something of the spring
If spirits excited by the breezy associations
fan old windmill standing out against the
Ky on distant hill, the very sight makes
mes lungs expand, and ones check feel
reshened.
Your Chronieler,