Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1868-12-31
= ,m.. ,n I,onaop-by Charles Dickens.

once. NO. ms Madison reree.:
LAReEsr CITY OIRCgLATIes:
cbrlstmas in London-by Charlie. Dickens
The house-fronts looked black enough,
and the windows blacker, contrasting
with The smooth white sheet ofsnow upon
The roof. and with the dirtier snow upon
the ground; which last deposit had been
plongbed m in deep burrows by the
heavy wheels Of carts and wagons; FUR
row. that crossed and recrossed each
other hundreds Of times where the great
stroets branched of and made intricate
channels, hard to trace, in the thick yell
low mud and icy water. The sky was
gloomy, and the shortest streets we're
choked up with diney mist, half thawed,
half frozen, whose heavy particles de.
scended in shower of sooty atoms, es II
all the chimneys in Great Britain, had
by one consent, caught lire, and were
blasiry away to their deer hearts con.
tent. There was nothing very cheerful
in the climate or the towa, AID yet there
was an air OF cheec!s'bess abroad that
the clearest summer air and the brightest
summer sun might have endeavored to
diffuse in vain.
For the people who were shoveliug
away on the housetops were jovial and
full Of glee; calling out to one another
from the parapets, and now and then ex-
changing facetious snowball-better-
natured missile far than many . wordy
jest-laughing heartily If it went right,
and not less heartily il it went wrong.
The poulerers' shops were still half open,
and the .ruiterers' were radiant ia their
glory. There we're great, round, pot
bellied baskets of chesnuts, shaped like
the waistcoats of jolly old gentlemen,
lolling at the doors and tumbing
out into the street in their apoplec-
tic opulence. There were rudy,
brown faced, broad girthed Spanish
onions, shining in the fairness of their
growth like Spanish friars, and winking
from their shelves in wsnton slynsss at
the girls as they went by and glanced de-
murely at the hung-up mistletee. There
we're pears and apples clustered high 10
blooming pyramids; there we're punches
of grapes, made in the shopkeepers'
beneyolence, to bangle from conspicuous
hooks, that peoples mouths might water
gratis as they passed; there we're piles
of filberts, messy and brown, recalling, |
in their fragrance, ancient walks among |
the woods, and pleasant shu filings, ankle
deep, through withered leaves; there
were Norfolk biffins, squad and swarthy, |
setting off the yellow of the oranges and |
lemons, and in the great compactness of |
their juicy persons earnestly entreatipg |
and beseeching to be carried home in |
paper bags and eaten after dinner. The /
very gold and silver fish, set forth among
these choice fruits in bowl, though |
members of dull and stagnsnt-blooded
race, appeared to know that there was
something going on; and, to fish, went
gasping round and round their little
world in slow and psssionless excite
ment.
The grocers 0 the grocers nearly
closed, with perhaps two shutters down,
or one; but through those gaps such
glimpses 1t was not alone that the
scales descending on the counter made
merry sound, or that the twihe and roller
parted company so briskly, or that the
canisters were ratified up and down like
juggling tricks, or even that the blended
scents of tea and coffee were so grateful
to the noge, or even that the raisins are
80 plentiful and rare, the almonds so ex-
tremely white, the sticks of cinnamon 50
long and straight, the other spices so
delicious, the candied fruits so caked
and spotted with molten sugar as TO
make the coolest lockers on feel faint
and subsequently, bilious. Nor was it
that the fgs were moist and pulpy, or
hat ba noh wi. kl,,a hol A.. 1
tartness from their highly decorated
boxes, or that everything was good to
pat and in its Christmas dress; but the
customers we're all so hurried and so
eager 10 the hopeful promise of the day,
that they tumbled up against each other
st the door, crashing their wicker baskets
wildly, and left their purchases upon the
counter, aud came running back to fetch
hem, and committed hundreds of like
mistakes in the best humor possible
While the grocer and his people were so
rank and fresh that the polished hearts
9Th which they fastened their aprons
behind might have been their own, worn
outside for general inspection, and for II
Christmas DAVIS to peck at if they choose.
But soon the steeples called good PEG. /.
,le all to church and chapel, and away
hey came, focking through the streets in
heir best clothes and with their gayest
aces. And at the same time there
merged from scores Of by-streets, lanes
md nameless turnings, innumerable peo-
lie, carrying their dinners to the bakers
hops The sight of these poor revelle cs
ppeared to interest the Spirit very mach.
or he stood with Scrooge beside tim in
bakers doorway, aud, taking of the
overs as their bearers passed, sprinklsd |
incense on their dinners from sis torch.
And it was very uncommon kind of
orch, for once or twice when there were
.pgry words between some dinrer-car-
iers who had jostled each other, he shed
few drops Of water Ga them from it, and
heir good humor was restored directly.
7or they said it was shame to quarrel
Upon Christmas Day. And SO it was
Ind Love - -