The Cecil Whig., 1885-12-26
CHRISTMAS IN LONDON.

One of Charles Dickens Many Pictures of
the Great and Merry Feast.
The poulterers' shops were still half
open and the fruiterers' shops were radi-
ant in their glory. There were great
round, pot belled baskets of chestnuts,
shaped like the waistcoats of jolly old
gentlemen, lolling at the doors and tumb-
ling out into the street in their apoplectic
opulence. There were ruddy, brown
| faced. broad-grted Spanish onions, shin
| ing in the fatness of their growth like
| Spanish Friars and winking from their
| shelves i'll wanton sly ness at the girls as
| they went by and glanced demurely at
the hungup mistleto. There were pears
and apples, clustered high in blooming
pyramids; there were punches of grapes,
made in the shop. keepers benevolence,
| to dangle from conspicuous hooks that
peoples mouths might water gratis as
| they passed; there were piles of filberts,
messy and brown, recalling, in their
| fragrance, ancient walks among the
| woods and pleasant shuf1llngs ankle deep
| through withered leaves; there were Nor
| folk Bitfins, squad and swarthy, setting
| off the yellow of the oranges and lemons,
| and in the great compactneSs of their
| juicy persons, urgently entreating 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 stagnant 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 passionless excitement.
The Grocers'. oh, 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 twine 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 nose, or even that the
raisins were so plentiful and rare, the
almonds so extremely white, the sticks
of cinnamon so long and straight, the
other spices SO delicious. the candied
fruits so caked and spotted with molten
sugar as to make the coldest lockers on
feel faint and subsequently bilious. Nor
| was it that the figs were moist ard
pulpy, or that the French plums blushed
in modest tartness from their highly
decorated boxes, or that everything was
good to eat and in its Christmas dress:
but the customers were all SO hurried
and SO eager in the hopeful promise of
the day, that they tumbled up against
each other at the door; crashing their
wicker baskets wildly, and left their
purchases upon the counter and came
running back to fetch them, and com
mitted hundreds of the like mistakes, in
the best humor possible; while the Grocer
aid his people were SO frank and fresh
that the polished hearts with which they
fastened their aprons behind might have
been their own, worn outside for general
inspection and for Christmas DAVIS to
peck at if they chose. But soon the
steeples called good people all to church
and chapel; and away they came, flock
ing through the streets in their best
clothes and with their gayest faces. And
at the same time there emerged from
scores of bystreets, lanes and name
less turnings, innumerable people, carry
ing their dinners to the bakers shops.
The sight of these poor revelers appeared
to interest the Spirit very much; for he
stood with Scrooge beside him in
bakers doorway and, taking off the
covers as their bearers passed, sprinkled
incense on their dinners from his torch.
And it was very uncommon kind of
| torch; for once or twice when there were
angry words between some dinner-car-
riers who had jostled each other, he
shed few drops of water on them from
it and their good humor was restored di-
rectly. For they said it was a shame to
quarrel upon Christmas Day. And so it
was . God love it, so it was