until, as if by one impulse, they scampered away, and, as they turned an angle of the gallery, I heard them laughing in triumph at their escape."

3. The beautiful illustration that accompanied this fine description called forth, from several of the company, com

ments of the warmest admiration. The young people were delighted with it, and Nellie Hardy remarked that she wished the children in this country could go about singing Christmas carols; and that she should like to be in the city, and awake in the middle of the night before Christmas, and hear all the bells ringing. Then Mr. Agnew recited the following lines which he had found in an old volume of English poems:

III.-Christmas Eve.

1. On Christmas eve the bells were rung;
On Christmas eve the mass was sung;
Then opened wide the baron's hall
To vassal, tenant, serf, and all;
Power laid his rod of rule aside,
And ceremony doffed his pride;
The heir, with roses in his shoes,
That night might village partner choose.

2. All hailed, with uncontrolled delight,
And general voice, the happy night
That to the village, as the crown,
Brought tidings of salvation down.
England was merry England when
Old Christmas brought his sports again,
And Christmas gambol oft would cheer

A poor man's heart through half the year.

3. "That," said Mr. Raymond, "is a good poetic description of the observance of Christmas Eve in England, in olden times. It is kept somewhat differently there now, with less of rough and boisterous merriment than in former days. The English have still their evergreen trimmings, and Christmas-trees, and family reunions; and the bells still chime forth on the midnight that ushers in Christmas

day, and often, also, at daybreak on Christmas morn; but the singing of carols, once vividly recalling the songs of the shepherds at the birth of Christ, has, with many other old English customs, nearly passed away."

4. Mr. Bardou spoke, at some length, of the Christmas festivities in Germany, and throughout all central Europe, where Christmas Eve is called the Children's Festival. Presents are then distributed far more generally than in this country, and the little ones, once at least in the year, are as happy as kindness and Christian charity can make them. Then the following lines, by an American poet, were read by one of the company; but it was remarked that they apply better to European countries than to our own:—

IV.-Christmas Bells.

1. The bells-the merry Christmas bells,
They're ringing in the morn!

They ring when in the eastern sky
The golden light is born;

They ring, as sunshine tips the hills

And gilds the village spire—

When through the sky the sovereign sun
Rolls his full orb of fire.

2. The Christmas bells-the Christmas bells,
How merrily they ring!

To weary hearts a pulse of joy,

A kindlier life, they bring.

The poor man on his couch of straw,

The rich, on downy bed,

Hail the glad sounds, as voices sweet

Of angels overhead.

Verse 1. On what resemblance is based the figure of speech "merry bells"? The figure "light is born"?" Gilds the spire"?—“ Sovereign sun"?

3. The bells the silvery Christmas bells,
O'er many a mile they sound!

And household tones are answering them
In thousand homes around.

Voices of childhood, blithe and shrill,
With youth's strong accents blend,
And manhood's deep and earnest tones
With woman's praise ascend.

4. The bells the solemn Christmas bells,
They're calling us to prayer;
And hark! the voice of worshippers
Floats on the morning air.
Anthems of noblest praise there'll be,
And glorious hymns to-day,

TE DE'UMS loud-and GLORIAS:

Come, to the church-away!-J. W. Brown.

5. Some allusion having been made to that familiar Christmas hymn, beginning―

"While shepherds watched their flocks by night,"

Mr. Agnew remarked that there was a beautiful account, by the poet Pierpont, of the announcement, to the shepherds of Judea, of the birth of the Saviour of the holy anthem sung by the angels-and the appearance of the star that rested over Bethlehem. Lulu then stepped into the library, and quickly returned with a volume of Pierpont's Poems, which she handed to the teacher, who then read the following from the author's Airs of Palestine :—

V.-Glad Tidings to the Shepherds.

1. While thus the shepherds watched the hosts of night, O'er heaven's blue concave flashed a sudden light.

The unrolling glory spread its folds divine
O'er the green hills and vales of Palestine;
And lo! descending angels, hovering there,
Stretched their loose wings, and in the purple air
Hung o'er the sleepless guardians of the fold;
When that high anthem, clear, and strong, and bold,
On wavy paths of trembling ether ran

"Glory to God;-Benevolence to man;

Peace to the world:"-and in full concert came,
From silver tubes, and harps of golden frame,
The loud and sweet response, whose choral strains
Lingered and languished on Judea's plains.

:

2. Yon living lamps, charmed from their chambers blue
By airs so heavenly, from the skies withdrew :-
All?—all but one; that hung and burned alone,
And with mild lustre over Bethlehem shone.
Chaldea's sages saw that orb afar

Glow unextinguished;-'twas Salvation's star.

3. At the conclusion of this piece Mr. Bardou remarked, "Your poet, Longfellow, calls the 'Chaldean sages,' thus referred to, 'Three Kings,'-a title very fitly bestowed upon these 'Wise Men of the East,' who read in the heavens the signs of the Saviour's advent." Longfellow's Poems were then called for; and, when the book was produced, Mr. Raymond read from it the poem that Mr. Bardou had spoken of:

VI.-The Three Kings.

1. Three Kings came riding from far away, Melchior and Gaspar and Baltazar;

Three Wise Men out of the East were they,

And they travelled by night, and they slept by day,
For their guide was a beautiful, wonderful star.