In the Philippines even beggars in the streets expect a "Christmas
present," which they solicit in good English.

So from Alaska to the Island of Tutuila, the smallest of America's
possessions, Yule-tide is observed in a similar manner.

Yule-tide has been singularly connected with important events in the
history of the United States.

In the year 1776 Washington crossed the Delaware on Christmas night to
capture nearly one thousand Hessians after their Christmas revelries.
A few days later, December 30th, Congress resolved to send
Commissioners to the courts of Vienna, Spain, France, and Tuscany; and
as victory followed the American leader, the achievements of this
Yule-tide were declared by Frederick the Great of Prussia to be "the
most brilliant of any recorded in the annals of military action." The
year following, 1777, was probably one of the gloomiest Yule-tides in
the experience of the American forces. They lay encamped at Valley
Forge, sick and discouraged, destitute of food, clothing, and most of
the necessities of life.

It was on Christmas Eve, 1783, that Washington laid aside forever his
military clothes and assumed those of a civilian, feeling, as he
expressed it, "relieved of a load of public care." After Congress
removed to Philadelphia, Martha Washington held her first public
reception in the Executive Mansion on Christmas Eve, when, it is
stated, there was gathered "the most brilliant assemblage ever seen in
America."

At Yule-tide a few years later, 1799, the country was mourning the