and pleasant words to those around them.

In some parts of Germany--Lorraine is one--the people burn the
Yule-log; sometimes a huge log that will last through the three days'
festivity, sometimes one so small that the family sit before it until
it is all consumed. Sometimes a part of the log is suspended from the
ceiling of the room and each person present blows at it hoping to make
a spark fall on some watching face; then again some carry a piece of
the log to bed with them to protect them from lightning. But the
Yule-log is not very generally known in this land of great pottery
stoves and closed fireplaces, and that may be one reason why
post-wagons go rumbling about at Christmas time, carrying parcels from
place to place and from door to door, blowing their post-horns
continuously, instead of the parcels being dropped down chimneys by
Santa Claus.

It is customary, also, in some parts of the country, for the people
and their animals to fast the day before Christmas. At midnight the
people attend church and it is _said_ that the _cattle kneel_; then
both man and beast partake of a hearty meal. There are places in the
German Alps where it is believed that the cattle are blessed with the
gift of language for a while on Christmas Eve, but as it is a very
great sin to listen, no one has yet reported any conversation among
them. In another part of the country it is thought that the Virgin
Mary with a company of angels passes over the land on Holy Night, and
so tables are spread with the best the larders afford and candles are
lighted and left burning that the angelic visitors may find abundant
food should they chance to stop on their way.

Boxing-day, when boxes prepared for the poor are distributed, follows