remarkable poetical effusions are in order on these occasions.

The Christmas fish is to the Swede what the Christmas roast-beef is to
the Englishman, an indispensable adjunct of the festival. The fish
used resembles a cod; it is buried for days in wood ashes or else it
is soaked in soda water, then boiled and served with milk gravy.
Bread, cheese, and a few vegetables follow, together with a pudding
made of salt herrings, skinned, boned, and cut in thin slices, which
are laid in a dish with slices of cold boiled potatoes and hard-boiled
eggs, covered with a dressing of cream, butter, and eggs-then baked
and served hot.

The fish, rice, and a fat goose are said to be served at every table
on Christmas from that of the king to that of the commonest of his
subjects.

Christmas morning opens with an early service in church, to which the
older members of the family go in sled parties of from forty to fifty
sleds, each drawn by one, two, or even three horses, over whose backs
jingle rows of silver-toned bells. The sled parties are an especial
feature of Christmas time. They start out while the stars are still
twinkling in the sky, and the lighted trees are illuminating the homes
they pass.

The day itself is observed with less hilarity than other days during
the season; the "Second Christmas," or day following, being far gayer.
Then begin the family parties, with the looking forward to the great
Twelfth-Night ball, after which the children and young folks end their
evening parties by untrimming the tree of their entertainer amidst
peals of laughter, songs, and shouts.