And drynketh of his bugle horn the wyn;
Biforn hym stant brawn of the tusked swyn,
And "_Nowel_" crieth every lusty man.

Janus, god of doors, what we call nowadays a janitor. Had two faces so
he could watch the front and back door at once and get a double tip at
Christmas time. Also, that was why he wore a beard; too much trouble to
shave. We don't cry _Nowel_ any more; instead we petition the janitor to
send up a little more steam. But what a jolly picture Chaucer gives of
Christmas! Wine to drink (fine ruddy wine, as red as the holly berries),
crackling flitch of pig to eat, and a merry cry of welcome sounding at
the threshold as your friends come stamping in through the snow.

Grand time, Christmas! No one is really a Philadelphian until he has
waited for a Pine Street car on a snowy night. Please have my seat,
madam, there's plenty of room on the strap. Wonder why the pavement on
Chestnut Street is the slipperiest in the world? Always fall down just
in front of our bank; most embarrassing; hope the paying teller doesn't
see us. Very annoying to lose our balance just there. Awfully nice
little girl in there who balances the books. Has a kind heart. The
countless gold of a merry heart, as William Blake said. She looks
awfully downcast when our balance gets the way it is now. Hate to
disappoint her. Won't have our book balanced again for a devil of a
while. Even the most surly is full of smiles nowadays. Most of us when
we fall on the pavement (did you ever try it on Chestnut between Sixth
and Seventh on a slippery day?) curse the granolithic trust and wamble
there groaning. But not nowadays. Make the best of things. Fine panorama
of spats.

* * * * *

Association of ideas. Everybody wears silk stockings at Christmas time.
Excessive geniality of the ad-writers. Uproarious good cheer. Makes one
almost ashamed to notice the high price of everything. Radicals being
deported. Why not deport Santa Claus, too? Very radical notion that,
love your neighbour better than yourself. Easy to do; very few of us
such dam fools as to love ourselves, but so often when you love your
neighbour she doesn't return it. Nice little boxes they have at the
ten-cent stores, all covered with poinsettia flowers, to put presents
in. Wonder when poinsettia began to be used as a Christmas decoration
and why? Everyone in ten-cent store calls them "poinsettias," but named
after J. R. Poinsett. Encyclopedia v