s interested in Tusser's "Christmas husbandly fare," notwithstanding
some suggestion of gluttony in it and of oversupply. There is a certain
vigor and good relish about it, and lack of ostentation, that seem to
suggest a lesson.

It was more than three centuries ago that native Thomas Tusser,
musician, chorister, and farmer, gave to the world his incomparable
"Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry." He covered the farm year and
the farm work as completely as Vergil had covered it more than fifteen
centuries before; and he left us sketches of the countryside of his day,
and the ways of the good plain folk, and quaint bits of philosophy and
counsel. He celebrated the Christmas festival with much conviction, and
in the homely way of the home folks, deriving his satisfactions from the
things that the land produces. His sketches are wholesome reading in
these days of foods transported from the ends of the earth, and
compounded by impersonal devices and condensed into packages that go
into every house alike.

Thomas Tusser would celebrate with "things handsome to have, as they
ought to be had." His board would not be scant of provisions, for he
seems not to have advised the simple life in the way of things good to
eat; but he chose good raw materials, and we can imagine that the "good
husband and huswife" gave these materials their best compliments and
prepared them with diligence and skill. Not once does he suggest that
these materials be secured from the market, or that any imported labor
be employed in the preparation of them.

"Good bread and good drink, a good fire in the hall,
Brawn, pudding, and souse, and good mustard withal."

Here is the whole philosophy of the contented festival,--the fruit of
one's labor, the common genuine materials, and the cheer of the family
fireside. The day is to be given over to the spirit of the celebration;
every common object will glow with a new consecration, and everything
will be good,--even the mustard will be good withal. What a contempt old
Tusser would have had for all the imported and fabricated condiments and
trivialities that now come to our tables in packages suggestive of
medicines and drugs! And how ridiculously would they have stood
themselves beside the brawn, pudding, and souse! A few plain
accessories, every one stout and genuine, and in good quantity, must
accompany the substantialities that one takes with a free hand directly
from the land that one manages