usually a much milder day than it is at the
North. The ponds are not often frozen, and there is little or no snow on
the ground: so there is no skating, or coasting, or throwing of
snow-balls, or merry jingle of sleigh-bells.

But we have very good times at the South notwithstanding. The boys go
out with their guns, and sometimes shoot a wild turkey; but often they
shoot just for the sake of making a noise. Their traps are set, too,
about this time, for squirrels, as you may see in the picture.

Games of foot-ball and base-ball are not uncommon; and I have known it
mild enough for girls and boys to play croquet on the lawn, or to row in
a boat on the river.

What is that little girl doing in the central part of the picture? She
is making a present of a sack to her good old nurse, who now has a baby
of her own. The sack is for the baby. How glad they all are--the mother,
the aunt, and the little boy, who, I think, must be the baby's brother!

As for the Christmas feast at the South, it may be very much like that
at the North. In the picture we get a glimpse of a roast pig and a plum
pudding. There is often a wild turkey and a plenty of other game.

"But is there a Christmas-tree? And does Santa Claus come with his
trinkets, and his picture-books, as at the North?" Yes, in many families
there is a Christmas tree, and Santa Claus does not forget that there
are little children at the South also.

In the evening, the little ones play blind-man's-bluff, or
hunt-the-slipper. Sometimes Jack Frost steals down from the North, and
pinches them. But he does not stay long. He likes his northern home
best.

UNCLE HARRY.

[Illustration: CHRISTMAS AT THE SOUTH.]

THE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS.

Mr. D. had promised to give his wife a beautiful rattan rocking-chair as
a Christmas present. It was his employment to sell these articles. In
due time, Mrs. D. called at his place of business, and selected a chair;
but, as she sat enjoying it for a few minutes, a new idea came into her
mind, and she told her husband that she would gladly do without her
present, if he would give Jennie and Alice (their two little daughters)
each a chair.

Her husband agreed to this; and on Christmas Eve he took home with him
two elegant little rocking-chairs. Leaving them in his garden, he went
in to tea, and, after taking his seat at the table, said to his
children, "I have a story to tell you, and it is a true story. Would you
like to hear it?"