titute of blessings, absolutely without comfort. Perhaps we
have but one. Very well; we can think steadily of that one, if we try.
But the probability is that we have more than we can count. No man has
yet numbered the blessings, the mercies, the joys of God. We are all
richer than we think; and if we once set ourselves to reckoning up the
things of which we are glad, we shall be astonished at their number.

Gladness, then, is the first item, the first course on our bill of fare
for a Christmas dinner.

_Entrees._--Love garnished with Smiles.

GENTLENESS, with sweet-wine sauce of Laughter.

GRACIOUS SPEECH, cooked with any fine, savory herbs, such as Frollery,
which is always in season, or Pleasant Reminiscence, which no one need
be without, as it keeps for years, sealed or unsealed.

_Second Course_--HOSPITALITY.

The precise form of this also depends on individual preferences. We are
not undertaking here to give exact recipes, only a bill of fare.

In some houses Hospitality is brought on surrounded with Relatives. This
is very well. In others, it is dished up with Dignitaries of all sorts;
men and women of position and estate for whom the host has special
likings or uses. This gives a fine effect to the eye, but cools quickly,
and is not in the long-run satisfying.

In a third class, best of all, it is served in simple shapes, but with a
great variety of Unfortunate Persons,--such as lonely people from
lodging-houses, poor people of all grades, widows and childless in their
affliction. This is the kind most preferred; in fact, never abandoned by
those who have tried it.

_For Dessert._--MIRTH, in glasses.

GRATITUDE and FAITH beaten together and piled up in snowy shapes. These
will look light if run over night in the moulds of Solid Trust and
Patience.

A dish of the bonbons Good Cheer and Kindliness with every-day mottoes;
Knots and Reasons in shape of Puzzles and Answers; the whole ornamented
with Apples of Gold in Pictures of Silver, of the kind mentioned in the
Book of Proverbs.

This is a short and simple bill of fare. There is not a costly thing in
it; not a thing which cannot be procured without difficulty.

If meat be desired, it can be added. That is another excellence about
our bill of fare. It has nothing in it which makes it incongruous with
the richest or the plainest tables. It is not overcrowded by the
addition of roast goose and plum-pudding; it is not harmed by the
addition of herring