ar your conscience by such an act
before the bells announce the hour of its birth. As the stars appear
in the heavens, tiny oil lamps are lighted in every house, and among
all devout Roman Catholics the image of the Virgin is illuminated
with a taper.

The streets, which in many cities are brilliantly lighted with
electricity, are crowded with turkeys awaiting purchasers. They are
great fat birds that have been brought in from the country and
together with quacking ducks and cooing pigeons help to swell the
sounds that fill the clear, balmy air. Streets and market-places are
crowded with live stock, while every other available spot is piled
high with delicious fruit;--golden oranges, sober-hued dates, and
indispensable olives; and scattered among these are cheeses of all
shapes and kinds, sweetmeats of all sorts, the choice candies that are
brought from various provinces, and quaint pigskins of wine. No wonder
every one who can do so hurries forth into the street on
_Noche-buena._

If you are not tempted to stop and gaze at these appetizing exhibits,
you will pass quickly on to the brightly lighted booths devoted to
toys. Oh, what a feast for young eyes! Here yours will surely light on
some coveted treasure. It may be an ordinary toy, a drum, a horn, or
it may be a Holy Manger, Shepherds, The Wise Men, or even a Star of
the East.

It is hard to keep one's purse closed among such a surfeit of tempting
articles, and everywhere money flows freely from hand to hand,
although the Spanish are usually very frugal.

As the bells clang out the hour of midnight, you will hurry to join
the throng wending its way to the nearest church, where priests in
their gorgeous robes,--some of them worn only on this occasion and
precious with rare embroidery and valuable jewels,--perform the
midnight or cock-crow mass, and where the choir and the priests chant
a sweet Christmas hymn together. What if it is late when the service
ends? Christmas Eve without dancing is not to be thought of in Spain.
So you go forth to find a group of Gipsy dancers who are always on
hand to participate in this great festival; or you watch the graceful
Spanish maiden in her fluffy skirts of lace, with her deep pointed
bodice, a bright flower in her coal-black hair beside the tall comb,
and her exquisitely shaped arms adorned with heavy bracelets. "Oh,
what magnificent eyes! What exquisite long lashes!" you exclaim to
yourself. See her poise an instant with t