d the midwinter
festival season under his hospitable roof. It was always crowded with
well-chosen guests. The members of the family came in from near and far;
friends were invited in wholesome numbers; an atmosphere of good-will
spread all around, from master and mistress downward through the young
fry and to the dusky-faced house-servants and plantation hands;
everybody, great and small, old and young, black and white, was glad at
heart when the merry Christmas time came round.

[Illustration: COTTON FIELD ON SOUTHERN PLANTATION.]

As the Yule-tide season approached the work of the plantation was
rounded up and everything got ready for the festival. The corn was all
in the cribs; the hog-killing was at an end, the meat salted or cured,
the lard tried out, the sausage-meat made. The mince-meat was ready for
the Christmas pies, the turkeys were fattened, especially the majestic
"old gobbler," whose generous weight was to grace the great dish on the
manor-house table. The presents were all ready,--new shoes, winter
clothes, and other useful gifts for the slaves; less useful but more
artistic and ornamental remembrances for the household and guests. All
this took no small thought and labor, but it was a labor of love, for
was it not all meant to make the coming holiday a merry, happy time?

I well remember the jolly stir of it all, for my visit spread over the
days of busy preparation. In the woods the axe was busy at work,
cutting through the tough hickory trunks. Other wood might serve for
other seasons, but nothing but good old hickory would do to kindle the
Christmas fires. All day long the laden wagons creaked and rumbled along
the roads, bringing in the solid logs, and in the wood-yards the shining
axes rang, making the white chips fly, as the great logs were chopped
down to the requisite length.

From the distant station came the groaning ox-cart, laden with boxes
from the far-off city, boxes full of mysterious wares, the black driver
seeking to look as if curiosity did not rend his soul while he stolidly
drove with his precious goods to the store-room. Here they were unloaded
with mirthful haste, jokes passing among the laughing workers as to what
"massa" or "mistis" was going to give them out of those heavy crates.
The opening of these boxes added fuel to the growing excitement, as the
well-wrapped-up parcels were taken out, in some cases openly, in others
with a mysterious secrecy that doubled the curiosity an