generation of Bayneses! The old popple tree had thrown off its tinkling
cymbals and now the winter wind hissed and whistled in its stark
branches. Then the deep, sweet sleep of youth from which it is a joy and
a regret to come back to the world again. I wish that I could know it
once more.

"Ye can't look at yer stockin' yit," said Aunt Deel when I came
down-stairs about eight o'clock, having slept through chore time. I
remember it was the delicious aroma of frying ham and buckwheat cakes
which awoke me, and who wouldn't rise and shake off the cloak of slumber
on a bright, cold winter morning with such provocation?

"This ain't no common Chris'mas--I tell ye," Aunt Deel went on. "Santa
Claus won't git here short o' noon I wouldn't wonder--ayes!"

"By thunder!" exclaimed Uncle Peabody as he sat down at the table. "This
is goin' to be a day o' pure fun--genuwine an' uncommon. Take some
griddlers," he added as three or four of them fell on my plate. "Put on
plenty o' ham gravy an' molasses. This ain't no Jackman tavern. I got
hold o' somethin' down there that tasted so I had to swaller twice on
it."

About eleven o'clock Uncle Hiram and Aunt Eliza and their five children
arrived with loud and merry greetings. Then came other aunts and uncles
and cousins. With what noisy good cheer the men entered the house after
they had put up their horses! I remember how they laid their hard, heavy
hands on my head and shook it a little as they spoke of my "stretchin'
up" or gave me a playful slap on the shoulder--an ancient token of good
will--the first form of the accolade, I fancy. What joyful good humor
there was in those simple men and women!--enough to temper the woes of a
city if it could have been applied to their relief. They stood thick
around the stove warming themselves and taking off its griddles and
opening its doors and surveying it inside and out with much curiosity.

Suddenly Uncle Hiram tried to put Uncle Jabez in the wood-box while the
others laughed noisily. I remember that my aunts rallied me on my
supposed liking for "that Dunkelberg girl."

"Now for the Chris'mas tree," said Uncle Peabody as he led the way into
our best room, where a fire was burning in the old Franklin grate. "Come
on, boys an' girls."

What a wonderful sight was the Christmas tree--the first we had had in
our house--a fine spreading balsam loaded with presents! Uncle Hiram
jumped into the air and clapped his feet together and shouted: "Hol