llases's house. It
struck Esther rather painfully. The room where she and her father took
their supper was pleasant and homely indeed; a bright fire burned on
the hearth, or in the grate, rather, and a bright lamp shone on the
table; Barker had brought in the tea urn, and the business of preparing
tea for her father was one that Esther always liked. But, nevertheless,
the place approached too nearly a picture of still life. The urn hissed
and bubbled, a comfortable sound; and now and then there was a falling
coal or a jet of gas flame in the fire; but I think these things
perhaps made the stillness more intense and more noticeable. The
colonel sat on his sofa, breaking dry toast into his tea and
thoughtfully swallowing it; he said nothing, unless to demand another
cup; and Esther, though she had a healthy young appetite, could not
quite stay the mental longing with the material supply. Besides, she
was pondering something curiously.

'Papa,' she said at last, 'are you busy? May I ask you something?'

'Yes, my dear. What is it?'

'Papa, what is Christmas?'

The colonel looked up.

'What is Christmas?' he repeated. 'It is nothing, Esther; nothing at
all. A name--nothing more.'

'Then, why do people think so much of Christmas?'

'They do not. Sensible people do not think anything of it. Christmas is
nothing to me.'

'But, papa, why then does anybody make much of it? Mrs. Dallas has her
house all dressed up with greens.'

'You had better keep away from Mrs. Dallas's.'

'But it looks so pretty, papa! Is there any harm in it?'

'Harm in what?'

'Dressing the house so? It is all hemlock wreaths, and cedar branches,
and bright red berries here and there; and Pitt has put them up so
beautifully! You can't think how pretty it all is. Is there any harm in
that, papa?'

'Decidedly; in my judgment.'

'Why do they do it then, papa?'

'My dear, they have a foolish fancy that it is the time when Christ was
born; and so in Romish times a special Popish mass was said on that
day; and from that the twenty-fifth of December got its present
name--Christ-mass; that is what it is.'

'Then He was not born the twenty-fifth of December?'

'No, nor in December at all. Nothing is plainer than that spring was
the time of our Lord's coming into the world. The shepherds were
watching their flocks by night; that could not have been in the depth
of winter; it must have been in the spring.'

'Then why don't they have Christmas i