fectionate grouping; old
top couple always turning up in the wrong place; new top couple starting
off again as soon as they got there; all top couples at last, and not a
bottom one to help them!

When this result was brought about, old Fezziwig, clapping his hands to
stop the dance, cried out, "Well done!" Then there were more dances, and
there were forfeits, and more dances; and there was cake, and there was
a great piece of cold roast, and there was a great piece of cold boiled,
and there were mince pies and other delicacies. But the great effect of
the evening came after the roast and the boiled, when the fiddler,
artful dog, struck up "Sir Roger de Coverley." Then old Mr. Fezziwig
stood out to dance with Mrs. Fezziwig. Top couple, too, with a good
stiff piece of work cut out for them; three or four and twenty pair of
partners; people who were not to be trifled with--people who _would_
dance, and had no notion of walking.

But if they had been twice as many--aye, four times--old Mr. Fezziwig
would have been a match for them, and so would Mrs. Fezziwig. As to
_her_, she was worthy to be his partner in every sense of the term. If
that's not high praise, tell me higher and I'll use it.... And when Mr.
Fezziwig and Mrs. Fezziwig had gone all through the dance--advance and
retire, both hands to your partner, bow and curtsy, thread the needle,
and back to your place--Fezziwig "cut" so deftly that he appeared to
wink with his legs, and came upon his feet again without a stagger.

[Illustration: Christmas Eve at Fezziwig's.]

When the clock struck eleven, this domestic ball broke up. Mr. and Mrs.
Fezziwig took their stations, one on either side of the door, and
shaking hands with every person individually as he or she went out,
wished him or her a Merry Christmas. When everybody had retired but the
two apprentices, they did the same to them; and thus the cheerful voices
died away and the lads were left to their beds--which were under a
counter in the back shop.

FOOTNOTE:

[Footnote 26: From "A Christmas Carol," by Charles Dickens.]

THE CHRISTMAS HOLLY[27]

The holly! the holly! oh, twine it with bay--
Come give the holly a song;
For it helps to drive stern winter away,
With his garment so somber and long;
It peeps through the trees with its berries of red,
And its leaves of burnished green,
When the flowers and fruits have long been dead,
And not even the daisy is seen.