Christmas, A Happy Time
M >>
Miss Mant >> Christmas, A Happy Time
'Cannot you guess what these frocks and shirts are all for?' said
Harriet.
'I can,' said the quick little Frederick. 'They are for the children
we saw in the lane just now; and they are to have them against
Christmas.'
'You are right, Frederick,' replied his mother; 'and I have been
taking the opportunity of this holiday of your sisters, to look them
over and parcel them out.'
Just now the door opened, and a housemaid appeared with a large basket
of shoes and stockings, and another with women's gowns and men's
frocks.
'How pleased all the poor people will be, mamma!' said Elizabeth,
taking up a gown from the basket; 'it is rather coarse cloth though, I
think, mamma.'
'It would be very coarse for you to wear, Elizabeth,' replied Mrs.
Mortimer, 'because you are born in a state of affluence, and
therefore it is becoming that you should be drest according to the
fortune of your papa. But to give fine garments to the poor would be
no kindness to them, nor a fit manner of shewing our benevolence
towards them.'
'I think papa is very good and kind, do not you, mamma?' said Harriet,
looking very steadfastly at her mother.
'Your father has a great pleasure in benefiting any one it is in his
power to serve, and is as you observe, Harriet, one of the kindest of
men. But he does no more than his duty, and this he would himself tell
you, in being a vigilant guardian over the necessities of his poor
neighbours. Providence has placed a large fortune at his disposal;
and one end of its being given, was, that he might clothe the naked
and feed the hungry. Christmas would not be a time of much rejoicing
to the poor, were not the rich to assist them in making it so: and I
hope all my dear children, while they are enjoying themselves with
every comfort and indulgence around them, will be rendered happier by
reflecting that the inhabitants of every cottage in the village are
rejoicing at the same time.'
'We shall not have a party on Christmas-day, shall we, mamma?' asked
John.
'None, excepting our own family, John,' replied Mrs. Mortimer. 'I
hope both your uncles will be with us, and your grandpapa and
grandmamma have promised to come over from Cannon Hill. The Mortimers
from Haversly too I expect, and these I think will complete our circle
'round the Christmas fire.
'Oh, I hope grandpapa will come,' said Frederick, 'because he has
always such a number of battles and fighting stories to tell, and he
is so droll besides.'
'And I am sure I hope uncle Philip will come,' said Elizabeth; 'for he
is so fond of play, and jumping me up to the ceiling.'
'I think you are getting almost too big for this play,' said Mrs.
Mortimer; 'and so uncle Philip would feel in his arms, I believe, were
he to attempt to jump you now.'
'We shall all dine with you then, mamma, shall we not?' said
Elizabeth; 'if there is no other company. You know they are relations,
and are all fond of us children.'
'You shall all dine in the room, certainly,' said Mrs. Mortimer; 'but
if the four young Mortimers come, I think some of you will be obliged
to dine at the side table, but that none of you will mind.'
'Oh, we do not mind that at all, mamma,' said Harriet; 'but we had
rather not have any of the Mortimers with us, for they are so rude
and noisy, and papa always thinks that we make the noise; and I am
sure it is always their fault, though we cannot help laughing at
them.'
'You see, in the instance of your cousins, Harriet,' said Mrs.
Mortimer, 'the disadvantage of never having any restraint put on
little girl's educations. I myself have seen that they occasionally
are boisterous and overbearing in their manners; but the fault is not
their own. And, if you remember, one day when they were with us,
without their own father and mother, they were as orderly and
well-behaved as possible.--But will you never have finished your
luncheon, Frederick?'
'I was so hungry, mamma,' replied the little boy; 'but I have done
now: and now shall we go out again?'
'Did you call on nurse this morning?' said Mrs. Mortimer.
'No, mamma, I quite forgot her,' replied Frederick; 'but we will go
now shall we, John, while mamma finishes sorting the things?'
'You must never forget her, my dear boy,' replied the tender mother;
'for without her care of you, when your own mother was too weak to
attend to you, you would not have been the stout active boy you now
are.'
'I hope you have a nice gown and petticoat for nurse, mamma?' said
Frederick.
'She has not been forgotten,' replied Mrs. Mortimer; 'and you shall
have the pleasure of carrying the bundle prepared for her yourself.
There it is:--the cotton gown, and stuff petticoat, the shoes,
stockings, and apron, lying together at the corner of the table.'
Frederick, with a little of his mother's assistance, soon made these
separate articles into a bundle; and the two boys set off for Nurse
Winscomb's cottage.
The stroll round the garden did not take place on that day; for the
boys met their father returning from the cottage of the nurse, and he
took them with him to call on a gentleman residing about two miles
distant, and whose family were to be invited, with a few others, to
meet together in the Christmas week. The young people were to be
indulged with a little dance; and although neither John nor Frederick
knew much about dancing, they were pleased at the idea of joining with
those who did, and already began to talk over the little young ladies
of the neighbourhood, and to settle with whom they would, and with
whom they would not dance.
They came home quite tired, and only in time to have their dress
changed before dinner. Harriet and Elizabeth thought they had been
absent a long while, and on their return into the drawing-room, were
ready with their smiling countenances to receive these dear boys.
The next morning after breakfast, Mr. Mortimer employed a few hours in
examining his boys in the improvements they had made during the last
half-year; for he had wisely resolved, for the comfort of the whole
family, that the entire day was not to be given up to play. During
this time, Harriet and Elizabeth were occupied with their mamma; and
after this as the day continued bright, though cold, it was determined
to put into effect the proposed stroll of yesterday. And first to the
farm-yard, where the poultry-maid supplied them with corn: and with
this enticement, the fowls and ducks were called together and
numbered, and the various beauties of both enumerated. This speckled
hen had been such a good mother, and a good handful of grain was
tossed to her;--then the beautiful little bantam had been nursed in a
stocking, and was so tame that it would come and eat out of the
hand;--then there was the fine old cock that crowed so loud he might
be heard all over the parish, and a handful was thrown to him;--then
there was the young one which the old one drove about so, that it
could get nothing to eat;--Harriet made his necessities her care: but
it was useless to throw him any: for the old cock would not allow him
to come near the grain.
'Nasty greedy fellow,' said Elizabeth, 'I am sure there is enough for
all, but the young cock cannot get a morsel.'
'I believe we must get rid of him,' observed Mrs. Mortimer; 'for it
is miserable to see him driven about so.'
'He is to be killed next, Madam,' answered the poultry-maid, who now
approached with two fowls hanging from her hands, from which drops of
blood were falling.
Mrs. Mortimer moved away with the children: for she saw that Harriet
turned pale at the sight of the blood.
'I cannot think how Jane can kill the fowls, mamma,' said Elizabeth;
'I am sure I could not, if we never had any at all.'
'I should be very sorry if you could, my dear little girl, for there
is no necessity for your doing it; and without conquering your
feelings of tenderness, you never could acquire the resolution to do
it. In Jane's situation it was necessary for her to habituate herself
to an employment which devolves to her as the rearer of the poultry:
but I assure you it was a long time before she could first bring
herself to deprive those creatures of life which she had been
accustomed to look after and feed. And even now I believe when she can
meet with the gardener or groom, she most generally employs them.'
'Are there no ducks, mamma?' said Frederick: 'we used to have such a
number.'
'There is your old favourite drake just stopping under the gate,'
replied Mrs. Mortimer: 'and we will follow him into the field, for it
is rather cold standing still.'
They then went into the field, and after that came round to the
green-house, where the gardener was very busily employed in gathering
some beautiful grapes.
'How nice and warm it is here,' said several of the children, on
entering the house. The gardener then approached to ask the young
gentlemen how they did, and to tell them how much they were grown, and
to say that he hoped they would like the grapes. John and Frederick
answered all the old man's questions with kindness and civility; and
as the young party were leaving the green-house, he asked them
whether they should not want some flowers and evergreens against
their little dance?
'Oh yes, if you please, gardener,' was the ready and quick
answer:--'we may, mamma, may we not?' said Harriet, looking up at her
mother before she gave her reply.
'The gardener may give you what he can spare,' replied Mrs. Mortimer.
'And gardener,' added she, looking back towards the green-house,
'desire your grandson to go into the copses, and bring home a little
cart of holly, that we may have the kitchen well ornamented, when the
tenantry come to their dinner.'
'He shall be sure to do it, ma'am,' replied the gardener. 'I look we
shall have a merry Christmas, and I do like to see the room well
dressed up.'
As Tom, the gardener's grandson, was a steady, well-behaved lad, Mrs.
Mortimer allowed John and Frederick to accompany him to the copses, in
search of the holly. Harriet and Elizabeth would, no doubt, very much
have liked to belong to the party also, but they were easily convinced
of the propriety of their not doing so, and were therefore satisfied
to see their brothers drive off with Tom Harding, and return in two or
three hours afterwards, walking by the side of the little vehicle,
which then appeared a moving shrub of red-berried holly.
On Christmas-day the expected party met round the hospitable
dinner-table of Mr. Mortimer, having all of them arrived on the
preceding day at the grove, excepting the other branch of the Mortimer
family, who attended their own parish church in the morning, and did
not arrive till the hour of dinner.
The children of the village school, all in their new clothes, and with
a sprig of holly in their bosoms and button holes, walked from the
church to the Grove; and there partook, as they had been invited to
do, of beef and pudding, and good home-brewed beer. The young
Mortimers waited upon them at dinner, and before they left the Lodge,
presented them each with a plumb cake; and Mrs. Mortimer gave them
each an amusing little book to read to themselves and their parents,
who had not like themselves possessed the advantages of learning to
read.
The family dinner party went off as happily as that in the kitchen.
The young Mortimers all sat together at the side table, and their
papa, had not once occasion to call them out for being noisy, though
they were merry and cheerful enough. It was certainly true, as Harriet
had said, that her cousins would be noisy; on this day, however, being
dispersed amongst the party at the large table, they were very orderly
and well-behaved; and after dinner, when the young people had had
taken as much fruit as was good for them, they retired into their
play-room together: they sat round the blazing fire there provided for
them, very comfortably and happily, and without one word of dissension
till they were again called back for tea into the drawing room.
The next day was the day appointed for the dinner of the tenantry, and
busy indeed were the young Mortimers, in dressing up the Hall, and
making it look smart and lively. A very large party assembled here to
enjoy the squire's hospitable table, at which he himself presided; and
the day after this, the labouring cottagers and their wives met in the
same room at one o'clock, round a table well covered with meat pies,
legs of mutton, roast beef, potatoes, and plum pudding. They brought
with them those of their children, who were too young to be in the
school: and, on this occasion, all the new round frocks, and cotton
gowns were exhibited. Little Frederick led his nurse up to the head of
the table, and was very attentive to her; and whenever her plate was
empty, he took care that it should not remain long so.
This party went off as happily as the last; and two days after was to
take place the little dance, so anxiously looked forward to, not only
by the Mortimers, but by all the young people in the neighbourhood.
The Wexfords came very early in the morning, to assist their young
friends in preparing the ball-room: and the gardener had taken good
care to provide plenty of shrubs and flowers, for the necessary
decoration. Mrs. Mortimer lent her assistance where it was required,
and she was only fearful that the children would tire themselves
before the pleasure of the evening commenced; for Mr. Mortimer had now
pronounced the sheet of water in the park sufficiently frozen to bear
any weight that might be ventured on it; and he had given several
village lads permission to slide there, and prepare it for the use of
his own boys. He now called upon both his own lads, and the young
Wexfords, to join him, and for John he had provided a pair of skates.
John met with a great many tumbles, to the amusement, not only of
himself, but of his companions; but he had no serious bruises, and
soon jumped up and laughed at his own awkwardness. Frederick longed to
try the skates out. Mr. Mortimer thought him too little to venture
upon them, so that he was obliged to be satisfied with sliding. And
very prettily he did slide, and very much did Elizabeth wish to slide
with him; for she was indeed a merry little girl, besides being always
desirous of doing every thing which she saw her brother Frederick
engaged in. But mamma thought it not a very fit amusement for little
girls; so Elizabeth joined Harriet and the Miss Wexfords in a run
round the park, all of them occasionally returning to the ice, to see
how the skaters and sliders went on.
The hour of dinner was a very early one on this day, for the evening
party was to be an early one. The young people, with their papas and
mammas began to assemble at a very unfashionable hour, as early
indeed as seven o'clock, and by eight they were all dancing away very
merrily. Dancing was kept up with great spirit till towards eleven,
when there was a summons to supper. Another hour was spent in taking
refreshments, and during this time there was much merriment, and many
jokes passing round, as well amongst the elder part of the assembly,
as in that with which we are more particularly interested. Soon after
twelve the party began to separate;--all had appeared to be very well
satisfied with the pleasure they had been enjoying;--every one seemed
in high good-humour and glee; and all the young visitors, as well as
the four Mortimers, joined in acknowledging that the dance had gone
off very well indeed; and in pronouncing that certainly 'Christmas
was a very happy time.'
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