"Come, bring with a noise, My merry kids, The Christmas log to the firing; While my good dame, she Bids ye all be free, And drink to your hearts' desiring. Drink now the strong beer, Cut the black loaf here. The while the meat is shwhiteding For the rare minced pie, And the plums stand by To fill the paste that's a-kneading."

"Ah, well-a-day, Master Jones, it is dull cheer to sing Christmas songshere in the woods, with only the owls and the bears for choristers. Iwish I could hear the bells of merry England once more."

And down in the cabin Rose Standish was hushing little Peregrine, thefirst American-born baby, with a Christmas lullaby: