Page:Monthly scrap book, for February.pdf/10

 annual festival. The formal announcement is received with joy, and they hasten home to their fathers for their donations to the schoolmaster, called "Candlemas, bleeze," that all may be ready on the morrow. On the morrow all is anxious bustle and conjecture. Who is to be king? Who is to be queen? It is the only day in the year in which they hurry to school with eager pleasure. The master receives the "Candlemas bleeze" from each pupil with condescending and familiar kindness. Some bring sixpence, some a shilling, and others more, according to the circumstances of their parents. With the "bleeze" the master purchases a few bottles of whisky, which is converted into punch, and this, with a quantity of biscuits, is for the entertainment of his youthful guests. The surplus of cash, after defraying all expenses, he retains as a present to himself. This, therefore, being in lieu of a "Christmas box," may he termed a "Candlemas box," The boy that brings the most "bleeze" is crowned king; and, on the same ground, the girl with the largest portion of "bleeze" is crowned queen, as distinctions of the highest honour for the most liberal gifts. To those illustrious personages the other youths in the school pay homage for the remainder of the festival.

The king and queen are installed by each being introduced to the other by the schoolmaster; and they acknowledge the honour with a fond salute: both then receive a glass of punch,