Page:The grandmother; a story of country life in Bohemia.pdf/226

220 "Our own victuals," smiled Grandmother, nodding: "but you forget the mixture of dried fruit?"

"Yes, but you know I never cared for it. I have thought of something else that we all love to hear; at Dobran they call it 'music.'"

"Oh, I know what you mean! the shepherds' Christmas carol; we have that here, too, you'll hear it before long," said his mother, and hardly had she spoken, when the shepherd's horn was heard near the window. First the melody of the carol was played upon the horn and then the shepherds sang:

"You are right, Caspar. If I did not hear this song, it would not seem like Christmas to me," said Grandmother, listening to the rest of the song with much pleasure. Then she went out and loaded the shepherds with Christmas dainties.

On St. Stephen's, the boys went tosing Christmas songs at the mill and at the gamekeeper's; if they had not come, the miller's wife would have thought that the ceiling must have come down, and she herself would have gone to The Old Bleachery to see what had happened. Afterwards Bertie and Frank came down to sing in return.

The Christmas holidays were over; the children began to talk of the next holiday, of the Three Kings or Wise Men of the East. Then the schoolmaster came and sang of Christ's birth, and wrote the names of the Three Wise Men upon the door. After the Three Kings, the spinners celebrated