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CHRISTMAS DAY |
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upon as a prodigy of book-knowledge by all the grooms, huntsmen, and small sportsmen of the neighbourhood.
While we were talking we heard the distant toll of the village bell, and I was told that the Squire was a little particular in having his household at church on a Christmas morning; considering it a day of pouring out of thanks and rejoicing ; for, as old Tusser observed,
"At Christmas be merry, and thankful withal. And feast thy poor neighbours, the great and the small."
" If you are disposed to go to church," said Frank Bracebridge, " I can promise you a specimen of my cousin Simon's musical achievements. As the church is destitute of an organ, he has formed a band from the village amateurs, and established a musical club for their improvement; he has also sorted a choir, as he sorted my father's pack of hounds, according to the directions of Jervaise Markham, in his Country Contentments ; for the bass he has sought out all the |
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