The yule log

A SERIES OF STORIES FOR THE YOUNG. NEW YORK: STANFORD & DELISSER, 508 BROADWAY. 1859.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the Year 1858, by STANFORD AND DELISSER, In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York.
IT was an old custom, and one that still holds in many parts of England, to cut and dry, in order for burning, an enormous log, or “clog,” as it was anciently called; the trunk or root of a very large tree was generally used, which on “Merrie” Christmas Eve was paraded into the house, the father bearing it in his arms, and his family marching after to the sound of music. It was then introduced into the great kitchen fire-place, and having lighted it with a brand which had been carefully preserved from the last year’s clog, the household drew about the cheerful fire, and inspired by its warmth, and deep draughts of nut-brown ale, “the song and tale went round.” Many such a Christmas Eve have I sat and listened to the tales so marvelous and strange; and now, far away from those bygone scenes, I have striven to snatch from the decaying embers of memory, a little brand to light for my youthful readers a new “Yule Clog” for the coming Christmas season.
G. M. B.
Golden Hill, November, 1858 .



A LITTLE boy used to sit and gaze at the stars, and wonder and wonder. One in particular caught his attention; it was full and round, and shone with a clear, steady light. One summer evening as he sat in the balcony, he saw it rise above the horizon, and then gradually go up higher and higher. He was so full of thought, and so intent watching it, that he forgot everything about him, till his mother came to him, put her hand on his shoulder, and told him it was bed-time.
After he had gone to bed, he dreamed of his star, and presently awakening, his mind was so full of it, that he would steal out softly, while all in the house were asleep, and see what had become of it. When he reached the balcony he could not at first find it, as it had changed its place while he had been slumbering, but on looking directly overhead, there it was shining down upon him, and as he looked steadily at it, he thought that it seemed almost to smile at him, and twinkle more and more. By and by he remembered he had heard that the stars were worlds like our own, and that there were, most likely, inhabitants in them. He then wondered if the people were like his father and mother and himself; and a longing came into his heart to go to the star and learn all about it, and he stretched out his arms to it and cried aloud, “My own beautiful star, shall I ever be ready to read you and to know all your glories?”