"THEY DROVE INTO THE CITY"
She liked the way the snow squeaked under the runners of the sleigh, she liked the way the big farm horses kicked the snow, she liked the way the evergreen boughs, loaded with snow, held out their branches toward her.
There is nothing more comfortable than one of these Canadian sleighs full of robes; they are built low on runners close to the ground, and they have a high back which keeps off the wind. The whole effect is somewhat like a wooden bathtub on runners; the seats are wide enough to hold a whole family.
How proud our little Quebec cousin felt to be riding with her father, her mother, her two sisters and two brothers! Her cheeks grew red and redder with the thrill of it. There were hot bricks in the bottom of the sleigh to keep her mother's feet warm, her two sisters held hot potatoes in their muffs. The French Canadian knows how to conserve heat. Long before the day of Thermos bottles and fireless cookers he heated bricks and stones, and sealed up the windows of his home against all wintry blasts. It is a very stuffy atmosphere they breathe, but there is so much latent heat stored in their bodies that they can take a long drive, if well muffled, without the chill of the weather penetrating their bones.
Oisette Mary's eyes grew round and rounder with surprise as they drove into the city and she saw the blaze of electric signs for the first time. The portals of the great church looked very gloomy in comparison until they entered the church, and then she saw for the first time the high altar, with its splendor of colored lights. It is a sight to take the breath away. Tall candles, short candles, clusters of red, green, blue, yellow lights all twinkling like stars; and the organ playing delightful music.
Her father picked Oisette up in his arms, and they went down a long side aisle to visit the manger of the Infant Christ. There it was, very lifelike indeed; piles of straw, heads of cattle, the Infant Christ in wax was lying in some straw, and there were kneeling figures of Joseph and Mary by its side.
After a while Oisette and her father were seated in a pew very close to the chancel and she could see the priests, nineteen in all, who waited on the archbishop; then the little acolytes, six in number, who waited on the priests, were a pretty sight. The organ played "Adeste Fidelis." Then the mass began. The incense poured up in volumes toward the groined roof. At last Oisette fell asleep on "bote of de eye," as the French Canadian would express it, and she never awakened until they were traveling homeward again.
"Do you know where you are, little one?" asked the father, as he cracked his whip. "I am on the front seat with mon père," she replied with a sleepy smile, and curled up again like a little dormouse.