CHRISTMAS AT SEA.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VII, Issue 22, 25 January 1872, Page 2

CHRISTMAS AT SEA.

Yes, Christmas was coming — Christmas Day on board the good ship Asia. Expecting to see Cape Otway, great the chatter thereon among the young and gay

congregated in her saloon } great the wonder respecting the strange iand we were approaching. Shall we land in time to spend Christmas on shore ? Shall we doit? Do it, and only 70 days out; you must be dreaming ! (We -very nearly did it-after all by Christmas Day; but what can a giantess like us do with only zephyrs in her mighty sails !) Oh, how dull it will be, sitting mopiug, and thinking of all the fun they are having at home, and eating stupid plnm-puddiDg at sea.No theatres for me, No holly shall we see, And what shall we do for a Chrhtmas-troe ? Stop ! one clever little head has grasped a great idea, and the bright eyes belonging to it will keep it before them, aDd make tbe most of it, depend upon it. So there are endless consultations and coaxing of our dear, kind captain; and what mortal captain could be firm in the midst of such dimples; but he was decided in assuring the fair ladies that ifc really was not convenient to send off a boat to Cape Otway to cut down a tree. So eouldn'fc the carpenter make one ? 0, certainly, with pleasure, why not ? aud I only wish some instantaneous photographer could have taken that honest Scotchman's sonsie face when he received the order. His bewildered remark, "I've been mony a time at the cutting down o' trees, but this is the first time in a' my life I've been asked to mak' are." But it was clone, of course. Ifc was Bft. high, as green as any fir that ever grew. And 0, the simple materials which took delicate dainty forms in the nimble fingers which set to work so eagerly; for excepting some little gifts of jewellery and a few better things, it was our pride that all the prizes hung on that Christmas tree should have been made at sea; and so they were, but 0, the hauling of boxes up and down that blessed hatch ! The.pulling out of heads and colored paper, fringes, silks, and tassel?, &c. Boxes, they cry, and still the boxes, and amid much fun they were good-humoredly handed up and down, until it was a wonder the while lady at ihe bow did not turn round her beautiful face, shake her golden crown at them, and sing out, t? Now then, stop that noise; you with the rioglets; whatareyou up to there, worriting my officers ? Clear out all those Dolly Varden hats, and let's go on to Melbourne ?" But she didn't, and it's my belief she would have had a saucy answer if she had. And Christmas Day- on board the Asia broke bright and warm, and clear and sunny, but not so clear as the freah voices of tbe young ladies ringing out in carols at our cabin windows on that sweet Christmas morning so very early ; and not so bright, 0 dear no, as the eyes, so very wide awake wheu they afterwards hung up that mistletoe branch in the saloon, skylight for the temptation and confusioD of mankind. Mistletoe ! and expecting to sight Cape Otway! Yes, mistletoe, my friend; with leaves so exactly made, with berries so wonderfully tinted, that if those fagabond arch-Druids uf ancient rights had stepped that morning from their disreputable graves they would most certainly have falleu down and worshipped, and then in an ecstasy of admiratiou would have piled •up the hencoops and offered Mis Clever? head up a sacrifice qq the spot. Of the doings consequent on that mistletoe, with such a bevy of youth and beauty, this deponent sayeih not. We had service that Christmas morning — thanksgiving for our safe and happy voyage, and merrily wore the hours away For remainder of news see fourth page.

afterwards. And was the plum-pudding stupid? And did we sit muping and thinkiug of all the fan they were having at home ? . Well, I think we didn't, fdr what with that mistletoe, and the great dressing of that wonderful tree and dressing ourselves. 0 dear, moping, indeed ! why the time till dinner was far too short. Then the larded turkeye, the corpulent geese,Bo brown and so stuffed, the bedizened hams, the crisp giblet pies, the grand haunches of mutton, whose former owners, the sheep, had' evidently not moped or pined on the passage, the amber jelly, the snowy alps of blanc mange, and oh ! the champagoe ! and in came the plum-pudding, blazing away, amid cries of "Save the 'holly f" '* Don't harm the holly!" Holly— and expecting to-sight Cape Otway ! Yes, clever fingers had made holly, too— holly so like that the very cock robins would have twittered anl fought over the scarlet berries on that branch Till their feathers flew about. Then when at length mistletoe time was over and night closed in, there was that Christ-mas-tree standing dressed in the centre of the saloon a very triumph, blazing with light, reflected fairy-like in tbe mirror at the end, bearing on its extended branches 121 prizes, and on its very apex a lovely full-rigged ship, made by a lady passenger entirely of white glass beads, flashing like a thousand diamonds. And oh, the merry party, the gay hearts, the happy faces, that stood around that 'ocean Christmastree, and drew the prizes ! The crew were allowed to pass slowly .through the saloon and view the fairy scene, and their wonder and dalight were unbounded, oue and all exclaiming, " Well, we never saw the like of this at sea before." The face of the carpenter especially was a picture as he stood mutely examining his handiwork. I wonder what the white lady thought of the whole proceedings when the fireworks and dancing "on the poop went on far into tbat calm glorious moonlight night of that strange and happy Christmas Day at sea.