"If the roads are as bad as they were last year," said she, "we shall not be able to attend the midnight mass.

And yet I should so much have liked it this time, and father promised ..." Through the little window they looked on the gray sky, and found little to cheer them.

To go to midnight mass is the natural and strong desire of every French-Canadian peasant, even of those living farthest from the settlements.

What do they not face to accomplish it I Arctic cold, the woods at night, obliterated roads, great distances do but add to the impressiveness and the mystery.

This anniversary of the birth of Jesus is more to them than a mere fixture in the calendar with rites appropriate; it signifies the renewed promise of salvation, an occasion of deep rejoicing, and those gathered in the wooden church are imbued with sincerest fervour, are pervaded with a deep sense of the supernatural.