Plum-puddings and mincepies, too, will appear on few tables.

In order to comfort the children, the girls are to be given soup tickets to distribute to beggars, and the boys are to have their choice between French and German wooden soldiers.

The former will be treasured up, the latter will be subjected to fearful tortures.

Even the midnight mass, which is usually celebrated on Christmas-eve, took place in very few churches last night.

We have, indeed, too much on our hands to attend either to fasts or festivals, although in the opinion of the _Univers_, the last sortie would have been far more successful had it taken place on the 7th of the month, the anniversary of the promulgation of the Immaculate Conception.