What though the wintry blast howl without, drowned at intervals by the sullen thunder of uninterrupted warfare; what though hardships and sufferings be in the background, and a doubtful future in the perspective; what though some of the convivial party shall perchance only quit the festive board for the danger-fraught monotony and the bitter cold of the trenches; one interval shall at least be snatched from the reign of carking anxiety, one hour at least devoted to the sacred memories of home, and to the genial duties of mirth and good fellowship. Such would seem to have been the thoughts of the group of Officers of the Third Battalion of the Grenadier Guards, to whose Christmas dinner in an enemy's country we are here honoured with an invitation. Honoured, indeed, if there be honour in the society of men who have braved with unquailing courage all that war has of most repulsive as well as of most terrible in its aspect, and who have relinquished at the call of duty, and without a murmur, aU that civilized life has to offer of most seductive to the young, the wealthy, and the gay.
The interior of the tent in which these votaries of old Father Christmas are assembled is a happy illustration of how much may be accomplished with slender materials, when the heart is in the work. In
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effect, what more graceful drapery could be devised than the timehonoured colours, which have so often led the chivahy of England to victory, and to whose imperishable mementoes the glorious names of Alma and Inkermann have been so lately added, in memory of fields on which those who now sit under their folds played so conspicuous a part? The chandelier, formed of bayonets lashed round the tent-pole, is a triumph of engineering skill, possessing a couleur locale which would delight the heart of a French novelist, while the unsullied whiteness of the ample table-cloth is at once suggestive of mystery, and provocative of admiration.
Balaklava must have been ransacked once and again to furnish the plentiful supply of viands under which the table groans, and which speaks volumes for the activity and resources of the caterer for the mess; and last, not least,
" The spring-dew of the spirit, the heart's rain,"
champagne, cooled in no artificial ice, sheds its sparkling influence on the cheerful gathering.