At this moment I awoke and felt some one pulling at my shoulder. I could scarcely believe my eyes when I saw the same peasant whom I had seen in my dream leaning over me. There he was with the red cap down over his ears, a big fur coat over his arm, and a pair of big eyes looking fixedly at me.

" You must be dreaming," he said, " the perspiration is standing in big drops on your forehead, and you were sleeping as heavily as a bear in his lair I God's peace and a merry Christmas to you, I say, and greetings to you from your father and all yours up in the