A Christmas Garland 22 – Beerbohm · Library Across
Literature · Humor
A Christmas Garland 22Spirit of the Years
18
Literature · Humor
A Christmas Garland 22
Spirit of the Years
BeerbohmEnglish
First let us watch the revelries within
This well-kept castle whose great walls connote
A home of the pre-eminently blest.
The roof of the gaol becomes transparent, and the whole interior is revealed, like that of a beehive under glass. Warders are marching mechanically round the corridors of white stone, unlocking and clanging open the iron doors of the cells. Out from every door steps a convict, who stands at attention, his face to the wall.
At a word of command the convicts fall into gangs of twelve, and march down the stone stairs, out into the yard, where they line up against the walls.
Another word of command, and they file mechanically, but not more mechanically than their warders, into the Chapel.
