Lyr Add: Old Santeclaus

Subject: Lyr Add: Old Santeclaus
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 22 Sep 09 - 07:59 PM

Lyr. Add: Old Santeclaus
Clement Clark Moore, 1821

1
Old Santeclaus with much delight
His reindeer drives this frosty night,
O'er chimney-tops, and tracks of snow,
To bring his yearly gifts to you.
2
The steady friend of virtuous youth,
The friend of duty, and of truth,
Each Christmas eve he joys to come
Where love and peace have made their home.
3
Through many houses he has been,
And various beds and stockings seen;
Some, white as snow, and neatly mended,
Others, that seemed for pigs intended.
4
Where e'er I found good girls or boys,
That hated quarrels, strife and noise,
I left an apple, or a tart,
Or wooden gun, or painted cart.
5
To some I gave a pretty doll,
To some a peg-top, or a ball;
No crackers, cannons, squibs or rockets,
To blow their eyes up, or their pockets.
6
No drums to stun their Mother's ear,
Nor swords to make their sisters fear;
But pretty books to store their mind
With knowledge of each various kind.
7
But where I found the children naughty,
In manners rude, in temper haughty,
Thankless to parents, liars, swearers,
Boxers, or cheats, or base tale-bearers,
8
I left a long, black, birchen rod,
Such as the dread command of God
Directs a Parent's hand to use
When virtue's path his sons refuse.

"New Years Present to the Little Ones from Five to Twelve."

A much sterner visitor when compared with the Saint Nicholas of his later poem, "A Visit from Saint Nicholas," 1847, posted by Jim Dixon in thread 123766:

Saint Nicholas