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PHILADLPHIA J. B. LIPPINCOTT CO.
41
PHILADELPHIA 
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 
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was the night before Christmas, when all
through the house
a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
stockings were hung by the chimney with
care,
In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there;
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he  children were nestled all snug in their
beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their
heads;
And Mamma in her kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap,
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W     ~hen  out on the lawn there arose such a
clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.
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Tp    he moon on the breast of the new-fallen
snow
Gave the lustre of midday to objects below,
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,
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\W[ith a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them
by name:
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ow,  Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer
and Vixen!
On, Comet! on, Cupid! on, Donner and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!"
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As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount
to the sky,
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of Toys, and St Nicholas too.
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nd then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little
hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St Nicholas came with a
bound. 
e was dressed all in fur, from his head to
his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and
soot;
A bundle of Toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a pedlar just opening his pack.
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is  eyes-how  they twinkled! his dimples
how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the
snow;   
he stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a
wreath;
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of
jelly.
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H    e was chubby and plump, a right jolly old
elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of my      self;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.
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e spoke not a word, but went straight to his
1      work,
And filled all the stockings; then turned with a
jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;
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|     e sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a
whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of
sight,
HA IPY CI{P\ ILTN AS
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NOTE
Dr. Clement C. Moore, the author of these verses,
was born in the city of New York in 1779. The son
of Bishop Benjamin Moore, he became a well-known
classical scholar, and in i821 was appointed Professor
of Hebrew and Greek Literature in the Protestant
Episcopal Seminary in New York. He died in i863.
Among his contributions to literature and learning is
a monumental "Hebrew and English Lexicon," a
work of great labor and the product of many years'
toil. Yet, strangely enough, Dr. Moore's fame today rests almost solely on this poem, which he wrote
one Christmas-time for his children.'Published first
under the title "A Visit from St Nicholas," it has
been translated into nearly all European languages,
and has even been issued in Braille.