Rhymes of Twenty Years

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1859. Excerpt: ... SANTA CLAUS, FRIEND OF THE CHILDREN. Gray-headed friend of the children--God of the frosty beard--Whose temples the hearts of millions A thousand years have reared! Coming as comes the frost-work Thick on the midnight pane--Again we have all become children; Thou art with us again. Fires blaze bright in the chimney--Such as the old men love In the far-off back-woods country When the winter sky is above. Household circles are gathered, Hearty and jolly and hale, Drinking the golden cider, Or quaffing the nut-browii ale. 42 SANTA CLAUS, FRIEND OF THE CHILDREN. Under the Christmas holly With its berries of glistening red, By lips that long have been silent The words of love are said; And over the grand-dame's knitting, And over the grand-sire's pipe Are old affections gathered, . Nearly a century ripe. Brightly the young eyes sparkle, As they range upon line and nail The stockings to meet thy bounty, That never was known to fail: --Sally's, so near to a woman's, Bob's, a great sack of wool, And Susan, the wee bit fairy's, Scarce holding a thimble-full! Ever, oh friend of the children, Thou earnest to teach us well How the great old law of kindness In human hearts should swell. We heard no step in the parlor, No rattle upon the roof, But thy gifts were there in the morning, And we needed no better proof. SANTA CLAU8, FRIEND OF THE CHILDREN. 43 We are older, many years older--Sally, and Susan, and I, While Bob in a far-off country Has laid him down to die; And the knitting-pins are relics Of the loving toil they bore, And the holly branch is missing--The old days come no more! But thou, oh friend of the children, We bless thy hoary hair, And we see the days departed In thy bald front, stern and bare. Thou art the old and the kindly, The good in thought and deed;...