And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,
had just settled down for a long winter's
nap,
When 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.
The moon on the breast of the
new-fallen snow
gave the luster of mid-day to objects
below,
When,
what to my wondering eyes should appear,
but a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny
reindeer,
With 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:
"Now, DASHER! now, DANCER! now, PRANCER and VIXEN ! On, COMET! on CUPID! on, DONDER and BLITZEN!
To the top
of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! dash away! dash away
all!"
"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.
And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the
roof
the prancing and pawing of each little
hoof.
As I drew in my hand, and was
turning around,
down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a
bound.
He
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 peddler just opening his pack.
His
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.
The 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
bowl full of jelly.
He was
chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
and I laughed when I saw him, in spite of
myself.
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.
He 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;
He 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, as he drove
out of sight,
"HAPPY
CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD-NIGHT."
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