Show the night before christmas fa WAS the night before when 11 II through the hoar fi 1 creature na Irrl ng not even joae j y ry the were hanx by the chimney frith care cai in hope tint st oon would be there the children were bended nil ann in their bed walle allon of usar dared da red through their head and enma in her kenh let nod I 1 in cap had jut nettled our for a long nap when oat on the lann there aroe u clutter I 1 from my bed to ee what ITO the matter iway to the window I 1 flew like a flah tore open the shutter and threw dp the nib alvs the moon on the brenat of the new fallen now s gave a luxter of midday to object belofi when what to ln eye hould appear bat B miniature lelet nd reindeer n little old driver so licely and quick I 1 knew in n moment it ant be st mck J alore rapid lhnn hid couriers they came 1 nd he and and tailed them ba ow arher now now and vixen T j on comet on cupid on aonder and r 1 to the top of the porch to the lop of the wall j nowa bixb anay awaa dah avny nil W 1 AI dry leaten that before the wild fly y j when they meet with an mount to the by so up to the haae top he counter bey flew if with a heleh ful of toy and st mcholan too w and then in a I 1 beard on be roof y the and of each little hoof AN I 1 drew in my head aind was arcond 1 down the chimney st mcholan ame mme with a annd lie wax breed all in fur from hla bead to hi foot and hl clothe were nil tarn lilied with ahe and oot A handle of toy be bad on bl back and he looked like a ped her baxt hl pack III eye how they twinkled hi dimple how merry IU cheeatt were like re III bae like a cherryl r ills droll little mouth mn drawn op like a iron and the beard on hi chin nn a white a the enow the tamp of a pipe be held debt in hl teeth and the it encircled bl bead like a wreath lie had a broad anee and a little round belly that book when he laughed like a bowl foil of jally U lie waa and plump a jolly old elf and I 1 when I 1 aw him in of myself A wink of bis eye and a twist of hl bead n soon gave ane to know I 1 had nothing to dread he poke not a word but went to hi work and hilled all the then turned with a jerk and hi linger ride of hi none and a nod up the chimney be rose lie to hi uleleh to hla team cove a whistle and away they all flew like the down of a ant 1 heard him exclaim ere he drolc oat of happy to all and to all a rood clement C bloore by ELMO SCOTT WATSON HEN recent press carried the news that a new york woman mrs liliie hart who for four months had withstood the siege of a wrecking crew seeking to tear down her home to nuke way or a ai apart mant house had at last capitulated and aowad the house to be demolished thare was one good reason why the story was more than merely a local new orb news item for the disputed building has right fully been called the birthplace of santa clans because in it more than a hundred years ago dr clement 0 moore wrote a famous christmas poem in which fr the first time the american santa clans was described bis mode of raiding was pictured and the of his glang was made known tant poem was the ight before christmas which every american has recited or heard recited at some time or another and for that reason the news that the birthplace of santa baus was to be wiped out of existence had nation wide interest quite aside from his fume as the author of the ight before christ mas dottor moore was a notable luan his father hashop benjamin moore the second protestant bishop of new ork and the third president of olum hla university as alsted at he inauguration of washing ton and administered the last rites to the diang alexander hamilton after the fatal duel alth aaron purr clement C moore ans graduated from columbia university in and was B professor of hebrew and greek in the general theological from 1821 to he was n writer one of his literary an ju the imposing title of observations upon certain Passi pea in mr jeffer son s notes on the state of virginia which appear to have a tendency to subvert religion and establish a false philosophy however his most important work the one at leist le upon which he believed his fame as a scholar would DP secure was A torn lexicon of the hebrew lan guage tie little realized thit future generations of americans would remember him better as the author of what he was accustomed to call a silly poem the authorship of which he refused to acknowledge for a long time yet buch was the case for a short time before christmas n 1822 doctor moore wrote for his children a christ inas poem and they were with the tale as other catl dren not only in this country but in many other lands have been ever since A daughter of rev dr david butler rector of st paul s church at troy N Y who was a niece of doctor moore was a christmas guest in the moore home and made a copy of the poem in her album the next year she sent n copy of it to the troy sentinel and it appeared in thit pa per prefaced bv a note from the ed aitor saying he did not know who had sent it by the next year it hid ap feared tn miny other and and a few ears it had found its wiy into the school books by this time inquiries were beginning to be made as to its author ship and eventually aktor moore none too well pleased that bis poem was so well known whereas hit scholarly lexicon at little attention except from other scholars admitted its authorship and gave hie original manuscript of the poem to the ew lork historical society in its original form the poem dlf afis slightly from alie present version of A particularly in the oaties of the rein deer of the original has become vixen and donder has been changed to dunder the title which doctor moore gave to his verses was A visit from st nicholas but the modern version taken from the first line Is the ight before christmas its popularity how everi has been un changed throughout the years it has been translated into many foreign tongues and it has delighted the chil dren of many nations doctor moore died in at his summer home in newport it I 1 til body was taken to new york which was then in the throes of the draft riots and was placed temporarily in a vault at st lukes church in hud son street I 1 ater it was removed to the churchyard of the chapel of the intercession trinity parish and there it rests today in a plot of ground which holds also the bodies ot his wife and their three children in fact this plot has been more of a christmas shrine than has the house near chelca square where the poem was written and a very pretty christ was ceremony lu memory of doctor bloore takes place there every beir rev dr allo 11 gates of the chapel at broadway and one hundred and fifty fifth street has long been an admirer of the poem and its scholarly author in 1911 he held the first sarv ice in doctor moore s memory about children gathered with him at the grive at the foot of the hill ov ershad owed by the high wall which Is topped by riverside drive since then the number djs grown to more than 2000 the ceremony begins at four 0 clock on christmas eve with the feast of lights in the church then the chil dren gather in the cloister while a fanfare of trumpets from the bell tow er heralds the procession to the aeme tery led by the trumpeters trum peters they move along one hundred and fifty fifth street carrying banners lighted candles torches and lanterns past the lauge tree in the corner of the churchyard all broadway traffic Is halted as they cross the swell of their music rising above the noise of the street and falling away agian as they pass rom the steps of the cemetery and the road that winds around from side to side down the hill the voices may still be bieard on the busy street sing ing little town of bethlehem silent night holy ight e three kings of orient are god rest merry gentlemen and many other favorite christmas hymns and carais except for the lights in the call dren s hands it is quite dark by the time they reach the stone marked lement clarke moore born in new york july 15 1779 died in newport R I 1 july 10 1803 A final carol is sung as a wreath Is laid against the stone and before disbanding the pro cession moves on to a nearby to honor the memory of alfred tenny son dickens eldest son of charles dickens of another christmas classic A christmas carol another ceremony honoring doctor moore Is held at st peters church on twentieth street A tablet Is erected to his memory there because he was the first warden of that church and also gave the land upon which it stands as well as the annd upon which wis built the gen eral with it his a close connection |