| OCR Text |
Show 7 rfl '"WSTMAS EVE the students of the Afef 'L ffil&l!tR2v- if IV General Theological seminury In New 3Y 1lsT sStW' -Jm fffi-mMS7 I York City the ,nrffe8t tracing school fY i&H. vRW ft hl for the ,nlnlstry of the Protestant "ty&C Vr N,tS '" r-Z I Jfs Entscopnl church, will Rather In their "XJxCll JS. x. Ah .--yiY ! dlnmg hall and with appropriate cere- jzhy-L " "J" I y monies will wreathe holly ahout an rW vd) 7 ' I old portrait that hnnes on the wall. f K. Jir . . "77 I I jwlaT-Vl a -JHN DICKINSON SHERMAN f fif U1USTMAS EVE the students of the l' I -t-f. General Theological seminury In New i IYaJT rl 'ty' tl,e ,nrffe8t Gaining school f; K3tJ 'or tne ,nmlstry f tne Protestant j Jjarjk Episcopal church, will gather In their ! k EsItoS' dln,n 'm" nnd w,tn appropriate cere- I monies will wreathe holly ahout an ' ' old portrait that nanus on the wall. and copied It Into her album. Tueri, Just before Chrlstmns of 1S.3, she sent o copy to the editor of t'ne Troy Sentinel. And that's how th! verset came to be printed In the first place. Clenwnt Moore, like many a man with a serious purpose In life, had a liobhy which he did not ride In public. pub-lic. His vocation was the teaching 'Of Biblical learning to theological students. stu-dents. His q vocation was writing poetry po-etry for the edification nnd pleasure of Ms children. As for the children, they thought their father's verses were the best fun In all the world. He understood un-derstood so well their likes and dislikes dis-likes and sympathized so keenly with tlielr Joys and griefs. Sometimes Hie poems contained a moral that could be applied right at home. But In general gen-eral the verses were Just sheer, clear rollicking fun. Clement Moore, ss he related In lat er years, first heard the story of St Nicholas as told In the poem from a Jolly fat Dutchman who lived nenf his boyhood home. The Dutchman had heard the story when a boy In Hot land. Well, when the Chrlstmns of K?t drew near Clement Moore thought he would write n Chrlstmns poem as a present for his children. And hi picked out the Dutchman's story of St. Nick as the subject. The Moorei lived in a big house on a Mil Hint sloped to the Hudson. The rrotinif was all covered with snow. There ns a great fireplace where the Christmas stockings were htins. The setting was Just right. So one evening Clement Moore snt down In front of n cheerful blaze In the big flreplnee and begun the verses that will Keep his fume Immortal ns long as there are ehll-dren ehll-dren nnd Christmas Is celebrated. : The portrait Is that of Clement Clark j Moore (178M8C3), a founder of the i seminary who gave It the whole block known as Chelsea square. Moreover, from 1821 to 1350 he was the professor cf Biblical learning nnd was professor r emeritus from then until his dath. 1 And In addition lie compiled a "He- - 1 brew and English Lexicon" (1800), the ' ' first to be published In this country. This notable scholar and dignified the-; the-; logical professor was born In New York City, the grandson of MaJ. Thomas Clark, a retired officer of the British army, and son of the Rt. Rev. Benjamin Moorer third president of Columbia university nnd second bishop of New York. He studied for the ministry, min-istry, but w as not ordained. Christmas morning, at 0:30 o'clock, several hundred Sunday school children chil-dren maybe as many as a thousand will march from the new Chapel of the Intercession In New York City with trumpeters and banners, singing Christmas carols as they go, and lay great wreath on a tomb In famous I , old Trinity cemetery. This tomb ts I that of this same grave and reverend J professor of Biblical learning nnd com- I fpller of a Hebrew lexicon. And this 1 memorial celebration Is now a feature J cf Christmas day. 1 It Is likely that this Christmas the I theological students and the Sunday J school children will add special feu- tures to their memorial celebration. For fi Clement Clark Moore Is, as everybody l should know, the man who wrote "Twas the Night Before Christmas" f - and this Christmas season Is the ren- I tennlal of the writing of the poem that Jios gone around the world and Is the ; lellght of children wherever Santa , Claus Is known. Of course there are lots of people who do not know who si wrote It. And that's because It has become so much a part of our Christmas Christ-mas tradition and literature that It never occurs to them that It hud an 5 ! author. li'i iiWw . Mother Guobe, you know. December 23, 1823, the Troy (N. Y.) Sentinel printed the now famous poem with the title, "A Visit From St. Nich-I Nich-I Ins." The name of the author was jk tot given. The Jolly, Jingle met with Instant j appreciation. Other newspapers pub- Halted It. City after city all over Ihe ! country copied It. It was published In mogar.lnes. Next It went Into the ! public school renders. Then enme t special editions of the poem, Illustrated ' by artists who had mad a name by s their pictures for children. Finally I It was translated Into many languages. Now It may be heard almost all over the world. ; And all this time the name of the author was unknown. The fact Is that i rrofessor Moore wus not exactly ' pleased over the publication of the ' . poem and Its world-wide popularity mused him to shrink from claiming j Us authorship. 1 You see, he hnd nothing to do with Its original publication. The poem wus written for his children and was Strictly for family use. Jsiit in the winter of 1S22, uliortly n ftcr the poem was wrltti-n, the f iiiiily had as a visitor the eldest daughter of Rev. Dr. David Butler, rector of St. Paul's church, " Troy. To her one of Clement Moore's little sJaughlers .read the poem. The visitor wag delighted with the pjeiu I A VISIT FROM ST. NICHOLAS I f 1 By CLEMENT C. MOORE ) rjYfAS the night before Christmas, when all 9 j J t through the house j a creature was stirring, not even a mouse; 'A ; j The stockings were hung ly the chimney with care K In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there; tr Te.inildr.en uere fd all snug in their beds, V j While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads. K sj A nd mama in her ket chief, and I in my cap, 3j Had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap J Sj When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter, a 1 sprang from my bed to see what was the matter. K tj! Away to the window J flew like a flash. ft ft lore open the shutkrs and threw up the sash. $ The wwon on the breast of the new-fallen snow K g Gave luster of midday to objects below; ff When what to my wondering eyes should appear $ Hut a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer, 4, With a little old driver, so lively and quick, W 1 knew in a moment it must be St. Nick. !t ft More tipid than eagles hit coursers they came. V g And he whistled and shouted, and called them by name: $ , "Now, Dasher! now. Dancer! now. Prancer and Vixen! ft X On, Comet! on. Cupid! on. Donder and lUilzen! Jg To the top of the porch to the top of the wall! i Now desh away, dash away, dash away all!" k ijj As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly, J When they meet an obstacle, mount to the sky, So up to the housetop the coursers, they flew, $ ft With the sleigh full of toys and St. Nicholas, too. fl M And lien in a twinkling I heard on the roof j g The ffancing and pawing of each little hoof. ft d 1 drew in my head, and was turning around, k y Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound. X i lie wax dressed all in fur from his head to his foot, ft And hU clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot K ft A bundle of toys he had flung on his back. ' 'S And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack. $ $ 7m eyes, how they twinkled! his dimples, how merry! $ x His checks wne like rosps, his nose like a cherry; -K ft His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow, ' & And the heard on his chin was as while as the snow. $ ft The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth. ft And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath. 'b jh He had a broad face and a little round bellif K ft That shook, when he Uughed, like a bowl full of jelly. Jg jj He was chubby and plump a right jolly old elf; $ And 1 laughed, when 1 sow him, in spite of myself. ;( p A wink of his eye and a twit of his head X ft Soon gave me to know 1 had nothing to dread. ft ft He spoke not a word, hut went straight to hit work. 2 ft And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,' K ft, And laying his finger axide of his nose, ' St And giving a nod. up the chimney he rose. $ V He sjirang 'o hit sleigh, to his team gave a whistle, j) And away they all flew like the down of a thistle'; ft heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight: X ft "Hrry Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!" j I A MODERN KRISS KRINGLE i ft ft Ey HAROLD BARNES Kriss Kringle laughs with a merry glee; jjj V "I'll fool the children this year." .says he; ft "They think I am towing with deer and sleigh, ' X ft And jingle of bills, it, the same old way. ' p ta a "Ihtt I'll do it." Iir my, with a knowing wink. ;J As he open his hangar and what do you think f ft J There stands in shed Vke a waiting train -fj Jj. The finest brand of an aeroplane. ft Shining and gleaming 7 new and spick J.' ft Just made to order for Old St. Nick (K . ' '( ! Clement Moore was a very m-nlest . tnnn and h's pcrnnl fe'dint' it'iut th? verses he wrote for his children was that they ha J ! f f in merit ex-eui as verses for clilldren and for his own children. And for that reason he was reluctant to dNclosp his authorship. au-thorship. Finally. In 1S44. he did publish pub-lish a "Collection of Poems." which Included "A Visit From St. Nicholas. " In the records of the denem! Theological Theo-logical semln.iry lt the following test I utonlnl from Its faculty to the sterllns worth of their associate: "We recognize In him one whom tloi1 has blessed with selected trl ff ; warm hearted in frlendKiilp. genial Ih soi-Imii kindly nnd considerate to nil ; pos sessed of tine literary isstes. p.sth liiKtlncts nnd expressiveness, and ei cheerful humor withal; at the niimh time well accomplished in severer stint les and resolute for more lahorltm undertaking, as his learned vorl; Hebrew grammar and lexleogn (ihy t; tlnctly testify." "A Visit From St. Niclio'ns" Is here with reprlntetl In full. Ami no npologi Is made for reproducing a poem tlm millions of -h 1 1 Iren tmd eroun'ui toir know ,by heart. It's not liar-work liar-work at Chrlstiinis time to run oc the old, familiar lint's they're gwo reaillng yet for the oldest and cntsi et of us. The few lines of verse below, print ed Just for the contrast, nre the hi ejimln;: of a clever Twent'eth centtu version from the Philadelphia I'm,! 4 l.edi.'er In which 1111 up to- Jm' Sf N' f I tru veld by ahplane. |
