SOURCE URL: https://web.archive.org/web/2024/https://www.henrylivingston.com/xmas/poemvariants/poughkeepsiejournal.htm   [page path reconstructed from the site's relative links]
DOCUMENT: "Account of a Visit From St. Nicholas" as printed anonymously in the Poughkeepsie Journal, 16 Jan. 1828 (six weeks before Henry Livingston Jr. died, 29 Feb. 1828).
PROVENANCE OF THIS TEXT: henrylivingston.com transcription.
VERIFICATION STATUS: [S] SECOND-HAND transcription (not checked against the original)
RETRIEVED: 2026-09-14
NOTES: Live site henrylivingston.com fails TLS in this environment; page fetched from the Internet Archive Wayback Machine (2024 capture) and converted HTML->text; site navigation lines removed. The site (Mary S. Van Deusen, Livingston descendant) transcribes manuscripts of the Thomas Collection / New-York Historical Society; transcriptions are SECOND-HAND and have not been checked against the manuscripts.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Account of a Visit From St. Nicholas - 1828 Poughkeepsie Journal
1
'Twas the night before Christmas, when all
thro'
 the house,
2
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
3
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
4
In hope that St. Nicholas soon would be there.
5
The children were nestled all snug in their beds.
6
While visions of
sugar plumbs danc'd in
 their heads,
7
And
Mamma
 in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,
8
Had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap-
9
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
10
I
sprang
 from the bed to see what was the matter;
11
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
12
Tore open the shutters, and threw up the sash.
13
The moon on the breast of the
new fallen snow
14
Gave the lustre of
mid-day
 to objects below;
15
When what to my wondering eyes should appear,
16
But a minature sleigh, and eight tiny
red deer
17
With a little old driver so lively and quick,
18
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick,
19
More rapid than eagles  his coursers they came,
20
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;
21
"Now! Dasher, now! Dancer, now! Prancer and Vixen,
22
"On! Comet, on! Cupid, on! Dunder and Blixem;
23
"To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
24
"Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!"
25
As dry leaves before
 the wild hurricane fly,
26
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky;
27
So up to the
house top
 the coursers they flew,
28
With the sleigh full of
toys
 - and St. Nicholas too.
29
And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
30
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof;
31
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
32
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.
33
He was
dressed
 all in fur from his head to his foot,
34
And his clothes were all
tarnish'd
 with ashes and soot;
35
A bundle of
toys was flung
 on his back,
36
And he
look'd like a pedlar
 just opening his pack;
37
His eyes - how they twinkled, his dimples how merry,
38
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry:
39
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
40
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;
41
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
42
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.
43
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
44
That shook when he laughed, like a
bowl full
 of jelly.
45
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
46
And I
laughed
 when I saw him in spite of myself;
47
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head
48
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread!
49
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work.
50
And
fill'd
 all the stockings; then
turned
 with a
50
[NEWSPAPER FOLD jerk,
51
And laying his finger aside of his nose]
52
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose.
53
He
sprang
 to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
54
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle:
55
But I heard him exclaim ere he drove out of sight,
56
"
 to all, and to all a good night."