SOURCE URL: https://archive.org/details/poemsmoor00moorrich DOCUMENT: Poems by Clement C. Moore, LL.D. (New York: Bartlett & Welford, 7 Astor House, 1844; Wm. Van Norden, printer; issued 25 June 1844 per Norsworthy): title, copyright, Preface "MY DEAR CHILDREN" (pp. v-viii), and "A VISIT FROM ST. NICHOLAS" (pp. 124-127). PROVENANCE OF THIS TEXT: OCR (djvu text) of the archive.org scan (copy: UC / "rich" = Bancroft? see item page). VERIFICATION STATUS: [V] verified directly against a scan or OCR of the original document / period printing RETRIEVED: 2026-09-14 NOTES: CAUTION: in this digitized copy an extra block ("With a little old driver ... Dunder and Blitzen— ... dash away all!") appears between the p.124 text and the p.125 header; it looks like a pasted-in slip or clipping and is NOT the printed page text. The printed p.125 reads "On, Comet! on, Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen!" and p.127 ends "Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ NEW YORK : BARTLETT & WELFORD, 7 ASTOR HOUSE 1844. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1844, by CLEMENT C. MOORE, in the Clerk's office of the District Court of the Southern District of New York. WM. VAN NORDEN, PRINTER. PREFACE, MY DEAR CHILDREN: IN compliance with your wishes, I here present you with a volume of verses, written by me at different periods of my life. You may perceive that the pieces contained in it are not arranged in the order of the times at which they were composed; for, not only would it be impossible for me now to make such an arrangement with precision, but it was thought best that the serious should be inter mingled with the gay, and the shorter with the longer compositions. "142 VI PREFACE. I have not made a selection from among my verses of such as are of any peculiar cast ; but have given you the melancholy and the lively, the serious, the sportive, and even the trifling ; such as relate solely to our own domestic circle, and those of which the sub jects take a wider range. For, as you once persuaded me to sit for my portrait, which was the occasion of one of the pieces in this collection ; so, I flatter myself that you will be pleased to have as true a picture as possible of your father's mind, upon which you and your chil dren may look when I shall be removed from this world. Were I to offer you nothing but what is gay and lively, you well know that the deepest and keenest feelings of your father's heart would not be portrayed. If, on the other hand, nothing but what is serious or sad had been presented to your view, an equally imperfect character of his mind would have been exhibited. For you are all aware that he is far from following the school of Chesterfield with regard to harmless mirth and merri ment ; and that, in spite of all the cares and sorrows of this life, he thinks we are so constituted that a good honest hearty laugh, which conceals no malice, and is PREFACE. Vll excited by nothing corrupt, however ungenteel it may be, is healthful both to body and mind. And it is one of the benevolent ordinances of Providence, that we are thus capable of these alternations of sorrow and trouble with mirth and gladness. Another reason why the mere trifles in this volume have not been withheld, is, that such things have been often found by me to afford greater k pleasure than what was by myself esteemed of more worth. I do not pay my readers so ill a compliment as to offer the contents of this volume to their view as the mere amusements of my idle hours ; effusions thrown off without care or meditation, as though the refuse of my thoughts were good enough for them. On the con trary, some of the pieces have cost me much time and thought ; and I have composed them all as carefully and correctly as I could. I wish you to bear in mind that nothing which may appear severe or sarcastic in this collection, is pointed at any individual. Where vice or absurdity is held up Vlll PKEFACE. to view, it is the fault, and not any particular person that is pointed at. Notwithstanding the partiality of you and my friends, I feel much reluctance to publish this volume ; and have much doubt as to its merit. Had she who wrote the lines signed " La Mere de Cinq Erifans," and those upon the death of your cousin, Susan Moore, which ap pear in this collection, been still spared to me, her native taste and judgment would have afforded me great assistance in putting together this little work, and would have enabled me to act with much more confidence than I now can. But whatever be the merit of the offering which I here make to you, receive and look upon it as a token of the affection of your father. C. C. M. MARCH, 1844. TABLE OF CONTENTS. A TRIP TO SARATOGA, - 15 To MY CHILDREN, with my Portrait, 65 To THE FASHIONABLE PART OF MY YOUNG COUN TRYWOMEN, 69 THE MISCHIEVOUS MUSE — Translation, 74 LlNES WRITTEN AFTER A FALL OF SNOW, 80 To YOUNG LADIES WHO ATTENDED PHILOSOPHI [... pp. 124-127 ...] Calm as a child by sleep oppress'd And wake to endless joy." A VISIT FROM ST. NICHOLAS 'TWAS the night before Christmas, when all through the house Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse ; The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, In hopes that ST. NICHOLAS soon would be there ; The children were nestled all snug in their beds, While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads ; And Mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap, Had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap ; 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, Prance r and Vixen ! On ! Comet, on ! Cupid, on ! Dunder and Blitzen— To the top of the porch, to the top of the wall ! Now, dash away, dash away, dash away all !" A VISIT FROM ST. NICHOLAS. 125 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 lustre of mid-day to objects below. When, what to my wondering eyes should appear, But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny rein-deer, 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 f now, Dancer ! now, Prancer and Vixen ! On, Comet I on, Cupid f 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. 10* 126 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof, The prancing and pawing of each little hoof — As I drew in my head, 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 look'd like a pedlar 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 bowlfull 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 spoke not a word, but went straight to his work, A VISIT FROM ST. NICHOLAS. And fill'd 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, ere he drove out of sight, " Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night." FROM A HUSBAND TO HIS WIFE.