Constitutional Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1824-1832, 1831-12-26
Christina US Gefe.

l no season of rapture and fcsta delight,
lno Time TO be merry and happy's here:
away then with sorrow-put thinking to flight
anu give us our eggnog mncc pies and such cheer.
lis tho season for brethren and kindred to moot
for Friendship and Pleasure their to renew
For warm-heartcd mRdcns their sweo,hourts to greet
And moisten their lips with loves noc,arino dow
lis tho season to bury political strife,
for neighbours their jars and their quarrels to end;
Tor the husband to opcn his purse toihis vito,
And give hor an eagle in Jewels 10 rpcnd.
lis the tme for tho lads and tho lassea to dance
For hddlers and harpers to up their strings;
To try tho new tunes just imported from Franco
And show US how Segnior-from Italy-sings
lis the for hunt.nen to rouse with tho morn,
10 mount their fleet coursers, koe gale;
To wuken tho echoes with hounds and with horn
The thickets psryade, and the mountain heights scale
lis the season for sourting for weddings and snk.
For turkies, for buildings, and all the good things;
For eating and drinking for happus-s' sake,
And soaring with poets fancys bright wings
For maids in tho ts the season Of hope
Whom bachelors feelings grow warm with good sho.r.
When their necks never ponder razor or rope
ANA they long TO be squeezed by the ola DEAR
IT'S tho season for goodness to soften the soul
For misery churls to grow kind Q their debtors
To wash out their scores in n fu-Howing bowl,
To open their prisons, and knock of their fetters
Huxza for the season of giadness and fun,
Whom the feelings succumb 20 the reign of tho heart!
When we laugh at the absence of zephyr and sun,
And glow in the rays that our pleasures ilnpart.
Old Winter may rage, and his tempests may howl
His may descend, and his frost bind streams;
Our parlors are Summer, and feel not his rcowl,
And Beauty's our Sun, and yell bask in is beams
Away with the censuro ard cynical frown,
That deny to the bosom its innocent mrth;
o, say not Religion our transports would drown,
On this day of hor FouNDKR's beneficent birth,
He pointed to ehildrsn-the jocund and gay
As types of the blest in the gardens above;
He gives to the woodlands the beauties of May,
And mingios their blooms with the roptures of love
From HIM flows relish of social delig
He gives TO the heart its wild pulses of ioy
And pleasures and actions pure in his sight,
When they fracture NO laws, and virtues destroy.
Away i,on with bigotry, whining, ana ca@G
And let the full bosom its rapturos express
Remcmbor-our puritan Fathers could grant,
That Christmas delights not sinful excess.
Our Fathers. how rive at the sound of their name,
Those Holy-day customs long buried in gloom!
The days when tho Yule clogs emitted its flame,
And holly and ivy embellished each room:-
When the hlistlctoc'sf beautiful berries displayed
Their warrant of Lliss to the eyes of the swain
And called forth blush the cheek of tho maid,
As she felt TO deny him her kisses vain:-
When the young and the aged commingcd in play,
And the heart of the nation in unison thrilled
With the harpor's rich strain, and the poets lay
And the bosom of winter with gladness was filed.
Though fashions have changed, and the customs yorc
So raught with amusements that spring from tho heart
Enliven our halls and feelings no moro,
Our Christmas has pleasures that meier depart.
Then hail to the sGason of kindness and mirth,
That casts bright beam DER tho darkness OF caro-,
And encirclcs the clouds of soourn on earth,
With rainbow of bliss tho close of each year,