Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1859-12-24

And saw that within was no ligbt,
Then he stamped aud he tore,
And 10 low Dutch he swore,
And declared it bore,
And many things more,
to keep an honest old Dutch gentleman out in
the cold, when so many little children
Were snug in beds
With dreams in their heads,
And visions so bright,
or his coming that night,
and filling their stockings with oceans Of nice
things, as he had done every Christmas Eve for
thoussnd years.
Then he thought how they'd grieye,
Pofchance be should leave,
Or go on 10 huff,
How the coming tomorrow,
Would bring with it corrow,
if SANTA CLAUS should fail to drop his holiday
presents, as was expected Of him, into the
stockings that hung in the corner
Then he shouldered his traps,
Took pull at the Schnapps,
And up from the ground,
With wonderful bound,
he went like an India rubber ball. and landed
right on the house-top, as If such tremendous
leap were n)thing for dumpy fat Dutch gen
tleman, though gray with age, and carrying
twenty cart loads of toys for the children whose
stockings were hanging in the corner.
With his thumb on his nose,
10 the chimney he goes
He looked down with grin,
Aud then he went in,
And he wriggled and squeezed,
And he coughed and sneezed,
for there was a dood deal of SCOT in the chin
ney, and some smoke coming up from the
smoudering brands on the hearth below. Be-
sides, the 6ue was a little smaller than his
body, SO that all things considered old SANTA
CLAUS was in rather tight place"
But at last he got down
With his face "dOne in brown"
And drawn up with frown,
For he had soilod a new gown,
that he intended to put into the stocking of a
blue-eyed, rosy y-cheeked little girl, with voice
like harp, and smile like a sunbeam, who
lived in the house over the way.
But the jolly old elf
Took look at himself,
And a view Of his plight
| Made him snicker outright,
For his breeches were torn
And one coat tail was gone,
and he was astonished TO find that he was about
two feet longer, and not near SO large around
the waist, when he entered the chimney,
which he could account for, only by the squeez-
ing he got coming down the hue. n ..
With hop and skip, -
And a smile on his lip,
For his breeohss and coat
| He cared not gTOat
/ For these he could mend,
For another gown send,
| Or supply from the pack
That was swung on his pack,
anything from bearded Turk on his wooden
war steed, TO a miniature cooking stove, or
juvenile China tea set. So he went TO work,
and the way he filled tho stockings that hung
in the corner was a thing TO be wondered at. -
Where he got the books, and the skates, and the
hlnd-sleds tor the boys, and the muifs, and bon
nets, and gloves, and nice new dresses for the
girls; the wheel barrows and drums, aad tin
trumPets for the two and three year olds, and
the ivory whistles for the yearlings, and thin
blss, and jeWeled bracelets for the "ohildren of
larger growth" nobody but old SANTA CLAUS
knows, and he won't tell, but he's great Gus
toner Tor somebody One thing is very queer
about the matter and We should like 70 know
how it is done-the more he takes OHt of his
pack, the more remains IN Il.
SO when he got though,
To the chimney he h,W,
For something had stirred,
And he thought that he heard
a noise in the bedroom, as il somebody wal
get ing up to catch sight at the old chap az n,
was dealing out his Christmas presents to th,
little ones.
Having hnished bis task,
Like cork from flask,
lie went out al the top,
And then, with hop,
he landed on the other side Of the street, an,
the last we saw Of him was the top Of his old
fashioned conieal shaped hat Disappearing dow
tho chimney Of the house over the way
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