Arizona republican., 1897-12-30
HISTORY OF A FAMOUS POEM.

HISTORY OF A FAMOUS POEM.
 Tt has been nearly threeAquarters of a century since the verses beginning Twas the night before Christmas,
 when all through the house
 Not a creature was stirring, not even
 mouse"
 first saw the light of print, appear ing in the Troy Sentinel of Dec. 23, 1923. As published then it was anonymous, but it was prophetical of it's coming popularity that even in that day, unnaVorable as it was for newspaper illustration, it was ac- companied by picture of Santa Claus on his rounds. In the time in- tervening it has become known to practically every man, woman and child in America, has spraad hence to the widest limits of the English speaking race, has been translated into the language of every nation that has Santa Claus, and is little, if any, short of being the most popular poem in the world. For many years it was an annual feature in all American newspapers. Then, in 1S44, it was ac- knowledged by it's learned author, being included in @ little volume of his poems published in New York. Thence it's inclusion in school readers and in all kinds of dec1amation books was only matter of a short time. In 1859 the edition that first attained wide distribution was issued, with the pleasant illustrations made by Felix O. c. Darley which are remembered gratefully by amy number of persons now crawling reluctantly into middle life. It is surprising, considering the vogue they once enjoyed, that thsy cannot be bought today in a modern edition.
 It will be a surprise to many to learn that ''The Night Before Christ mas" was written by the erudite doc tor of laws who prepared the first He brew dictionary ever published in America He was Clement c. Moore, a, descendant of famous family in the history of the Episcopalian church and himself one of it's most notable be1efactors His father was the Rev. Benjamin Moore, who succeeded Bish- op Provost in the diocese of New York, having been the president of the Kings col1ege-now Colum bia university-and the rector of Trinity church in New York, all the digni- taries named being then, as now, the highest in the gift of the delomina- ton. Bishop Moore was the son of Lieutenant Samuel Moore, a gallant officer in the colonial wars, and five generations removed rom the Rev. John Moore, who was the first minis ter in Newton, L. l., dying there in 1857. Charity Clarke Moore, the mother of the poet, was the second daughter of Major Thomas Clarke, who fought for the British crown and it's possessions in the days before the revolution. He was a man of large means and built him a mansion, which he called Chelsea a goodly distance out from the city of New York, in those days, though its exact site was what is now Twenty-th;ri street, 200 feet east of Ninth avenue. At that time it stood on a high hill, the lawn sloping down with handsome terraces to the shady banks of the Hudson. Built about 1750, the origi- nal structure stood until it's destruc- tion by fire during the last illness of its owner He was rescued with diff hhstened his end. It was rebuilt by his widow and came by inheritance to the poets mother. It stood until 1850, when it was torn down to make room for the advancing city.
 It was in. this spacious house, with it's acrss of beautiful grounds, that Clement Clarke Moore was born on July 15, 1781. The unly child of his parents and the heir of great wealth from both his father and mother, there !, ,ol 1elo and distinguished ancestry could not obtain for him. His father gave him his preliminary education aId he was graduated from Columbia in 1798. Though intended for the ministry, he never took orders, but occupied him self with his Hebraw dictionary and other matters suitable to his erudi- ton. He was early interested in the General Theological seminary of the Episcopal church. In 1918 he gave 1t the tract of land bounded by Twenti- eth street, Twenty-irst street, Ninth avenue and the Hudson Three years later he accepted the chair of Oriental and Greek literature from its faculty, and there busted himself until his death at his summer home in NeWport on July 10, 1863.
 The poem which has given him greater fame than all his learning and benefactions was written as a pastime and given his children as a Christmas present just seventy-five years ago. He thought little of it at the time, or later. Indeed, it is possible it would never have become known to the world at all had not the eldest daugh- ter of the Rev. David Butler, D. D., rector of St. Paul's in Troy, N. Y., seen the lines during a visit to New York the year after they were con- posed, and published them in the pa