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IN THE
YULE-LOG GLOW
CHRISTMAS POEMS FROM
'ROUND THE WORLD
"Sic as folk tell ower at a winter ingle"
_Scott_
EDITED BY
HARRISON S. MORRIS
THREE VOLUMES IN ONE.
Book III.
PHILADELPHIA
J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
1900.
Copyright, 1891, by J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY.
PRINTED BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY, PHILADELPHIA.
BETWEEN THE TALE-TELLING.
Fancy, if you will, Gentle Reader, that, between the intervals of
tale-telling,--the Yule-log still ruddy upon the visages of your
fellow-guests from many lands,--fancy that a quiet traveller draws out
of his side-pocket a little, well-worn pair of books from which he
reads some scrap of verse or some melodious Christmas poem. Fancy,
too, that, beneath the inn windows, in the snow outside, an occasional
band of the Waits strikes up an ancient carol with voice and horn,
begging, when the music is done, admittance to the glowing warmth
within doors and a share in the plenteous cakes and ale.
Imagine this, if you will, and choose, from the pages to come,
whatever of old or new will fit well into the conceit; for not a few
carols or legends lie there which have done service under the
snow-covered gables or by the crackling wood, and which will help,
with their quaint heartiness or simple beauty, to realize the charm of
Christmas the world around,--that charm which flows from hearty and
generous good-will towards men; which has for its inner light the
kindly desire for peace on earth.
ILLUSTRATIONS, BOOK III.
READY FOR THE FEAST Page 59
THE BARON'S HALL " 66
A SHEPHERD " 142
A VISION " 200
CONTENTS OF BOOK III.
LEGENDS IN SONG. PAGE
The Hallowed Time 11
On the Morning of Christ's Nativity 12
The First Roman Christmas 23
The Three Damsels 25
King Olaf's Christmas[A] 29
Halbert and Hob 33
Good King Wenceslas 39
The Wise Men of the East 41
Christmas at Sea 46
"Last Christmas was a Year ago"[B] 50
AS IT FELL UPON A DAY.
A Christmas "Now" 59
Christmas Eve Customs 63
Merry Souls 64
Christmas in the Olden Time 66
Ceremonies for Christmas 68
Bringing in the Boar's Head 69
The Boar's Head Carol 70
To be Eaten with Mustard 71
Christmas-Day in the Morning 72
Praise of Christmas 73
Winter's Delights 78
A Christmas Catch 79
The Epic 80
The Country Life 89
Christmas Omnipresent 90
An Old English Christmas-Tide 94
Signs of Christmas 97
The Mistletoe 99
Christmas of Old 101
A Plea for a Present 112
A New-Year's Gift Sent to Sir Simeon Steward 114
The New-Year's Gift 116
An Invitation to the Revel 117
A Christmas Ditty 120
At the End of the Feast 121
Twelfth Night; or, King and Queen 123
Ceremonies for Candlemas Eve 125
Another Ceremony 126
The Ceremonies for Candlemas Day 127
Another Ceremony 127
Saint Distaff's Day, the Morrow after Twelfth Day 128
THE SHEPHERDS.
On Oaten Pipes 131
Pipe-Playing 132
The First Carol 134
In Bethlehem 137
A Carol in the Pastures 139
The Shepherds 141
On Shepherds' Pipes 144
Angel Tidings 145
The News-Bearers 146
Hymn for Christmas-Day 149
A Hymn of the Nativity 150
Sung by the Shepherd 155
From "The Light of the World"[C] 158
IT BRINGS GOOD CHEER.
Old Christmas Returned 179
The Trencherman 184
Ban and Blessing 186
Thrice Welcome! 187
Christmas Provender 188
Glee and Solace 189
On Saint John's Day 191
Christmas Alms 193
Christmas at the Round-Table 195
LULLABY.
A Carol at the Manger 199
A Dream Carol 200
The King in the Cradle 202
Madonna and Child 205
A Rocking Hymn 209
A Cradle-Song of the Virgin 212
Whispering Palms 214
A Christmas Lullaby 215
The Virgin's Cradle-Hymn 216
The Sovereign 217
By the Cradle-Side 219
The Virgin Mary to the Child Jesus 221
A Bedside Ditty 230
Given Back on Christmas Morn 231
A Lulling Song 237
Good-Night 239
FOOTNOTES:
[A] By the courtesy of Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin & Co.
[B] By the courtesy of The Century Company.
[C] By the courtesy of Messrs. Funk & Wagnalls.
_Legends in Song._
"Tell sweet old tales,
Sing songs as we sit bending o'er the hearth,
Till the lamp flickers and the memory fails."
_Frederick Tennyson._
THE HALLOWED TIME.
Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes
Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated,
The bird of dawning singeth all night long;
And then, they say, no spirit dares stir abroad;
The nights are wholesome, then no planets strike,
No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm,
So hallowed and so gracious is the time.
_Shakespeare._
ON THE MORNING OF CHRIST'S NATIVITY.
This is the month, and this the happy morn,
Wherein the Son of Heaven's eternal King,
Of wedded maid and virgin mother born,
Our great redemption from above did bring;
For so the holy sages once did sing,
That he our deadly forfeit should release,
And with his Father work us a perpetual peace.
That glorious form, that light insufferable,
And that far-beaming blaze of majesty,
Wherewith he wont at heaven's high council-table
To sit the midst of Trinal Unity,
He laid aside; and, here with us to be,
Forsook the courts of everlasting day,
And chose with us a darksome house of mortal clay.
Say, heavenly Muse, shall not thy sacred vein
Afford a present to the Infant-God?
Hast thou no verse, no hymn, or solemn strain
To welcome him to this his new abode,
Now while the heaven, by the sun's team untrod,
Hath took no print of the approaching light,
And all the spangled host kept watch in squadron bright?
See, how from far, upon the eastern road,
The star-led wizards haste with odors sweet;
O run, prevent them with thy humble ode,
And lay it lowly at his blessed feet;
Have thou the honor first thy Lord to greet,
And join thy voice unto the angel-quire,
From out his secret altar touch'd with hallow'd fire.
THE HYMN.
It was the winter wild,
While the heaven-born Child
All meanly wrapt in the rude manger lies;
Nature in awe to him,
Had doff'd her gaudy trim,
With her great Master so to sympathize:
It was no season then for her
To wanton with the sun, her lusty paramour.
Only with speeches fair
She woos the gentle air
To hide her guilty front with innocent snow;
And on her naked shame,
Pollute with sinful blame,
The saintly veil of maiden-white to throw;
Confounded, that her Maker's eyes
Should look so near upon her foul deformities.
But he, her fears to cease,
Sent down the meek-eyed Peace;
She, crown'd with olive green, came softly sliding
Down through the turning sphere,
His ready Harbinger,
With turtle wing the amorous clouds dividing;
And, waving wide her myrtle wand,
She strikes an universal peace through sea and land.
No war, or battle's sound
Was heard the world around;
The idle spear and shield were high up-hung;
The hooked chariot stood
Unstain'd with hostile blood;
The trumpet spake not to the armed throng;
And kings sat still with awful eye,
As if they surely knew their sovereign Lord was by.
But peaceful was the night
Wherein the Prince of Light
His reign of peace upon the earth began:
The winds, with wonder whist,
Smoothly the waters kist,
Whispering new joys to the mild ocean,
Who now hath quite forgot to rave,
While birds of calm sit brooding on the charmed wave.
The stars, with deep amaze,
Stand fix'd in steadfast gaze,
Bending one way their precious influence;
And will not take their flight,
For all the morning light,
Or Lucifer that often warn'd them thence;
But in their glimmering orbs did glow,
Until their Lord himself bespake, and bid them go.
And, though the shady gloom
Had given day her room,
The sun himself withheld his wonted speed,
And hid his head for shame,
As his inferior flame
The new-enlighten'd world no more should need.
He saw a greater Sun appear
Than his bright throne, or burning axletree, could bear.
The shepherds on the lawn,
Or e'er the point of dawn,
Sat simply chatting in a rustic row;
Full little thought they then
That the mighty Pan
Was kindly come to live with them below;
Perhaps their loves, or else their sheep,
Was all that did their silly thoughts so busy keep.
When such music sweet
Their hearts and ears did greet,
As never was by mortal fingers strook;
Divinely-warbled voice
Answering the stringed noise,
As all their souls in blissful rapture took;
The air, such pleasure loth to lose,
With thousand echoes still prolongs each heavenly close.
Nature that heard such sound,
Beneath the hollow round
Of Cynthia's seat, the airy region thrilling,
Now was almost won
To think her part was done,
And that her reign had here its last fulfilling;
She knew such harmony alone
Could hold all heaven and earth in happier union.
At last surrounds their sight
A globe of circular light,
That with long beams the shame-faced night array'd;
The helmed cherubim,
And sworded seraphim,
Are seen in glittering ranks with wings display'd,
Harping in loud and solemn quire,
With unexpressive notes, to Heaven's new-born Heir.
Such music as, 'tis said,
Before was never made,
But when of old the sons of morning sung,
While the Creator great
His constellations set,
And the well-balanced world on hinges hung,
And cast the dark foundations deep,
And bid the weltering waves their oozy channel keep.
Ring out, ye crystal spheres,
Once bless our human ears,
If ye have power to touch our senses so;
And let your silver chime
Move in melodious time,
And let the base of Heaven's deep organ blow,
And, with your ninefold harmony,
Make up full concert to the angelic symphony.
For, if such holy song
Enwrap our fancy long,
Time will run back and fetch the age of gold,
And speckled Vanity
Will sicken soon and die,
And leprous Sin will melt from earthly mould,
And Hell itself will pass away,
And leave her dolorous mansions to the peering day.
Yea, Truth and Justice then
Will down return to men,
Orb'd in a rainbow; and, like glories wearing,
Mercy will sit between,
Throned in celestial sheen,
With radiant feet the tissued clouds down steering;
And Heaven, as at some festival,
Will open wide the gates of her high palace-hall.
But wisest Fate says No,
This must not yet be so;
The Babe lies yet in smiling infancy,
That on the bitter cross
Must redeem our loss,
So both himself and us to glorify:
Yet first, to those ychain'd in sleep,
The wakeful trump of doom must thunder through the deep;
With such a horrid clang
As on Mount Sinai rang,
While the red fire and smouldering clouds outbreak:
The aged earth aghast
With terror of that blast,
Shall from the surface to the centre shake;
When at the world's last session,
The dreadful Judge in middle air shall spread his throne.
And then at last our bliss
Full and perfect is,
But now begins; for, from this happy day,
The Old Dragon, under ground
In straighter limits bound,
Not half so far casts his usurped sway;
And, wroth to see his kingdom fail,
Swinges the scaly horror of his folded tail.
The oracles are dumb,
No voice or hideous hum
Runs through the arched roof in words deceiving.
Apollo from his shrine
Can no more divine,
With hollow shriek the steep of Delphos leaving.
No nightly trance, or breathed spell,
Inspires the pale-eyed priest from the prophetic cell.
The lonely mountains o'er,
And the resounding shore,
A voice of weeping heard and loud lament;
From haunted spring and dale,
Edged with poplar pale,
The parting Genius is with sighing sent;
With flower-inwoven tresses torn,
The Nymphs in twilight shade of tangled thickets, mourn.
In consecrated earth,
And on the holy hearth,
The Lars and Lemures moan with midnight plaint;
In urns, and altars round,
A drear and dying sound
Affrights the Flamens at their service quaint;
And the chill marble seems to sweat,
While each peculiar power foregoes his wonted seat.
Peor and Baälim
Forsake their temples dim,
With that twice-batter'd god of Palestine;
And mooned Ashtaroth,
Heaven's queen and mother both,
Now sits not girt with tapers' holy shine;
The Lybic Hammon shrinks his horn,
In vain the Tyrian maids their wounded Thammuz mourn.
And sullen Moloch, fled,
Hath left in shadows dread
His burning idol all of blackest hue;
In vain with cymbals' ring
They call the grisly king,
In dismal dance about the furnace blue;
The brutish gods of Nile as fast,
Isis, and Orus, and the dog Anubis, haste.
Nor is Osiris seen
In Memphian grove or green,
Trampling the unshower'd grass with lowings loud:
Nor can he be at rest
Within his sacred chest;
Naught but profoundest hell can be his shroud;
In vain, with timbrell'd anthems dark,
The sable-stoled sorcerers bear his worshipt ark.
He feels from Judah's land
The dreaded Infant's hand,
The rays of Bethlehem blind his dusky eyn;
Nor all the gods beside
Longer dare abide,
Nor Typhon huge ending in snaky twine;
Our Babe, to show his Godhead true,
Can in his swaddling-bands control the damned crew.
So, when the sun in bed,
Curtain'd with cloudy red,
Pillows his chin upon an orient wave,
The flocking shadows pale
Troop to the infernal jail,
Each fetter'd ghost slips to his several grave;
And the yellow-skirted fays
Fly after the night-steeds, leaving their moon-loved maze.
But see, the Virgin blest
Hath laid her Babe to rest;
Time is our tedious song should here have ending:
Heaven's youngest teemed star
Hath fix'd her polished car,
Her sleeping Lord, with handmaid lamp attending:
And all about the courtly stable
Bright-harnessed angels sit in order serviceable.
_John Milton._
THE FIRST ROMAN CHRISTMAS.
It was the calm and silent night!
Seven hundred years and fifty-three
Had Rome been growing up to might,
And now was queen of land and sea.
No sound was heard of clashing wars,
Peace brooded o'er the hushed domain;
Apollo, Pallas, Jove, and Mars
Held undisturbed their ancient reign,
In the solemn midnight
Centuries ago.
'Twas in the calm and silent night!
The senator of haughty Rome
Impatient urged his chariot's flight,
From lonely revel rolling home.
Triumphal arches, gleaming, swell
His breast with thoughts of boundless sway;
What recked the Roman what befell
A paltry province far away
In the solemn midnight
Centuries ago?
Within that province far away
Went plodding home a weary boor;
A streak of light before him lay,
Fallen through a half-shut stable-door,
Across his path. He passed; for naught
Told what was going on within.
How keen the stars! his only thought;
The air how calm, and cold, and thin!
In the solemn midnight
Centuries ago.
O strange indifference! Low and high
Drowsed over common joys and cares;
The earth was still, but knew not why;
The world was listening unawares.
How calm a moment may precede
One that shall thrill the world forever!
To that still moment none would heed,
Man's doom was linked, no more to sever,
In the solemn midnight
Centuries ago.
It is the calm and solemn night!
A thousand bells ring out and throw
Their joyous peals abroad, and smite
The darkness, charmed, and holy now!
The night that erst no name had worn,
To it a happy name is given;
For in that stable lay, new-born,
The peaceful Prince of earth and heaven,
In the solemn midnight
Centuries ago.
_Alfred H. Domett._
THE THREE DAMSELS.
(SUGGESTED BY A DRAWING OF DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI'S.)
Three damsels in the queen's chamber,
The queen's mouth was most fair;
She spake a word of God's mother
As the combs went in her hair.
Mary that is of might,
Bring us to thy Son's sight.
They held the gold combs out from her
A span's length off her head;
She sang this song of God's mother
And of her bearing-bed.
Mary most full of grace,
Bring us to thy Son's face.
When she sat at Joseph's hand,
She looked against her side;
And either way from the short silk band
Her girdle was all wried.
Mary that all good may,
Bring us to thy Son's way.
Mary had three women for her bed,
The twain were maidens clean;
The first of them had white and red,
The third had riven green.
Mary that is so sweet,
Bring us to thy Son's feet.
She had three women for her hair,
Two were gloved soft and shod;
The third had feet and fingers bare,
She was the likest God.
Mary that wieldeth land,
Bring us to thy Son's hand.
She had three women for her ease,
The twain were good women;
The first two were the two Maries,
The third was Magdalen.
Mary that perfect is,
Bring us to thy Son's kiss.
Joseph had three workmen in his stall,
To serve him well upon;
The first of them were Peter and Paul,
The third of them was John.
Mary, God's handmaiden,
Bring us to thy Son's ken.
"If your child be none other man's,
But if it be very mine,
The bedstead shall be gold two spans,
The bed-foot silver fine."
Mary that made God mirth,
Bring us to thy Son's birth.
"If the child be some other man's,
And if it be none of mine,
The manger shall be straw two spans,
Betwixen kine and kine."
Mary that made sin cease,
Bring us to thy Son's peace.
Christ was born upon this wise:
It fell on such a night,
Neither with sounds of psalteries,
Nor with fire for light.
Mary that is God's spouse,
Bring us to thy Son's house.
The star came out upon the east
With a great sound and sweet:
Kings gave gold to make him feast
And myrrh for him to eat.
Mary of thy sweet mood,
Bring us to thy Son's good.
He had two handmaids at his head,
One handmaid at his feet;
The twain of them were fair and red,
The third one was right sweet.
Mary that is most wise,
Bring us to thy Son's eyes.
Amen.
_Algernon Charles Swinburne._
KING OLAF'S CHRISTMAS.
At Drontheim, Olaf the King
Heard the bells of Yule-tide ring,
As he sat in his banquet hall,
Drinking the nut-brown ale,
With his bearded Berserks hale
And tall.
Three days his Yule-tide feasts
He held with Bishops and Priests,
And his horn filled up to the brim;
But the ale was never too strong,
Nor the Sagaman's tale too long,
For him.
O'er his drinking-horn, the sign
He made of the cross divine
As he drank, and muttered his prayers;
But the Berserks evermore
Made the sign of the Hammer of Thor
Over theirs.
The gleams of the fire-light dance
Upon helmet and hauberk and lance
And laugh in the eyes of the king;
And he cries to Halfred the Scald,
Gray-bearded, wrinkled, and bald:
"Sing!
"Sing me a song divine,
With a sword in every line,
And this shall be thy reward;"
And he loosened the belt at his waist,
And in front of the singer placed
His sword.
"Quern-biter of Hakon the Good,
Wherewith at a stroke he hewed
The millstone through and through,
And Foot-breadth of Thoralf the Strong
Were neither so broad nor so long
Nor so true."
Then the Scald took his harp and sang,
And loud through the music rang
The sound of that shining word;
And the harp-strings a clangor made
As if they were struck with the blade
Of a sword.
And the Berserks round about
Broke forth into a shout
That made the rafters ring;
They smote with their fists on the board,
And shouted, "Long live the sword
And the King!"
But the king said, "O my son,
I miss the bright word in one
Of thy measures and thy rhymes."
And Halfred the Scald replied,
"In another 'twas multiplied
Three times."
Then King Olaf raised the hilt
Of iron, cross-shaped and gilt,
And said, "Do not refuse;
Count well the gain and the loss,
Thor's hammer or Christ's cross:
Choose!"
And Halfred the Scald said, "This,
In the name of the Lord, I kiss,
Who on it was crucified!"
And a shout went round the board,
"In the name of Christ the Lord
Who died!"
Then over the waste of snows
The noonday sun uprose
Through the driving mists revealed,
Like the lifting of the Host,
By incense-clouds almost
Concealed.
On the shining wall a vast
And shadowy cross was cast
From the hilt of the lifted sword,
And in foaming cups of ale
The Berserks drank "Was-hael!
To the Lord!"
_Henry Wadsworth Longfellow._
HALBERT AND HOB.
Here is a thing that happened. Like wild beasts whelped, for den,
In a wild part of North England, there lived once two wild men,
Inhabiting one homestead, neither a hovel nor hut,
Time out of mind their birthright: father and son, these,--but,--
Such a son, such a father! Most wildness by degrees
Softens away: yet, last of their line, the wildest and worst were
these.
Criminals, then? Why, no: they did not murder and rob;
But give them a word, they returned a blow,--old Halbert as young
Hob:
Harsh and fierce of word, rough and savage of deed,
Hated or feared the more--who knows?--the genuine wild-beast breed.
Thus were they found by the few sparse folk of the country-side;
But how fared each with other? E'en beasts couch, hide by hide.
In a growling, grudged agreement: so father son lay curled
The closelier up in their den because the last of their kind in the
world.
Still, beast irks beast on occasion. One Christmas night of snow,
Came father and son to words--such words! more cruel because the blow
To crown each word was wanting, while taunt matched gibe, and curse
Competed with oath in wager, like pastime in hell,--nay, worse:
For pastime turned to earnest, as up there sprang at last
The son at the throat of the father, seized him, and held him fast.
"Out of this house you go!"--there followed a hideous oath--
"This oven where now we bake, too hot to hold us both!
If there's snow outside, there's coolness: out with you, bide a spell
In the drift, and save the sexton the charge of a parish shell!"
Now, the old trunk was tough, was solid as stump of oak
Untouched at the core by a thousand years: much less had its seventy
broke
One whipcord nerve in the muscly mass from neck to shoulder-blade
Of the mountainous man, whereon his child's rash hand like a feather
weighed.
Nevertheless at once did the mammoth shut his eyes,
Drop chin to breast, drop hands to sides, stand stiffened,--arms and
thighs
All of a piece--struck mute, much as a sentry stands,
Patient to take the enemy's fire: his captain so commands.
Whereat the son's wrath flew to fury at such sheer scorn
Of his puny strength by the giant eld thus acting the babe new-born:
And "Neither will this turn serve!" yelled he. "Out with you! Trundle,
log!
If you cannot tramp and trudge like a man, try all-fours like a dog!"
Still the old man stood mute. So, logwise,--down to floor
Pulled from his fireside place, dragged on from hearth to door,--
Was he pushed, a very log, staircase along, until
A certain turn in the steps was reached, a yard from the house-door
sill.
Then the father opened his eyes,--each spark of their rage extinct,--
Temples, late black, dead-blanched, right-hand with left-hand
linked,--
He faced his son submissive; when slow the accents came,
They were strangely mild though his son's rash hand on his neck lay
all the same.
"Halbert, on such a night of a Christmas long ago,
For such a cause, with such a gesture, did I drag--so--
My father down thus far: but, softening here, I heard
A voice in my heart, and stopped: you wait for an outer word.
"For your own sake, not mine, soften you too! Untrod
Leave this last step we reach, nor brave the finger of God!
I dared not pass its lifting: I did well. I nor blame
Nor praise you. I stopped here: Halbert, do you the same!"
Straightway the son relaxed his hold of the father's throat.
They mounted, side by side, to the room again: no note
Took either of each, no sign made each to either: last
As first, in absolute silence, their Christmas-night they passed.
At dawn, the father sate on, dead, in the selfsame place,
With an outburst blackening still the old bad fighting-face:
But the son crouched all a-tremble like any lamb new-yeaned.
When he went to the burial, some one's staff he borrowed,--tottered
and leaned.
But his lips were loose, not locked,--kept muttering, mumbling. "There!
At his cursing and swearing!" the youngsters cried; but the elders
thought, "In prayer."
A boy threw stones; he picked them up and stored them in his vest;
So tottered, muttered, mumbled he, till he died, perhaps found rest.
"Is there a reason in nature for these hard hearts?" O Lear,
That a reason out of nature must turn them soft, seems clear!
_Robert Browning._
GOOD KING WENCESLAS.
Good King Wenceslas looked out,
On the feast of Stephen,
When the snow lay round about,
Deep, and crisp, and even;
Brightly shone the moon that night,
Tho' the frost was cruel,
When a poor man came in sight,
Gathering winter fuel.
"Hither, page, and stand by me,
If thou know'st it, telling,
Yonder peasant, who is he?
Where and what his dwelling?"
"Sire, he lives a good league hence,
Underneath the mountain;
Right against the forest fence,
By Saint Agnes' fountain."
"Bring me flesh, and bring me wine,
Bring me pine-logs hither:
Thou and I will see him dine,
When we bear them thither."
Page and monarch forth they went,
Forth they went together
Thro' the rude wind's wild lament
And the bitter weather.
"Sire, the night is darker now,
And the wind blows stronger;
Fails my heart, I know not how,
I can go no longer."
"Mark my footsteps, good my page;
Tread thou in them boldly:
Thou shalt find the winter's rage
Freeze thy blood less coldly."
In his master's steps he trod,
Where the snow lay dinted;
Heat was in the very sod
Which the saint had printed.
Therefore, Christian men, be sure,
Wealth or rank possessing,
Ye who now will bless the poor,
Shall yourselves find blessing.
_Translated from the Latin, by J. M. Neale._
THE WISE MEN OF THE EAST.
Three kings went riding from the East
Through fine weather and wet;
"And whither shall we ride," they said,
"Where we ha' not ridden yet?"
"And whither shall we ride," they said,
"To find the hidden thing
That times the course of all our stars
And all our auguring?"
They were the Wise Men of the East,
And none so wise as they;
"Alas!" the King of Persia cried,
"And must ye ride away?
"Yet since ye go a-riding, sirs,
I pray ye, ride for me,
And carry me my golden gifts
To the King o' Galilee.
"Go riding into Palestine,
A long ride and a fair!"
"'Tis well!" the Mages answered him,
"As well as anywhere!"
They rode by day, they rode by night,
The stars came out on high,--
"And, oh!" said King Balthazar,
As he gazed into the sky,
"We ride by day, we ride by night,
To a King in Galilee;
We leave a king in Persia,
And kings no less are we.
"Yet often in the deep blue night,
When stars burn far and dim,
I wish I knew a greater King,
To fall and worship him.
"A king who should not care to reign,
But wonderful and fair;
A king--a king that were a star
Aloft in miles of air!"
"A star is good," said Melchior,
"A high, unworldly thing;
But I would choose a soul alive
To be my Lord and King.
"Not Herod, nay, nor Cyrus, nay,
Not any king at all;
For I would choose a new-born child
Laid in a manger-stall."
"'Tis well," the black King Casper cried,
"For mighty men are ye;
But no such humble king were meet
For my simplicity.
"A star is small and very far,
A babe's a simple thing;
The very Son of God himself
Shall be my Lord and King!"
Then smiled the King Balthazar;
"A good youth!" Melchior cried;
And young and old, without a word,
Along the hills they ride,
Till, lo! among the western skies
There grows a shining thing--
"The star! Behold the star," they shout;
"Behold Balthazar's King!"
And, lo! within the western skies
The star begins to flit;
The three kings spur their horses on,
And follow after it.
And when they reach the king's palace,
They cry, "Behold the place!"
But, like a shining bird, the star
Flits on in heaven apace.
Oh they rode on, and on they rode,
Till they reached a lonely wold,
Where shepherds keep their flocks by night,
And the night was chill and cold.
Oh they rode on, and on they rode,
Till they reach a little town,
And there the star in heaven stands still
Above a stable brown.
The town is hardly a village,
The stable's old and poor,
But there the star in heaven stands still
Above the stable door.
And through the open door, the straw
And the tired beasts they see;
And the Babe, laid in a manger,
That sleepeth peacefully.
"All hail, the King of Melchior!"
The three Wise Men begin;
King Melchior swings from off his horse,
And he would have entered in.
But why do the horses whinny and neigh?
And what thing fills the night
With wheeling spires of angels,
And streams of heavenly light?
Above the stable roof they turn
And hover in a ring,
And "Glory be to God on high
And peace on earth," they sing.
King Melchior kneels upon the grass
And falls a-praying there;
Balthazar lets the bridle drop,
And gazes in the air.
But Casper gives a happy shout,
And hastens to the stall;
"Now, hail!" he cries, "thou Son of God,
And Saviour of us all."
_A. Mary F. Robinson._
CHRISTMAS AT SEA.
The sheets were frozen hard, and they cut the naked hand;
The decks were like a slide, where a seaman scarce could stand;
The wind was a nor'wester, blowing squally off the sea;
And cliffs and spouting breakers were the only things a-lee.
They heard the surf a-roaring before the break of day;
But 'twas only with the peep of light we saw how ill we lay.
We tumbled every hand on deck instanter, with a shout,
And we gave her the maintops'l, and stood by to go about.
All day we tacked and tacked between the South Head and the North;
All day we hauled the frozen sheets, and got no further forth;
All day as cold as charity, in bitter pain and dread,
For very life and nature, we tacked from head to head.
We gave the South a wider berth, for there the tide-race roared;
But every tack we made we brought the North Head close aboard;
So's we saw the cliffs and houses, and the breakers running high,
And the coast-guard in his garden, with his glass against his eye.
The frost was on the village roofs as white as ocean foam;
The good red fires were burning bright in every 'longshore home;
The windows sparkled clear, and the chimneys volleyed out;
And I vow we sniffed the victuals as the vessel went about.
The bells upon the church were rung with a mighty jovial cheer;
For it's just that I should tell you how (of all days in the year)
This day of our adversity was blessed Christmas morn,
And the house above the coast-guard's was the house where I was born.
Oh, well I saw the pleasant room, the pleasant faces there,
My mother's silver spectacles, my father's silver hair;
And well I saw the firelight, like a flight of homely elves,
Go dancing round the china plates that stand upon the shelves.
And well I knew the talk they had, the talk that was of me,
Of the shadow on the household, and the son that went to sea;
And, oh, the wicked fool I seemed, in every kind of way,
To be here and hauling frozen ropes on blessed Christmas Day.
They lit the high sea-light, and the dark began to fall.
"All hands to loose topgallant sails!" I heard the captain call.
"By the Lord, she'll never stand it," our first mate, Jackson, cried.
... "It's the one way or the other, Mr. Jackson," he replied.
She staggered to her bearings, but the sails were new and good,
And the ship smelt up to windward just as though she understood.
As the winter's day was ending, in the entry of the night,
We cleared the weary headland, and passed below the light.
And they heaved a mighty breath, every soul on board but me,
As they saw her nose again pointing handsome out to sea;
But all that I could think of, in the darkness and the cold,
Was just that I was leaving home and my folks were growing old.
_Robert Louis Stevenson._
"LAST CHRISTMAS WAS A YEAR AGO."
(THE OLD LADY SPEAKS.)
Last Christmas was a year ago
Says I to David, I-says-I,
"We're goin' to mornin' service, so
You hitch up right away: I'll try
To tell the girls jes what to do
Fer dinner. We'll be back by two."
I didn't wait to hear what he
Would more'n like say back to me,
But banged the stable-door and flew
Back to the house, jes plumb chilled through.
Cold! _Wooh!_ how cold it was! My-oh!
Frost flyin', and the air, you know--
"Jes sharp enough," heerd David swear,
"To shave a man and cut his hair!"
And blow _and_ blow! and _snow_ and SNOW,
Where it had drifted 'long the fence
And 'crost the road,--some places, though,
Jes swep' clean to the gravel, so
The goin' was as bad fer sleighs
As 't was fer wagons,--and _both_ ways,
'Twixt snow-drifts and the bare ground, I've
Jes wondered we got through alive;
I hain't saw nothin' 'fore er sence
'At beat it _anywheres_ I know--
Last Christmas was a year ago.
And David said, as we set out,
'At Christmas services was 'bout
As cold and wuthless kind o' love
To offer up as _he_ knowed of;
And, as fer _him_, he railly thought
'At the Good Bein' up above
Would think more of us--as he ought--
A-stayin' home on sich a day
And thankin' of him thataway.
And jawed on in an undertone,
'Bout leavin' Lide and Jane alone
There on the place, and me not there
To oversee 'em, and p'pare
The stuffin' for the turkey, and
The sass and all, you understand.
I've always managed David by
Jes sayin' nothin'. That was why
He'd chased Lide's beau away--'cause Lide
She'd allus take up Perry's side
When David tackled him; and so,
Last Christmas was a year ago,--
Er ruther 'bout a week _afore_,--
David and Perry'd quarr'l'd about
Some tom-fool argyment, you know,
And pap told him to "Jes git out
O' there, and not to come no more,
And, when he went, to _shet the door!_"
And as he passed the winder, we
Saw Perry, white as white could be,
March past, onhitch his hoss, and light
A _see_-gyar, and lope out o' sight.
Then Lide she come to me and cried.
And I said nothin'--was no need.
And yit, you know, that man jes got
Right out o' there's ef he'd be'n shot--
P'tendin' he must go and feed
The stock er somepin'. Then I tried
To git the pore girl pacified.
But gittin' back to--where was we?--
Oh, yes--where David lectered me
All way to meetin', high and low,
Last Christmas was a year ago.
Fer all the awful cold, they was
A fair attendunce; mostly, though,
The crowd was 'round the stoves, you see,
Thawin' their heels and scrougin' us.
Ef't 'adn't be'n fer the old Squire
Givin' his seat to us, as in
We stompted, a-fairly perishin',
And David could 'a' got no fire,
He'd jes 'a' drapped there in his tracks.
And Squire, as I was tryin' to yit
Make room fer him, says, "No; the facks
Is I got to git up and git
'Ithout no preachin'. Jes got word--
Trial fer life--can't be deferred!"
And out he put. And all way through
The sermont--and a long one, too--
I couldn't he'p but think o' Squire
And us changed round so, and admire
His gintle ways--to give his warm
Bench up, and have to face the storm.
And when I noticed David he
Was needin' jabbin', I thought best
To kind o' sort o' let him rest--
'Peared like he slep' so peacefully!
And then I thought o' home, and how
And what the girls was doin' now,
And kind o' prayed, 'way in my breast,
And breshed away a tear er two
As David waked, and church was through.
By time we'd "howdyed" round, and shuck
Hands with the neighbors, must 'a' tuck
A half-hour longer: ever' one
A-sayin' "Christmas-gift!" afore
David er me--so we got none.
But David warmed up, more and more,
And got so jokey-like, and had
His sperits up, and 'peared so glad,
I whispered to him, "S'pose you ast
A passel of 'em come and eat
Their dinners with us.--Girls 's got
A full-and-plenty fer the lot
And all their kin." So David passed
The invite round. And ever' seat
In ever' wagon-bed and sleigh
Was jes _packed_, as we rode away--
The young folks, mild er so along,
A-strikin' up a sleighin' song.
Tel David laughed and yelled, you know,
And jes whirped up and sent the snow
And gravel flyin' thick and fast--
Last Christmas was a year ago.
W'y, that-air seven-mild ja'nt we come--
Jes seven mild scant from church to home--
It didn't 'pear, that day, to be
Much furder railly 'n 'bout three.
But I was purty squeamish by
The time home hove in sight and I
See two _ve_hickles standin' there
Already. So says I, "Prepare!"
All to myse'f. And presently
David he sobered; and says he,
"Hain't that-air Squire Hanch's old
Buggy," he says, "and claybank mare?"
Says I, "Le's git in out the cold--
Your company's nigh 'bout froze." He says,
"Whose sleigh's that-air a-standin' there?"
Says I, "It's no odds whose--you jes
Drive to the house and let us out,
'Cause we're jes freezin', nigh about."
Well, David swung up to the door
And out we piled. At first I heerd
Jane's voice; then _Lide's_--I thought afore
I reached that girl I'd jes die, shore;
And _when_ I reached her, wouldn't keered
Much ef I had, I was so glad,
A-kissin' her through my green veil,
And jes excitin' her so bad
'At _she_ broke down, _herse'f_--and Jane
_She_ cried--and we all hugged again.
And David--David jes turned pale!--
Looked at the girls and then at me,
Then at the open door--and then
"Is old Squire Hanch in there?" says he.
The old Squire suddently stood in
The doorway, with a sneakin' grin.
"Is Perry Anders in there, too?"
Says David, limberin' all through,
As Lide and me both grabbed him, and
Perry stepped out and waved his hand
And says, "Yes, pap." And David jes
Stooped and kissed Lide, and says, "I guess
Your mother's much to blame as you.
Ef _she_ kin resk him, _I kin_ too."
The dinner we had then hain't no
Bit better'n the one to-day
'At we'll have fer 'em. Hear some sleigh
A-jinglin' now.--David, fer _me_,
I wish you'd jes go out and see
Ef they're in sight yit. It jes does
Me good to think, in times like these,
Lide's done so well. And David he's
More tractabler 'n what he was
Last Christmas was a year ago.
_James Whitcomb Riley._
_As It Fell Upon A Day._
"A handsome hostess, merry host,
A pot of ale and now a toast,
Tobacco, and a good coal-fire,
Are things this season doth require."
_Poor Robin._
[Illustration: Ready for the Feast]
A CHRISTMAS "NOW."
So, now is come our joyful'st feast,
Let every man be jolly;
Each room with ivy-leaves is drest,
And every post with holly.
Though some churls at our mirth repine,
Round your foreheads garlands twine;
Drown sorrow in a cup of wine,
And let us all be merry.
Now all our neighbors' chimneys smoke,
And Christmas logs are burning;
Their ovens they with baked meats choke,
And all their spits are turning.
Without the door let sorrow lie;
And if for cold it hap to die,
We'll bury 't in a Christmas-pie,
And evermore be merry.
Now every lad is wondrous trim,
And no man minds his labor;
Our lasses have provided them
A bagpipe and a tabor;
Young men and maids, and girls and boys,
Give life to one another's joys;
And you anon shall by their noise
Perceive that they are merry.
Rank misers now do sparing shun;
Their hall of music soundeth;
And dogs thence with whole shoulders run,
So all things there aboundeth.
The country folks themselves advance
For crowdy-mutton's come out of France;
And Jack shall pipe, and Jill shall dance,
And all the town be merry.
Ned Squash has fetched his bands from pawn,
And all his best apparel;
Brisk Ned hath bought a ruff of lawn
With droppings of the barrel;
And those that hardly all the year
Had bread to eat or rags to wear
Will have both clothes and dainty fare,
And all the day be merry.
Now poor men to the justices
With capons make their arrants;
And if they hap to fail of these,
They plague them with their warrants:
But now they feed them with good cheer,
And what they want they take in beer;
For Christmas comes but once a year,
And then they shall be merry.
Good farmers in the country nurse
The poor that else were undone;
Some landlords spend their money worse
On lust and pride at London.
There the roysters they do play,
Drab and dice their lands away,
Which may be ours another day;
And therefore let's be merry.
The client now his suit forbears,
The prisoner's heart is eased;
The debtor drinks away his cares,
And for the time is pleased.
Though other purses be more fat,
Why should we pine or grieve at that?
Hang sorrow! care will kill a cat,
And therefore let's be merry.
Hark! how the wags abroad do call
Each other forth to rambling:
Anon you'll see them in the hall
For nuts and apples scrambling.
Hark! how the roofs with laughter sound!
Anon they'll think the house goes round:
For they the cellar's depth have found,
And there they will be merry.
The wenches with their wassail bowls,
About the streets are singing;
The boys are come to catch the owls,
The wild mare in is bringing.
Our kitchen-boy hath broke his box,
And to the dealing of the ox
Our honest neighbors come by flocks,
And here they will be merry.
Now kings and queens poor sheep-cotes have,
And mate with everybody;
The honest now may play the knave,
And wise men play at noddy.
Some youths will now a mumming go,
Some others play at Rowland-ho,
And twenty other gameboys mo,
Because they will be merry.
Then wherefore in these merry days,
Should we, I pray, be duller?
No, let us sing some roundelays
To make our mirth the fuller.
And, whilst thus inspired, we sing,
Let all the streets with echoes ring,
Woods, and hills, and everything
Bear witness we are merry.
_George Wither._
CHRISTMAS EVE CUSTOMS.
I.
Come, guard this night the Christmas-pie,
That the thief, though ne'er so sly,
With his flesh-hooks, don't come nigh
To catch it,
From him, who alone sits there,
Having his eyes still in his ear,
And a deal of nightly fear
To watch it!
II.
Wash your hands, or else the fire
Will not teend[D] to your desire;
Unwashed hands, ye maidens, know,
Dead the fire, though ye blow.
_Robert Herrick._
FOOTNOTE:
[D] Burn.
MERRY SOULS.
O you merry, merry Souls,
Christmas is a-coming,
We shall have flowing bowls,
Dancing, piping, drumming.
Delicate minced pies
To feast every virgin,
Capon and goose likewise,
Brawn and a dish of sturgeon.
Then, for your Christmas box,
Sweet plum-cakes and money,
Delicate Holland smocks,
Kisses sweet as honey.
Hey for the Christmas ball,
Where we shall be jolly
Jigging short and tall,
Kate, Dick, Ralph, and Molly.
Then to the hop we'll go
Where we'll jig and caper;
Maidens all-a-row;
Will shall pay the scraper.
Hodge shall dance with Prue,
Keeping time with kisses;
We'll have a jovial crew
Of sweet smirking misses.
_Round About Our Coal Fire._
[Illustration The Baron's Hall]
CHRISTMAS IN THE OLDEN TIME.
The damsel donned her kirtle sheen;
The hall was dressed with holly green;
Forth to the wood did merry-men go
To gather in the mistletoe.
Then opened wide the baron's hall
To vassal, tenant, serf, and all;
Power laid his rod of rule aside,
And ceremony doffed his pride.
The heir, with roses in his shoes,
That night might village partner choose;
The lord underogating share
The vulgar game of post-and-pair.
All hailed with uncontrolled delight
And general voice, the happy night,
That to the cottage as the crown
Brought tidings of salvation down.
The fire with well-dried logs supplied
Went roaring up the chimney wide;
The huge hall-table's oaken face,
Scrubbed till it shone, the day to grace,
Bore then upon its massive board
No mark to part the squire and lord.
Then was brought in the lusty brawn
By old blue-coated serving-man;
Then the grim boar's head frowned on high,
Crested with bay and rosemary.
Well can the green-garbed ranger tell
How, when, and where the monster fell;
What dogs before his death he tore,
And all the baiting of the boar.
The wassail round, in good brown bowls,
Garnished with ribbons blithely trowls.
There the huge sirloin reeked; hard by
Plum-porridge stood and Christmas-pie;
Nor failed old Scotland to produce
At such high tide her savory goose.
Then came the merry masquers in
And carols roared with blithesome din;
If unmelodious was the song,
It was a hearty note and strong.
Who lists may in their mumming see
Traces of ancient mystery.
While shirts supplied the masquerade,
And smutted cheeks the visors made:
But, oh! what masquers richly dight
Can boast of bosoms half so light!
England was merry England when
Old Christmas brought his sports again.
'Twas Christmas broached the mightiest ale,
'Twas Christmas told the merriest tale;
A Christmas gambol oft would cheer
The poor man's heart through half the year.
_Sir Walter Scott._
CEREMONIES FOR CHRISTMAS.
Come, bring with a noise,
My merry, merry boys,
The Christmas-log to the firing,
While my good dame, she
Bids ye all be free,
And drink to your heart's desiring.
With the last year's brand
Light the new block, and,
For good success in his spending,
On your psalteries play,
That sweet luck may
Come while the log is a-teending.[E]
Drink now the strong beer,
Cut the white loaf here,
The while the meat is a-shredding;
For the rare mince-pie
And the plums stand by,
To fill the paste that's a-kneading.
_Robert Herrick._
FOOTNOTE:
[E] Burning.
BRINGING IN THE BOAR'S HEAD.
_Caput apri defero_
_Reddens laudes domino._
The boar's head in hand bring I,
With garlands gay and rosemary;
I pray you all sing merrily
_Qui estis in convivio._
The boar's head, I understand,
Is the chief service in this land;
Look, wherever it be fand,
_Servite cum cantico._
Be glad, lords, both more and less,
For this hath ordained our steward
To cheer you all this Christmas,
The boar's head with mustard.
_Ritson's Ancient Songs._
THE BOAR'S HEAD CAROL.
SUNG AT QUEEN'S COLLEGE, OXFORD.
The boar's head in hand bear I,
Bedecked with bays and rosemary;
And I pray you, my masters, be merry,
_Quot estis in convivio._
_Caput apri defero_
_Reddens laudes domino._
The boar's head, as I understand,
Is the rarest dish in all this land,
Which thus bedeck'd with a gay garland
_Let us servire cantico._
_Caput apri defero_
_Reddens laudes domino._
Our steward hath provided this
In honor of the King of bliss;
Which on this day to be served is
_In Reginensi Atrio._
_Caput apri defero_
_Reddens laudes domino._
TO BE EATEN WITH MUSTARD.
SUNG AT ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE, OXFORD, CHRISTMAS, 1607.
The boar is dead,
So, here is his head;
What man could have done more
Than his head off to strike,
Meleager-like,
And bring it as I do before.
He living spoiled
Where good men toiled,
Which made kind Ceres sorry;
But now dead and drawn
Is very good brawn,
And we have brought it for ye.
Then set down the swineyard,
The foe to the vineyard,
Let Bacchus crown his fall;
Let this boar's head and mustard
Stand for pig, goose, and custard,
And so ye are welcome all.
CHRISTMAS DAY IN THE MORNING.
Maids, get up and bake your pies,
Bake your pies, bake your pies;
Maids, get up and bake your pies,
'Tis Christmas day in the morning.
See the ships all sailing by,
Sailing by, sailing by;
See the ships all sailing by
On Christmas day in the morning.
Dame, what made your ducks to die,
Ducks to die, ducks to die;
Dame, what made your ducks to die
On Christmas day in the morning?
You let your lazy maidens lie,
Maidens lie, maidens lie;
You let your lazy maidens lie
On Christmas day in the morning.
_Bishoprick Garland, A.D. 1834._
PRAISE OF CHRISTMAS.
FIRST PART.
All hail to the days that merit more praise
Than all the rest of the year,
And welcome the nights that double delights
As well for the poor as the peer!
Good fortune attend each merry-man's friend,
That doth but the best that he may;
Forgetting old wrongs, with carols and songs,
To drive the cold winter away.
Let Misery pack, with a whip at his back,
To the deep Tantalian flood;
In Lethe profound let envy be drown'd,
That pines at another man's good;
Let Sorrow's expense be banded from hence,
All payments have greater delay,
We'll spend the long nights in cheerful delights
To drive the cold winter away.
'Tis ill for a mind to anger inclined
To think of small injuries now;
If wrath be to seek, do not lend her thy cheek,
Nor let her inhabit thy brow,
Cross out of thy books malevolent looks,
Both beauty and youth's decay,
And wholly consort with mirth and with sport
To drive the cold winter away.
The court in all state now opens her gate
And gives a free welcome to most;
The city likewise, tho' somewhat precise,
Doth willingly part with her roast:
But yet by report from city and court
The country will e'er gain the day;
More liquor is spent and with better content
To drive the cold winter away.
Our good gentry there for costs do not spare,
The yeomanry fast not till Lent;
The farmers and such think nothing too much,
If they keep but to pay for their rent.
The poorest of all now do merrily call,
When at a fit place they can stay,
For a song or a tale or a cup of good ale
To drive the cold winter away.
Thus none will allow of solitude now
But merrily greets the time,
To make it appear of all the whole year
That this is accounted the prime:
December is seen apparell'd in green,
And January fresh as May
Comes dancing along with a cup and a song
To drive the cold winter away.
SECOND PART.
This time of the year is spent in good cheer,
And neighbors together do meet
To sit by the fire, with friendly desire,
Each other in love to greet;
Old grudges forgot are put in the pot,
All sorrows aside they lay;
The old and the young doth carol this song
To drive the cold winter away.
Sisley and Nanny, more jocund than any,
As blithe as the month of June,
Do carol and sing like birds of the spring,
No nightingale sweeter in tune;
To bring in content, when summer is spent,
In pleasant delight and play,
With mirth and good cheer to end the whole year,
And drive the cold winter away.
The shepherd, the swain, do highly disdain
To waste out their time in care;
And Clim of the Clough hath plenty enough
If he but a penny can spare
To spend at the night, in joy and delight,
Now after his labor all day;
For better than lands is the help of his hands
To drive the cold winter away.