and Blixen!
To the top of the stoop[1], to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!'
As dry leaves 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;
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 dress'd all in fur from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnish'd 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 on 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 laugh'd, like a bowl full of jelly.
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laugh'd 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,
And fill'd all the stockings, then turn'd 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.'"

UNEDA.

Philadelphia.

[Footnote 1: Stoop means, in the language of the New Yorkers, a portico.]

* * * * *

COUNTY RHYMES.

KENT.

"He that will not live long,
Let him dwell at Murston, Tenham, or Tong."

"Dover, Sandwich, and Winchelsea,
Rumney and Rye, the five ports be."

CHESHIRE.

"Chester of Castria took the name,
As if that Castria were the same."

{616}
LINCOLNSHIRE--_Stamford_.

"Doctrinae studium, quod nunc viget ad vada Boum,
Tempore venturo celebrabitur ad vada Saxi."

"Science that now o'er Oxford sheds her ray,
Shall bless fair Stamford at some future day."

W