Two little stockings hung side by side,
Close to the fireside broad and wide.
“Two?” said Saint Nick, as down he came,
Loaded with toys and many a game.
“Ho, ho!” said he, with a laugh of fun,
“I’ll have no cheating, my pretty one.
“I know who dwells in this house, my dear,
There’s only one little girl lives here.”
So he crept up close to the chimney place,
And measured a sock with a sober face;
Just then a wee little note fell out
And fluttered low, like a bird, about.
“Aha! What’s this?” said he, in surprise,
As he pushed his specs up close to his eyes,
And read the address in a child’s rough plan.
“Dear Saint Nicholas,” so it began,
“The other stocking you see on the wall
I have hung up for a child named Clara Hall.
“She’s a poor little girl, but very good,
So I thought, perhaps, you kindly would
Fill up her stocking, too, to-night,
And help to make her Christmas bright.
If you’ve not enough for both stockings there,
Please put all in Clara’s, I shall not care.”
Saint Nicholas brushed a tear from his eye,
And, “God bless you, darling,” he said with a sigh;
Then softly he blew through the chimney high
A note like a bird’s, as it soars on high,
When down came two of the funniest mortals
That ever were seen this side earth’s portals.
“Hurry up,” said Saint Nick, “and nicely prepare
All a little girl wants where money is rare.”
Then, oh, what a scene there was in that room!
Away went the elves, but down from the gloom
Of the sooty old chimney came tumbling low
A child’s whole wardrobe, from head to toe.
How Santa Clans laughed, as he gathered them in,
And fastened each one to the sock with a pin;
Right to the toe he hung a blue dress,—
“She’ll think it came from the sky, I guess,”
Said Saint Nicholas, smoothing the folds of blue,
And tying the hood to the stocking, too.
When all the warm clothes were fastened on,
And both little socks were filled and done,
Then Santa Claus tucked a toy here and there,
And hurried away to the frosty air,
Saying, “God pity the poor, and bless the dear child
Who pities them, too, on this night so wild.”
The wind caught the words and bore them on high
Till they died away in the midnight sky;
While Saint Nicholas flew through the icy air,
Bringing “peace and good will” with him everywhere.