k, or fez, or fur, or fan,
None of all the babies that are toddling anywhere
Is half so sweet a baby as the baby that's our share!

IF I WERE SANTA'S LITTLE BOY

If I were Santa's little boy
(If there's a family
Of Santa Clauses in the sky
Or where their home may be),
If I were Santa's oldest son
(I only hope that he _has_ one!)
And my papa should say to me,
"What Christmas present, son, would be
The very thing you'd like to see
Within your stocking Christmas Day?"
I wouldn't stop to think, (would you?)
But say,
"I want to drive the sleigh!"

And then when Christmas Week had come,
At nearly dawn on Christmas Day,
I'd load the sleigh with doll and drum;
And find where the reindeer were tied,
And hitch them quickly up, and I'd
Shout very loudly, "Clear the way!"

And crack the whip and drive the sleigh
Down from the Pole and past the clang
Of loud icicles in a row,
Blown by the wind, to where the gang
Lives, in our street, and then I'd shout,
While frightened heads of boys stuck out
From opened windows, in surprise,
With tousled hair and sleepy eyes,
I'd shout out loudly so that they
Could hear each single word I'd say,

"Hey, Dasher, Dancer!
Faster, Prancer!
Run as hard now as you can, sir!
Stop your balking
When I'm talking!
We must fill each Christmas stocking
In a hundred million places!
Dasher, Dancer, mind your paces!
Don't you dare to break the traces!"

Then I'd shake the reins and shout
To milkmen that might be about,
"Clear the way
For Santa's sleigh,
Because I'm driving it to-day!"

THE PARTY DRESS

All year long the timid maple has been dressed in prim and sober
Little plain utilitarian gowns of quiet tints of green;
But Spring is gone, and Summer's past, and now that it's October
The modest little maple tree is costumed like a queen.
Just look now, through our window, and I'm sure that you'll agree
That her party dress is pretty as a party dress can be!

THE CLOCK THAT AUTUMN WINDS

School is like a clock that stops
In vacation time.
--Tick, tock; tick, tock--
A sing-song rhyme.
Every school day is a minute.
This clock has long minutes in it!

In vacation time it stops!
Not a sound at all!--
Not a tick, not a tock!
--Hanging on the wall
Waits the clock until Fall finds it,
Stands upon a ch