,
Lurks at the gate:
Let the dog wait;
Happy we'll be!
Drink, every one;
Pile up the coals,
Fill the red bowls,
Round the old tree!

[Illustration]

Drain we the cup,--
Friend, art afraid?
Spirits are laid
In the Red Sea.
Mantle it up;
Empty it yet;
Let us forget,
Round the old tree.

Sorrows, begone!
Life and its ills,
Duns and their bills,
Bid me to flee.
Come with the dawn,
Blue-devil sprite,
Leave us to-night,
Round the old tree.

_W. M. Thackeray._

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

Neath Mistletoe, should chance arise,
You may be happy if you're wise!
Though bored you lie with Pantomime
And Christmas fare and Christmas rhyme--
One fine old custom don't despise.

If you're a man of enterprise
You'll find, I venture to surmise,
'Tis pleasant then at Christmas-time
'Neath Mistletoe!

You see they scarcely can disguise
The sparkle of their pretty eyes;
And no one thinks it is a crime,
When goes the merry Christmas chime,
A rare old rite to exercise
'Neath Mistletoe!

_J. Ashby Sterry._

Mist and cloud and darkness
Veil the wintry hour,
But the sun dispels them
With his rising power.

Mist and cloud and darkness
Often dim thy day
But a Christmas glory
Shines upon thy way.

May the Lord of Christmas,
Counsellor and Friend,
Light thy desert pathway
Even to the end.

_F. R. Havergal._

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