The Complete Works of James Whitcomb Riley in ten volumes |
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WHAT “OLD SANTA” OVERHEARD |
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 | The Complete Works of James Whitcomb Riley |  |
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WHAT “OLD SANTA” OVERHEARD
'Tis said old Santa Claus one time
Told this joke on himself in rime:
Told this joke on himself in rime:
One Christmas in the early din
That ever leads the morning in,
I heard the happy children shout
In rapture at the toys turned out
Of bulging little socks and shoes—
A joy at which I could but choose
To listen enviously, because
I'm always just “Old Santa Claus.”
But ere my rising sigh had got
To its first quaver of the thought,
It broke in laughter as I heard
A little voice chirp like a bird—
“Old Santa's mighty good, I know,
And awful rich—and he can go
Down ever' chimbly anywhere
In all the world!—But I don't care.
I wouldn't trade with him, and be
Old Santa Claus, and him be me,
Fer all his toys and things—and I
Know why and bet you he knows why!—
They wuz no Santa Claus when he
Wuz ist a little boy like me!”
| The Complete Works of James Whitcomb Riley | |