A STORY FOR CHILDREN. I. There was a King of Hungary whose name was Adelbert. When he lived at home, which was not often, it was in a castle of many towers and many halls and many...
ROBERT HAVEN SCHAUFFLER All day her watch had lasted on the plateau above the town. And now the sun slanted low over the dull, blue sheen of the western sea, playing changingly wit...
From Pickwick Papers. CHARLES DICKENS And numerous indeed are the hearts to which Christmas brings a brief season of happiness and enjoyment. How many families whose members have b...
ANON Once in Royal David's city Stood a lowly cattle shed, Where a mother laid her baby In a manger for His bed. Mary was that mother mild, Jesus Christ that little child. He came...
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW Three Kings came riding from far away, Melchior and Gaspar and Baltasar; Three Wise Men out of the East were they, And they traveled by night and they sl...
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW I heard the bells on Christmas Day Their old, familiar carols play, And wild and sweet The words repeat Of peace on earth, good-will to men! And thought...
JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL What means this glory round our feet, The Magi mused, more bright than morn? And voices chanted clear and sweet, To-day the Prince of Peace is born! What means...
ROSE TERRY COOKE Here comes old Father Christmas, With sound of fife and drums; With mistletoe about his brows, So merrily he comes! His arms are full of all good cheer, His face w...
HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN Out in the forest stood a pretty little Fir Tree. It had a good place; it could have sunlight, air there was in plenty, and all around grew many larger comr...
WILLIAM COX BENNETT Blow, wind, blow, Sing through yard and shroud; Pipe it shrilly and loud, Aloft as well as below; Sing in my sailor's ear The song I sing to you, Come home, my...
little Man, and tiny Maid, Who love the Fairies in the glade, Who see them in the tangled grass The Gnomes and Brownies, as they pass, Who hear the Sprites from Elf-land call Go, f...
SUSAN COOLIDGE The boys and girls had fastened the last sprig of holly upon the walls, and then gone to their homes, leaving the old church silent and deserted. The sun had set in...
ALFRED DOMETT It was the calm and silent night! Seven hundred years and fifty-three Had Rome been growing up to might, And now was Queen of land and sea. No sound was heard of clas...
ROBERT SOUTHWELL Wassail! wassail! all over the town, Our toast it is white, and our ale it is brown; Our bowl is made of a maplin tree; We be good fellows all;--I drink to thee. H...
CHARLES DICKENS Yo ho! my boys, said Fezziwig. No more work to-night; Christmas Eve, Dick! Christmas, Ebenezer! Let's have the shutters up, cried old Fezziwig with a sharp clap of...
EDMUND BOLTON Sweet music, sweeter far Than any song is sweet: Sweet music, heavenly rare, Mine ears, O peers, doth greet. You gentle flocks, whose fleeces pearled with dew, Resemb...
And here's a Christmas carol meant for children, and most excellent, and though the monk that wrote it was hung, yet still his verses may be sung. As I in a hoarie winter's night S...
[Emily Huntington Miller] Hang up the baby's stocking: Be sure you don't forget; The dear little dimpled darling! She ne'er saw Christmas yet; But I've told her all about it, And s...
HENRY VAUGHAN Awake, glad heart! get up and sing! It is the Birthday of thy King. Awake! awake! The sun doth shake Light from his locks, and, all the way Breathing perfumes, doth s...
HAMILTON WRIGHT MABIE [From My Study Fire.] The world has been full of mysteries to-day; everybody has gone about weighted with secrets. The children's faces have fairly shone with...
ANON Out of the mists of childhood, Steeped in a golden glory, Come dreamy forms and faces, Snatches of song and story; Whispers of sweet, still faces; Rays of ethereal glimmer, Th...
MARTIN LUTHER Good news from heaven the angels bring, Glad tidings to the earth they sing: To us this day a child is given, To crown us with the joy of heaven. This is the Christ,...
ANNE P.L. FIELD In the hush of a shivery Christmas-tide dawn Sing hey! sing ho! heigho! Three small frozen figures hung stiff and forlorn Sing hey! sing ho! heigho! Three dim ghost...
MARY AUSTIN Oh, the Shepherds in Judea, They are pacing to and fro, For the air grows chill at twilight And the weanling lambs are slow! Leave, O lambs, the dripping sedges, quit t...
CAROLYN WELLS Who is it stands on the polished stair, A merry, laughing, winsome maid, From the Christmas rose in her golden hair To the high-heeled slippers of spangled suede A gl...
CHRISTOPHER NORTH To-morrow is Merry Christmas; and when its night descends there will be mirth and music, and the light sounds of the merry-twinkling feet within these now so mela...
From Pickwick Papers CHARLES DICKENS From the center of the ceiling of this kitchen, old Wardle had just suspended with his own hands a huge branch of mistletoe, and this same bran...
JOSIAH GILBERT HOLLAND There's a song in the air! There's a star in the sky! There's a mother's deep prayer And a baby's low cry! And the star rains its fire while the Beautiful si...
RAYMOND MC ALDEN THERE was once in a faraway country where few people have ever travelled, a wonderful church. It stood on a high hill in the midst of a great city; and every Sunda...
WILLIAM DRUMMOND, OF HAWTHORNDEN O than the fairest day, thrice fairer night! Night to blest days in which a sun doth rise Of which that golden eye which clears the skies Is but a...