A CHRISTMAS DREAM. 



W. H. NELSON. 



An old man by his fireside lone 

 Sits musing over days long gone, 

 And in the firelight's fitful gleam 



Full many a tale of Indian raid, 

 Or spell of witchcraft foully laid ; 

 Full many a hunter's victory 



Dreams o'er again his childhood's dream. Is acted o'er in mimicry. 



The cramped and crowded city room 

 Expands, half lit and half in gloom, 

 And lo, a log-built cabin's walls 

 Up from the Past his memory calls. 



The narrow grate, iron-ribbed, and black, 

 Widens and lifts, and at its back 

 Glows the great log ; the crane swings free, 

 The kettle singing in its glee. 



Soft, mingling with the bubbling rune 

 The spinning wheel drones forth its tune ; 

 While beating time with slow tick-tock 

 Pulses the solemn wall-sweep clock. 



On high the mantel lifts its shelf, 

 Embellished with the treasured Delft; 

 The corner cupboard yawns to show 

 Its burnished pewter, row on row. 



The small folk munch their apples ripe. 

 The tranquil father smokes his pipe, 

 And by the lard-lamp's flickering reel 

 The grandame turns her stocking heel. 



And many a song in gladness sung 

 Trills its sweet notes from childhood's 



tongue. 

 Thus, Youth and Age with sweet content 

 Meet when the evening hour is spent. 



'Tis the glad Eve when, legends tell, 

 The Shepherds heard the anthem swell 

 O'er Judah's hills and Jordan's plain, 

 "Peace on earth, good will to men." 



Stockings are hung with anxious care, 

 And many an earnest, whispered prayer 

 That good Kris Kringle, passing by, 

 May fill each one with Christmas joy. 



The fire is raked, the brands o'erspread 

 With ash, the quick beneath the dead ; 

 And young and old, with sleep oppressed 

 Care free, betake them to their rest. 



j); >K ^c H 5 >K ^ 



The ashes fall. The dream is gone. 

 The dreamer sits once more alone. 

 He sighs, as droops his whitened head, 

 "Alas, all, all save me, are dead." 



AMATEUR PHOTO BY B. B. PIKE. 



TIRED OF SIGHT SEEING. 



Snapped with a No. 2 Kodak, about 11 a. m., in 

 Manufacturers' Building, Pan-American, 

 Buffalo. 

 424 



