| Long live Father Christmas and
Mother Goose, too! Their fame is world-wide, and their friends not a few. |
(Thanksgiving, Peace, and Plenty now take places near Father Christmas, while Happy New Year enters, carrying a bunch of keys. She is accompanied by two children, Hope and Good Resolutions.)
Father Christmas (rising to greet her): My dear daughter Happy New Year, we are glad to see you, with Hope and Good Resolutions looking so bright and well. Permit me to introduce my guests. (Mutual recognitions.)
Happy New Year:
| With Good Resolutions quite
close to my side, And sweet little Hope with me whate'er betide, I bring Father Christmas the bright golden keys That will open my door '98 with ease. |
Hope and Good Resolutions (together): Good cheer, Mother Goose! Father Christmas, good cheer! We wish each and all of you happy New Year!
(Happy New Year and her children group themselves next to Thanksgiving. Enter Santa Claus, bustling about and shaking hands with everybody while speaking.)
Santa Claus:
| What ho, Father Christmas! What
ho, Mother Goose! At last from my Christmas-eve duties I'm loose. Not a stocking from north pole to south but I've filled, Books, candies, and toys by each mantlepiece spilled. My pack is quite empty, my reindeer done out, But on Christmas morning there'll be such a shout From the east to the west, from the south to the north, When their gifts from their stockings the children pull forth, That it's worth all my trouble—that hearty good cheer, "Hurrah! In the night Santa Claus has been here!" But, folks, I am hungry, I freely confess, So on to the dining-room now I will press. Roast turkey and cranberry sauce and mince pie Are there on the table, I saw passing by. |
Father Christmas: