To play at "hide-and-seek," to your surprise.

Here's honest Santa Claus, in rough disguise.

But 'tis all right, as I will quick explain,

For I've a mystic project "on the brain."

I've dropped down chimneys all this blessed night,

Where warmth and comfort join to give delight;

I've filled the stockings of the merry elves,

Who, to fond parents, are rich gifts themselves;

And now I've come, resolved to make a show

In that old mansion with the copper toe,