The house of December was all aglow
The children had a glorious time at the December house. There was a beautiful tree there, all lighted and ready.
“But we can’t take the things off, you know,” one Christmas child told Amos and Ann, “until somebody says a rhyme.”
A clock chimed two a minute later, and caught Amos in the middle of a sentence, at the words, “it was.” So he went on and said:—
“It was crammed and laden and bent with fruit,
The tree that bore in a night;
Rich with treasure from tip to root,
A very goodly sight.
Dim in the parlor’s gloom it showed,
When a tiny gleam at the window glowed;
When over the hills a rooster crowed,
It thrilled through all its height.
“A rubber doll on a distant limb
Stretched with a sleepy word;
A little lead soldier answered him,
And a big stuffed elephant stirred.
A quiver flickered the pop-corn strings,
Fluttered the tinsel angel’s wings,
Tinkled the silver balls and things,
Till all of the company heard.
“A jack-in-the-box with a frisky eye
Suddenly jumped his lid,
And a white-rag rabbit that hung close by
Squeaked with fright when he did;
A dog from London began to bark;
The animals in the Noah’s ark
Struggled and scuffled in the dark,
Back in the branches hid.