"CHARACTERS
(Which do not speak, or say as little as possible—all that they are requested to do)
| Ursa Minor | Hon. Miss Ursula Denison |
| Baby Cake | Hon. Henry Charles Denison." |
Under the Holly Bough.
Ye who have scorn'd each other Or injured friend or brother, In this fast fading year; Ye who, by word or deed, Have made a kind heart bleed, Come gather here. Let sinn'd against and sinning, Forget their strife's beginning; Be links no longer broken, Be sweet forgiveness spoken, Under the holly bough.
Ye who have lov'd each other, Sister and friend and brother, In this fast fading year: Mother, and sire, and child, Young man and maiden mild, Come gather here; As memory shall ponder Each past unbroken vow. Old loves and younger wooing, Are sweet in the renewing, Under the holly bough.
Ye who have nourished sadness, Estranged from hope and gladness, In this fast fading year. Ye with o'er-burdened mind Made aliens from your kind, Come gather here. Let not the useless sorrow Pursue you night and morrow, If e'er you hoped—hope now— Take heart: uncloud your faces, And join in our embraces Under the holly bough.
Charles Mackay, LL.D.
The author of this beautiful poem (Dr. Charles Mackay) was born at Perth in 1814, and died on Christmas Eve, 1889, at his residence, Longridge Road, Earl's Court, Brompton.