And leave none to keep house but our new porter John
Who relieves the poor with a thump in the back with a stone.
Like a young courtier of the king’s
And the king’s young courtier.
From time to time, even in periods nearer to our own, complaints have been raised in England that the spirit of the old-time Christmas merriment has departed forever, and that good old Father Christmas is once more an exile from his own.
A cartoon by Linley M. Sambourne published in the London Punch for December 24, 1881, shows the Old-Fashioned Christmas holding a lively conversation with the New.
This prose bit is printed beneath the picture:
Christmas (New Style). “We are the Modern Christmas Cards—we are! we are! we are!”
Christmas (Old Style). “You represent Christmas! Pooh! What do you mean by coming out like that at this time of Year?”
Then follows this poem, which still further explains the meaning of the picture: