M'
HI
'y
EVENING PUBLIC LEDGER-PHILADELPHIA; SATURDAY, DECEMBER 23. 1922
77 'J DESIRE TO AMUSE HIS CHILDREN GAVl
WORLD, "'TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS
J)r. Clement B. Moere Inspired 100 Years
Age Today te JVrite Santa Claus Peem
Which Has Thrilled All Humanity v
New. Visualized in Movies te Aid
Helpless Youngsters
ttifWAS the night befera Christmas."
1 One hundred yearB age
"When all through the house, net a creature' was stirring, net even a
mouse." ,,.,..
"Sh-h-h-h-h-h-h.
"Arc all the little tots in bed?
"Is the sandman nodding every drowsy little head?
"Yeu can't go te sleep, you say. Well, we'll have te sec what we can
de about that." '
A tall gentleman with twinkly eyes, in a purple velvet coat and
fancy waistcoat the kind they used te wear 'way back in Colonial days
was speaking. Funny children, his children: just couldn't go te sleep en
the nijrht before Christmas.
"Hung up your stockings ajid come here," he called te thorn-
Hang up their stockings! Quick as a flash six different stockings
dangled ever the fireplace.
"New, I have a surprise for you," he said.
A surprise! O-o-e-o-o-o-hl
Very seen he was leaning back in
great old armchair a "grand
father's armchair" we call such
nowadays and was gathering Inte
his arms all the children mat ne
could held ; was placing his wife and
his eldest child at one knee, and the
deg nt tiie ether.
"Twos the Night
Before Christmas"
Six tasselcd woolen nightcaps rese
ever six pairs of pink ears, as the
Uttle folks peered into the great
open fireplace and listened.
The black-and-white spaniel wag
ged its tail restlessly.
"'Twaa the night before Christ
mas," began the father.
Net a sound from the youngsters.
"When all through the house," he
continued
'Wet a creature was stirring, net
even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the
' ehimncy with care
In hopes that St. Nicholas seen
would be there;
The children were nestled all snug
in their beds,
While visions of sugar plums
danced in their heads;
And mama in her 'kerchief and I
in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a
long winter's nap.
When out en the lawn there arose
luck a clatter,
I sprang from my bed te see what
was the matter.
Away te the windeiu I flew like a
flash,
Tere open the shutters and threw
up the sash.
The moon en the breast of the new
fallen snow
Gave the luster of midday te ob
jects below,
When, what te my wondering
eyes should appear
But u miniature 'sleigh, and eight
tiny reindeer.
With a little old driver, se lively
and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be
St. Nick.
Mere rapid than eagles his cours
ers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted,
and called them by name."
Yeu sec, Dr. Clement B. Moere,
who was speaking, lived with his
family at a large country estate
called "Chelsea," in what used te be
New Yerk City. He had been help
ing his wife pack Christmas baskets
for the peer who lived about their
Place. Mrs. Moere found that she
was short of ene turkey.
"Clement," she said, "go down te
Jho market and get me another
turkey."
Se Dr. Moere put en his heavy
coat and went down te the market
Jr the fowl.
Own Children Were
First te Hear Peem
On his way home, his mind filled
with Christmas legends and
thoughts about gifts, he found him
wir composing n poem about St.
Nicholas for his children.
It came se fast he had .te step
very few minutes te jet down notes.
Z ii1 hV,.nn'ivctl liemc, he read it
his children as a surprise. He
tailed the poem, "A Visit Frem St.
Nicholas;" but throughout the years
it has been changed te "The Night
Before Christmas."
Ui'ln't jeh feri Hint Hint poem hnil
"In ays been in existence? As long us
Santa ('Inns hnd been?
Yeu hcnnl Santa call
toie Dasher! new Dancer! new
- I'tamcr and Vitenl
U Umctj en Uupid! en Uunncr and
.. Illit:en!
a the fop of the perch!
the wall!
" dash away! dash
Ulrnu till I
ml uu huw
dry cares' rhat bcfeic the icild hue-
lp i wane fly
"iicn they meet with an obstacle,
, mount te the sky;
"'' ffew ho"8ciei ihe winters they
With the'sMgh full of toys and St.
Nicholas, tee.
It was I),., Moere who wrote that
I'fii, en December 21, 1822 just 100
'firs age. Seme -foil; say that if the
J "airs hadn't been charitable, and if
.'' Me"r hadn't gene t0 market for
""it tuil(e,v, t,e poem meU never hnve
,01' te him. Ami the children of the
yerhl might never have had this bit of
"" "t CluMniastide.
nij'" s,l,ero didn't thlnl; the poem was
r,??,V,',V,"sh te publish. The, follow fellow
I? ,Vnr,l'. J62a, a pnner, the Trey
iHliie.l, published Jt. Since then It
has- been translated Inte every language
in the world.
Every year ct Christmastime a holly
Vnnnmnker, Geerge Arlls, Geerge W.
lekcrsbnm. Mrs. Geuverncur Atnrrls,
Otte II. kalin, Cende Nnst and Judge
Frunklln Heyt.
The scenes of the picture are first
laid In the home of Dr. Moere, the set
tings of which were worked out bv
descendants of the Moere famllv and
by Miss Sephie Smith, of the Film Mu
tual Uencfit Uureaii.
The wind gees Wh-o-e-o-o-o-o ever,
the hill wheie the old Moere house
steed, and the mouths of the little
Moercs round into "OV of bliss as
their father begins te tell them his
poem.
The children, after they have listened
rer the reindeer, and after they ba.ve
anxiously peered into the chimney, arc
Old St. Nicholas himself poses
for his picture before tackling
the job of filline the stockings
te the top of
away! dash
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Santa Claus arrives at the housetop laden with toys for the happy children slumbering below
And the smoke it encircled his head like
a wreath :
He had a bread face and a round little
belly.
That shook, when he laughed, like a
becl full of jelly.
i lie icas chvhhy and plump, a right jelly
old elf.
And I laughed u-hen J sate him, in spite
of miself;
wink of his eye and a tieist of his
head,
ts'oen gave mc te knew I had nothing te
!".. i nlltlil ali.k j n rut .!.. ..lulu..
i J-.C,jr i-ij.iu ill UlJ-3 II1U JUl'lUiC
can see St. Nicholas climb up the Chel
sea chimney and diuappeiir Inte Its
depths, cautiously. A mil then anil
i then eh, jelly fun see him emerge all
booty and dirty from the fireplace.
The children have left him nn appe
tizing aupper, which bus been liivl
noticed by the deg. When everything
Is all Mill, the black and white '-panie.l
comes back downstairs te Investigate.
Ter a moment he is tempted bj the
supper. Then he remembers that St.
i Nicholas is the friend of geed chil
dren and little dogs, and he steals ser sor ser
lew fully away.
Santa sees him. He is. teuchced by
tin nnimal's fracrilice. He changes
the whip he had brought for him for
a ball ami fine cellar.
Gave Gift of Jey
te the Entire World
Then .Tack Frest comes Inte the pic
ture, lie sprinkles the world with
white and shimmering snow that the
world may be filled with the pure color
of children's souls and sincerity. The
fairy elves and Mether Cleese who
weave childhood's lyric laughter into
life, lace through the minds of Dr.
Moere's sleeping little ones and se
am seen In the picture.
Then Santa
lie spoke net a umd, but cent straight
te his work.
And filled all the ec.in;; then turned
trith a jeik.
And laiiny hn timer aside of his nose.
And givimj a nod iii the ihimney he
reie.
team
wreath is placed beneath Dr. Monre's
picture, whleli liiinic-. in, the (Juneral
Uheolegieal Seminar in New Yerk
City, u re he was piofesser of Oriental
and Greek literature at the time he
wiete the poem. This tiibute for
the dreams and delight he has bteiighl
te the children of nil (be world.
This j wi r en the 100th iiiwimwirj
of the writing of the poem It has been
icinearnnted fiem words into pictures.
A motien-plcturo lias been made of
the poem se that cbihlieu actually can
Hee Santa and his mystic realms.
The plctuiii v.'ns put out In the film
Mutual Ileiielll Iluteau of America,
which is operated for the beiielit of die
American Committe for Devastated
Friinec. under Anne Merg.ui, and tln
.MntemiiA router of New imk, uud"
Mabel Cheiite. The proceeds from the
bookings of the ilcture go te the two
benefit.
The idea of putting the poem into
pictures gtew out of charity weik, as
did the poem itself.
Anions tbose en tie advlserr com
mittee Ter the picture) ate Iledmnn
seen tucked into four pester ttundle
beds. Husband and wife commune ever
the bleckings. Then the whole beuse
Kettles te i i'-r. The children are dream
ing of what the heard their father tell.
New afar off the Castle of St. Nich
elas wakes tu lite. I lie mail wliere
children's uuseltlshncss anil faith in the
sharing of gifts is sinbiili.ed is seen,
with all its fciic and eternal charm.
Tile sleigh with it champing rein
deer is lndeii in Hie ceurhnrd in full
Night. The little tat man, whose
"cheeks wete like roses, his nose like
a cherry," jumps Inte the sleigh, calls
te "Iimcei" and "I'rnucer" and
"Vixen" and "Hllten"- -and then he
in off euw the cloud lops across the
sky.
Picture Truly Depicts
Spirit of Christmastide
Santa in the ph'liue is everything
that the poem would have him be;
tnd. then In a In Inkling, I htaid en the
reef
rues- hew tiny twinkled!
aim pus, new merry:
Ills chick were like loses, his nose like
a (heiiy!
Ills di oil tilth mouth icus drawn un
like a hew, '
And the hiuid of his vhin uns as white
as the snow,
The stump of his pipe he Mid tight i
his tieth, I
Santa Claus in his work-hop at the North Pele telling fftlry ehes of his coming visit te
great world
And away they flew like the down of a
thistle.
But J heard him exclaim ere he drove
out of sight,
"Happy Christina te all, and tee all u
geed-night!"
The next morning the deg tugs at
the bedclothes of the little ones, and
with delighted barks amuses thorn
ery early te see the happy traces of
St. Nicholas' visit.
Thus one num. who was moved by
the spirit of Christmas, of bringing Jey
tQ-rnthrg, brought a gift a bit of
fancleti TAirI:ind te the fjiele world,
and made; the Yuletide met blessed for
children.
'Tis the night befete Christmas.
Ts every little one In bed?
Is the sandman nodding every little
head?
Sh-h-h-h-h-h-h. List te Santa:
".Merry Christmas te all, and te all
a geed-night."
Dr. Moeicj was born at Chelsea
Heuse, July 1,1. 1TS1. His father wus
the Itt. Hev. Iteiijamiti Moere, second
Itlshep of New Yerk, whose somewhat
eusteie portrait hangs beside that of
his son en the north wall of tlie re
fectory near the dais upon which the
faculty sit at meals Ills maternal
grandfather. Majer Themas Clarke, a
letUed officer m the ISrillsh Army, was
the original owner of Chelsea At
that time, this neighborhood was an
outlying suburb of the prowling town
of New Yerk. Later, it was merged
into Greenwich illngc, and today It
is manfully endeavoring te resist the
encroachments of the tenement sec
tions en all sides. It iH perhaps tlm
last complete iclie of the New Yerk
of the early part of the last century.
All of the country nlieut Chelsea was
open and lolling, and the bouse steed
en a bill that was leveled when the
General Theological Seminary buildings
were started,
Tn due course of tune Moere inher
ited the proper! v treui his father. Thn
city was beginning te move up toward
the funn-(euutr about Chelsea, but
probably even Moere did net dream
that it would spiead as it did before
be died in lSC,:s. He was a wealth v
man, ucrerding te the estimate of that
din. and in I sis lie signalized bis
gonereMtj b deeding a squaie block of
the land surrounding Chcleu Heuse
te the I'letestant Mplheepal Church,
with the iuomse that it should be used
for tlie im'iiieii of n semiiiarv. Tin.
, snijpnij ns .started terlbwith. Und
in ls-21 Moeie juiiiid its fncult as
professor in Gieek und Hebrew for
he was wnlelv known us an netein-
I phshed Si helur.
l'lic stei et hew tlw poem came t
be imuinl i interesting in itself.
Shenh utter Chiistmas. n daughter of
t'" Id Dr Dnul I'.utlci. of St.
I'.uil s Chiiieh. Tim. happeneil te be
Wsiniig en. u Hi Mnere s dniighliM
at I helsea Heuse .mil tin children read
her the pin m She copied It in lli'l
album, and ji.si lufeie Chiistnias, in
12.'!. she seni n cops te tin iillter of
the Tiej .Sentinel, who published it nil
Decen In r :;. iK,.ber with n ipialnt
weed-nit e St Nicholas. Taper after
paper copied the poem und it spread
fiem oil te citj All el a Midden.
Meme woke up te lim himself fuiueus -net
as a cvpeit in forgotten hue, but
as the author of a nuiser, jingle that
went Htliilght t tin- belli Is f ehlldren.
I'ulill III is of school. renders took tin
The Night Hefeie Christinas." Mngn
im it printed it. bpeeiul editions weie
issue,! in book form. Translations wcie
bieugut out in man foreign countries
lheie was no limit te lis publication
and lepublicutieii, fei . el leurm, It was
net cepj lighted, ami one cannot he
sern ler this It is intlier pleasant te
think that this was net u production
I ter profit Inn dimply for tlm amuse.
Imeiit of little cliildicn. Dr, Moeio was
net exact 1) pleased .it the fuieic tlmt
l s weik iichleMMl lie tlh mndest
man. und liiuil) lieleed that these
jeises were netlrtiig bin IllirillleM Irash
for I be ilhei-Mieu of iluldieii. If penile
iiinn wan en n snow Inlcirsi i ,M
wei It, be lhelht. the) should n.i.l I,Im
i ... i.... .i..: ii... ..."
... !, III.- I l 11 u III
Hebrew
In America, or one of bis oilier loomed
iiuut., ii w.lH foilie )car before Im
reaji.ed that the Uttle Un. wai 'wuR
."5.
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tht ponderous tomes la hia I
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