Page:All quiet along the Potomac and other poems.djvu/183

 SANTA CLAUSES MISTAKE. 1 77

Busy sordid souls, but a thrifty folk,

Filling fairly their humble station. She had kept aloof from her friends too long ;

She would make amends this morning.&quot; Alas ! it was quite too late to learn

The way she had long been scorning.



All warm and dry with winter store,

Safe in their castle lying, The ants knew not that Lady-bug

Hungry and cold was dying, Until the storm had passed away,

And then quite dead they found her, With all her chilly feet drawn up,

And faded cloak around her.

��SANTA CLAUS S MISTAKE.

SANTA GLAUS came with a Christmas load Over the housetops white ; His reindeer knew all the trodden way

They had travelled each Christmas night. The old saint gurgled a cheery laugh As he stopped by the chimney-top ; His very cap was agog with fun

When the bright stars saw him drop.

He shook himself from the cloud of soot, Then looked on a little chair; M

�� �