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 Objection has been made that in 1822 Dr. Moore had three daughters, Margaret, born in 1815, Charity, born in 1816, and Mary, born in 1819, and that consequently if it was written for two daughters, it must have been written before September, 1819. But this is mere trifling. What Dr. Moore undoubtedly meant was that the poem was written for his two elder daughters, who, in 1822, were aged seven and six respectively—just the ages to enjoy such a bit of jollity.

It was not until 1897 that any story appeared in print which explained fully how the poem came to be published in the Troy Sentinel. In that year, Mr. William S. Pelletreau, of New York City, published a little volume entitled The Visit of St. Nicholas, in which the story is told substantially as follows:

The poem was written by Dr. Moore in 1 822 as a Christmas present for his children, and with no thought that it would ever be published. Up to the end of his life, indeed, he seems to have regarded it as merely a nursery jingle without any serious merit. Among the many friends of Dr. Moore's family was the family of the Rev. Dr. David Butler, then rector of St. Paul's