Christmas Eve

I     From church and chapel and dome and tower,     Near far and everywhere,     The merry bells chime loud and clear     Upon the frosty air.     All down the marble avenues     The lamp-lit casements glow,     And from an hundred palaces     Glad carols float and flow.     A thousand lamps from street to street     Blaze on the dusky air,     And light the way for happy feet     To carol, praise and prayer.     'Tis Christmas eve. In church and hall     The laden fir-trees bend;     Glad children throng the festival     And grandsires too attend.     Fur-wrapped and gemmed with pearls and gold,     Proud ladies rich and fair     As Egypt's splendid queen of old     In all her pomp are there.     And many a costly, golden gift     Hangs on each Christmas-tree,     While round and round the carols drift     In waves of melody. II     In a dim and dingy attic,     Away from the pomp and glare,     A widow sits by a flickering lamp,     Bowed down by toil and care.     On her toil-worn hand her weary head,     At her feet a shoe half-bound,     On the bare, brown table a loaf of bread,     And hunger and want around.     By her side at the broken window,     With her rosy feet all bare,     Her little one carols a Christmas tune     To the chimes on the frosty air.     And the mother dreams of the by-gone years     And their merry Christmas-bells,     Till her cheeks are wet with womanly tears,     And a sob in her bosom swells.     The child looked up; her innocent ears     Had caught the smothered cry;     She saw the pale face wet with tears     She fain would pacify.     "Don't cry, mama," she softly said     "Here's a Christmas gift for you,"     And on the mother's cheek a kiss     She printed warm and true.     "God bless my child!" the mother cried     And caught her to her breast     "O Lord, whose Son was crucified,     Thy precious gift is best.     "If toil and trouble be my lot     While on life's sea I drift,     O Lord, my soul shall murmur not,     If Thou wilt spare Thy gift."