Judge — December 19, 1896 — page 32: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Christmas Judge. Wren the carols of Christmas were sweet in the air, And the red-berried holly aglow, From a bare little attic he came to the hall And shivered and played in the snow. The frost of the morning was white in his curls, And his jacket was tattered and thin, And the hunger and cold of his spirit he told In the notes of an old violin. She opened the window and leaned from the sill, Her fingers were jew- eled and white ; But she gazed in the eyes of the player below Till her own were as mourn- fully bright. She took from the sables that folded her breast The mistletoe spray that she wore, And it fell at his feet, and he hid it away In his coat as he turned from the door. In the dust-covered strings of his old violin, As it hangs on the bare attic wall, Is twisted the mistletoe brittle and brown, And ready in fragments to fall. And she, as she leans from her window alone, While the holly is twining below, On the morning of Christmas still s A player who stands in the snow. at the door, MINNA IRvEKG. APPROPRIATE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS. WHEN the man who never notices you at any other time wishes you a merry Christmas, present him with one of the cigars your wife gave you. x 7 KNEW WHERE HE WAS. To the unfortunate man who wishes you to get him out of a scrape SANTA CLAUS (as he sights the stocking: the cheapest thing to do is to give him your advice. quick trip I drove from New York to Chicago. Three Christmas spirits smile—and, lof Next, ermine-clad, with face aglow, Then, last—but first in hearts, I trow, The jolly //ol’y leads the row. Behold the airy fairy Snow, The kiss-inviting Mistletoe, ’ comicbooks.co