{"product_id":"2940012757982","title":"'Twas the Night Before Christmas","description":"INTRODUCTION\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAmid the many celebrations last Christmas Eve, in various places by\u003cbr\u003edifferent persons, there was one, in New York City, not like any other\u003cbr\u003eanywhere. A company of men, women, and children went together just after\u003cbr\u003ethe evening service in their church, and, standing around the tomb of\u003cbr\u003ethe author of \"A Visit from St. Nicholas,\" recited together the words of\u003cbr\u003ethe poem which we all know so well and love so dearly.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDr. Clement C. Moore, who wrote the poem, never expected that he would\u003cbr\u003ebe remembered by it. If he expected to be famous at all as a writer, he\u003cbr\u003ethought it would be because of the Hebrew Dictionary that he wrote.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe was born in a house near Chelsea Square, New York City, in 1781; and\u003cbr\u003ehe lived there all his life. It was a great big house, with fireplaces\u003cbr\u003ein it;--just the house to be living in on Christmas Eve.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDr. Moore had children. He liked writing poetry for them even more than\u003cbr\u003ehe liked writing a Hebrew Dictionary. He wrote a whole book of poems for\u003cbr\u003ethem.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOne year he wrote this poem, which we usually call \"'Twas the Night\u003cbr\u003ebefore Christmas,\" to give to his children for a Christmas present. They\u003cbr\u003eread it just after they had hung up their stockings before one of the\u003cbr\u003ebig fireplaces in their house. Afterward, they learned it, and sometimes\u003cbr\u003erecited it, just as other children learn it and recite it now.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt was printed in a newspaper. Then a magazine printed it, and after a\u003cbr\u003etime it was printed in the school readers. Later it was printed by\u003cbr\u003eitself, with pictures. Then it was translated into German, French, and\u003cbr\u003emany other languages. It was even made into \"Braille\"; which is the\u003cbr\u003eraised printing that blind children read with their fingers. But never\u003cbr\u003ehas it been given to us in so attractive a form as in this book. It has\u003cbr\u003ehappened that almost all the children in the world know this poem. How\u003cbr\u003efew of them know any Hebrew!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEvery Christmas Eve the young men studying to be ministers at the\u003cbr\u003eGeneral Theological Seminary, New York City, put a holly wreath around\u003cbr\u003eDr. Moore's picture, which is on the wall of their dining-room. Why?\u003cbr\u003eBecause he gave the ground on which the General Theological Seminary\u003cbr\u003estands? Because he wrote a Hebrew Dictionary? No. They do it because he\u003cbr\u003ewas the author of \"A Visit from St. Nicholas.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMost of the children probably know the words of the poem. They are old.\u003cbr\u003eBut the pictures that Miss Jessie Willcox Smith has painted for this\u003cbr\u003eedition of it are new. All the children, probably, have seen other\u003cbr\u003epictures painted by Miss Smith, showing children at other seasons of the\u003cbr\u003eyear. How much they will enjoy looking at these pictures, showing\u003cbr\u003echildren on that night that all children like best,--Christmas Eve!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e                                                                  E. McC.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47081752461552,"sku":"2940012757982","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940012757982_p0.jpg?v=1763571842","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940012757982","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}