Our American Holidays - Christmas/The Newest Thing in Christmas Carols

THE NEWEST THING IN CHRISTMAS CAROLS

ANONYMOUS

God rest you, merry gentlemen!
     May nothing you dismay;
Not even the dyspeptic plats
     Through which you’ll eat your way;
Nor yet the heavy Christmas bills
     The season bids you pay;
No, nor the ever tiresome need
     Of being to order gay;

Nor yet the shocking cold you’ll catch
     If fog and slush hold sway;
Nor yet the tumbles you must bear
     If frost should win the day;
Nor sleepless nights—they’re sure to come—
     When "waits" attune their lay;

Nor pantomimes, whose dreariness
     Might turn macassar gray;

Nor boisterous children, home in heaps,
     And ravenous of play;
Nor yet—in fact, the host of ills
     Which Christmases array.
God rest you, merry gentlemen,
     May none of these dismay!