Famous Single Poems
letters, the most important of which, as explaining how the poem came to be attributed to Dr. Moore, is by Mrs. Edward Livingston Montgomery and is as follows:
The little incident connected with the first reading of "A Visit from St. Nicholas" was related to me by my grandmother, Catherine Breese, the eldest daughter of Henry Livingston. As I recollect her story there was a young lady spending the Christmas holidays with the family at Locust Grove. On Christmas morning, Mr. Livingston came into the dining-room, where the family and their guests were just sitting down to breakfast. He held the manuscript in his hand and said it was a Christmas poem that he had written for them. He then sat down at the table and read aloud to them "A Visit from St. Nicholas." All were delighted with the verses and the guest, in particular, was so much impressed by them that she begged Mr. Livingston to let her have a copy of the poem. He consented and made a copy in his own hand, which he gave to her. On leaving Locust Grove, when her visit came to an end, this young lady went directly to the home of Clement C. Moore, where she filled the position of governess to his children.
The inference to be drawn from this is, of course, that the young lady showed the poem to Dr. Moore, who made a copy of it and subsequently read it to his children (not necessarily as his own), and that Miss Butler, who
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