“Winter Elves,” by Ruth Paterson

Paterson, Ruth. “Winter Elves.” Creative Young Canada: Collection of Verse, Drawings and Musical Compositions by Young Canadians from Seven to Twenty Years of Age. Ed. Aletta E. Marty. Foreward “Agnes Delamoure” (Nancy Durham). Toronto: Dent, 1928. 52-53.

This poem precedes the image of “Miss Canada at Play” drawn by Rose Hunter.

Winter Elves

From The Canadian Birthday Book, edited by Susan Frances Harrison (“Seranus”): A poem by Mary J. MacColl

MacColl, Mary J.  [Entry for December 19]. Canadian Birthday Book. Ed. Seranus [Susan Frances Harrison]. Toronto: Robinson, 1887.

“The Unknown,” by Elizabeth Donaldson

Donaldson, Elizabeth. “The Unknown.” Canadian Poetry Magazine 9.2 (1945): 27.

The Unknown

“A Forgotten Grief,” by Sara Jeannette Duncan

“Duncan, Sara Jeannette. “A Forgotten Grief.” Later Canadian Poems. Ed. J. E. Wetherell. Toronto: Copp Clark, 1893. 186-87.

A Forgotten Grief

“Bethlehem,” by Margaret Complin

Complin, Margaret.  “Bethlehem.” In For Remembrance. n.p.: [Author, 1944]. 13.

“Tsk! Tsk! Mister Santa,” by Mona Gould

Gould, Mona. “Tsk! Tsk! Mister Santa.” In Gossip! Toronto: n.p., 1949. 17.

“On Rereading the Christmas Story,” by R. H. Grenville

Grenville, R. H. [Beatrice C. Rowley]. “On Rereading the Christmas Story.” Christmas in Old Santa Fe. By Pedro Ribera Ortega. Santa Fe, NM: Sunstone, 1973. Page preceding Contents. Rpt. from Saturday Evening Post, 24 Dec. 1960: 97.

On Rereading the Christmas Story

How like that manger is the human heart:
Plainly functional, yet shaped to hold,
In trust, the sacred rhythm of a life,
Deep-cradled from the darkness and the cold.

How like that stable is the human heart:
The brute emotions stamping at its doors,
Yet hallowed as the birthing-place of love,
And now without its kingly visitors.