{"id":764,"date":"2010-12-12T19:16:15","date_gmt":"2010-12-12T19:16:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/?p=764"},"modified":"2017-07-12T01:05:46","modified_gmt":"2017-07-12T01:05:46","slug":"christmas-in-the-olden-time-by-walter-scott","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/christmas-in-the-olden-time-by-walter-scott\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas in the Olden Time by Walter Scott"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Christmas in the Olden Time<\/h2>\n

by Walter Scott<\/p>\n

On Christmas-eve the bells were rung;
\nThe damsel donned her kirtle sheen;
\nThe hall was dressed with holly green;
\nForth to the wood did merry men go,
\nTo gather in the mistletoe.
\nThus opened wide the baron’s hall
\nTo vassal, tenant, serf and all;
\nPower laid his rod of rule aside
\nAnd ceremony doffed his pride.
\nThe heir, with roses in his shoes,
\nThat night might village partner choose;
\nThe lord, underogating, share
\nThe vulgar game of “Post and Pair.”
\nAll hailed, with uncontrolled delight,
\nAnd general voice, the happy night
\nThat to the cottage, as the crown,
\nBrought tidings of salvation down.<\/p>\n

The fire, with well-dried logs supplied,
\nWent roaring up the chimney wide;
\nThe huge hall-table’s oaken face,
\nScrubbed till it shone, the day to grace,
\nBore then upon its massive board
\nNo mark to part the squire and lord.
\nThen was brought in the lusty brawn
\nBy old blue-coated serving man;
\nThen the grim boar’s head frowned on high,
\nCrested with bays and rosemary.
\nWell can the green-garbed ranger tell
\nHow, when and where the monster fell;
\nWhat dogs before his death he tore,
\nAnd all the baitings of the boar.
\nThe wassal round, in good brown bowls,
\nGarnished with ribbons, blithely trowls.
\nThere the huge sirloin reeked: hard by
\nPlum-porridge stood, and Christmas pye;
\nNor failed old Scotland to produce,
\nAt such high-tide, her savory goose.<\/p>\n

Then came the merry maskers in,
\nAnd carols roared with blithesome din.
\nIf unmelodious was the song,
\nIt was a hearty note, and strong;
\nWho lists may in their murmuring see
\nTraces of ancient mystery;
\nWhite shirts supplied the masquerade,
\nAnd smutted cheeks the visors made;
\nBut O, what maskers richly dight,
\nCan boast of bosoms half so light!
\nEngland was “merry England” when
\nOld Christmas brought his sports again;
\n‘Twas Christmas broached the mightiest ale,
\n‘Twas Christmas told the merriest tale;
\nA Christmas gambol oft would cheer
\nThe poor man’s heart through half the year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Christmas in the Olden Time by Walter Scott On Christmas-eve the bells were rung; The damsel donned her kirtle sheen; The hall was dressed with holly green; Forth to the wood did merry men go, To gather in the mistletoe. Thus opened wide the baron’s hall To vassal, tenant, serf and all; Power laid…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,429],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1700s","category-christmas-poems"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=764"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}