Tho suns shine clear, or tempests growl,
Mild zephyrs fan or whirlwinds howl;
The cold snows fly, or hailstones rattle
And ev'ry element's in battle:
Thro thick and thin and thin and thick
Go flound'ring on poor George and Dick!
Nor care a button for disasters
So you're contented gentle masters.
And now the end of all this clatter
Is but a small and trifling matter;
A puny six pence or a shilling
From willing souls to souls as willing.
And here to you our gen'rous donors
We pledge our sacred words of honours
No valrous rooster by our deed
Shall on the field of battle bleed.
Nor by our too-well-aimed ball
The hapless, flutt'ring turkey fall:
No deep-charged muskets thund'ring roar
Beneath the peaceful burghers door,
Shall tell the sleeping folks within
That mighty New Year doth begin.
Like civil (chubs) we will retire
And by a snug and social fire
With cakes of season on the board
Collected from each housewife's hoard
We'll push the glass of mead about
And laugh the tedious ev'ning out.
A New Year's address of Richard and George
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All hail to the season so jovial and gay,
More grateful to News-Boys than blossoms of May,
Than Summer's green gown, or Miss Autumn's brocade
Bespangled with gold and with diamonds o'erlaid;
Give me surly winter, bald-headed and bare,
Cold nights, frosty mornings and keen piercing air,
With storms roaring round him; rain, hail, sleet and snow,
While hoarse from the mountains the howling winds blow;
For Summer and Autumn and fair-bosom'd Spring,
With their pinks and their peaches no holidays bring;
But now comes blithe Christmas, while just in his rear
Advances our saint, jolly, laughing, New-Year,
Which, time immemorial, to us has been made
The source of our wealth and support of our trade.
The News-Boy's Address
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The winter of 1780 I will remember was savage
in the extreme. This of 1820 is not very dissimilar. For 5 weeks
past the cold has been steady (but no so intense as that of 1780) &
the snow now in the woods is 2 feet: sleighing superb from Hudsons
bay to the city of New york. Snowing began between Christmas &
New year.
Notwithstanding the snow, the ground is quite dry: Many wells
fail in water & the lesser mills are shut up -- The Hudson is frozen
down to the bay. Thousands of small fish are taken by gilling in
small square nets: Charlie knows how.
To grandson Sidney Breese, Jan 1820
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But hark what a clatter! the Jolly bells ringing,
The lads and the lasses so jovially singing,
Tis New-Years they shout and then haul me along
In the midst of their merry-make Juvenile throng;
But I burst from their grasp: unforgetful of duty
To first pay obeisence to wisdom and Beauty,
My conscience and int'rest unite to command it,
And you, my kind PATRONS, deserve & demand it.
-On your patience to trespass no longer I dare,
So bowing, I wish you a HAPPY NEW YEAR.
The Carrier of the Poughkeepsie Journal
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