By Leslie N. Dees
The Star-Herald
KOSCIUSKO —
T’was several days before Christmas and all throughout The Star-Herald everyone was scurrying to get the next edition out.
And then, the phone call came. A reader wanted to know “Who was Henry Livingston?”
She went on to tell me that “all educated people knew that Clement Clarke Moore wrote (The Night Before Christmas).”
I asked was she implying that I was uneducated.
Her reply – “Yes” and she promptly hung up the phone.
So, being that I am uneducated, I was prompted to do a little research.
And, what to my wondering eyes should appear but two proposed authors who talked of Santa and his reindeer.
"A Visit from St. Nicholas", "The Night Before Christmas" or "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" was first published anonymously in the early 1800s and generally speaking it has been attributed to the pen of Clement Clarke Moore but there has been some that believe the story of Saint Nick was written by Henry Livingston Jr.
It became a family feud of sorts.
The point, at least to me, is not who authored the poem, but the joy it brings to those reading it.
I fancy thinking of Santa as a “chubby and plump, right old elf.”
And I will exclaim as I type this – Happy New Year to all and to all a good-night.
Leslie N. Dees, is the managing editor of The Star-Herald. Email her at editor@starherald.net or on Twitter at www.twitter.com/lndees.
