Chapter I

Transcriber’s Note: Italics are enclosed in _underscores_. Additional notes will be found near the end of this ebook.

(CHRISTMAS
DRAWINGS
FOR
THE HUMAN RACE

BY
Th: Nast)
]

Th : Nast.

Dec - 25th 1892)]

Thomas Nast’s

CHRISTMAS DRAWINGS

FOR

THE HUMAN RACE

NEW YORK HARPER & BROTHERS PRINTERS &
PUBLISHERS · FRANKLIN SQUARE M DCCC XC

(Copyright, 1889,
by
Harper & Brothers)
]

(JUNE, JULY, AUGUST,
MOSQUITOES & FLIES.
SUMMER.
100 IN THE SHADE.

MERRY
4TH OF
JULY)
]

PUBLISHER’S NOTE.

This volume of Mr. Nast’s “Christmas Drawings” is the first collection of his works which has been published. The pictures are well called “Drawings for the Human Race,” because they appeal to the sympathy of no particular religious denomination or political party, but to the universal delight in the happiest of holidays, consecrated by the loftiest associations and endeared by the tenderest domestic traditions. Christmas is the holiday of all; but it is especially the Children’s day. The grotesque and airy fancies of childhood which cling about Santa Claus, as the good genius of Christmas, are reproduced upon these pages, in delightfully imaginative reality by the sympathetic touch of the artist, so that the book is an overflowing feast of true Christmas cheer.

Mr. Nast’s hand, when dealing with current topics of the time, tips the flashing shafts of wit with morality; with relentless humor puts cunning pretence in the pillory; and exposes public wrong to the fatal merriment which laughs it away. But the artist’s hand is never happier than when, with the lambent light of the same humor, it irradiates the play of domestic affection, and makes the home circle gay. It is the bluff, honest Santa Claus of “The Night before Christmas;” the Santa Claus of the reindeer and the sleigh, alighting on the snowy roof, and descending the chimney with his wondrous pack of treasures; the Santa Claus of unsuspecting childhood, and the Mother Goose of undoubting infancy, to whom these pages introduce us. There is no child who cannot understand them, no parent who cannot enjoy them. Mr. Nast is fairly without a rival in this kind. His Santa Claus is old Father Christmas himself, and his welcome will be as general and as hearty as that which salutes the crammed and enchanted stocking on Christmas morning.

STOCKING OF CONTENTS.

1. “ANOTHER STOCKING TO FILL.”

2. FIRST-PRIZE CHRISTMAS-CARD--BEING FARTHEST FROM THE SUBJECT.

3. TAILPIECE.

4. STOCKING OF CONTENTS.

5. TAILPIECE.

6. MERRY CHRISTMAS.

7. SANTA CLAUS’S ROUTE.

8. DARNING THE STOCKING.

9. CHRISTMAS FURLOUGH.

10. “WHO SAID ANYTHING ABOUT CHRISTMAS DINNER?”

11. CUTTING MISTLETOE IN THE SOUTH.

12. CHRISTMAS GREENS.

13. CHRISTMAS POST.

14. SANTA CLAUS’S MAIL.

15. “HELLO! SANTA CLAUS!”

16. “HELLO! LITTLE ONE!”

17. “’TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS.”

18. SANTA CLAUS AND HIS WORKS.

19. MESSAGES AND LISTS FOR SANTA CLAUS.

20. RECIPROCATION.

21. CHRISTMAS FANCIES.

22. “HE PRAYED, ‘AND LET SANTA CLAUS FILL MY STOCKINGS JUST AS FULL
AS HE CAN. AMEN.’”

23. CHRISTMAS EVE.

24. “SANTA CLAUS CAN’T SAY THAT I’VE FORGOTTEN ANYTHING.”

25. THE WATCH ON CHRISTMAS EVE.

26. CHRISTMAS EVE.--SANTA CLAUS WAITING FOR THE CHILDREN TO GET TO
SLEEP.

27. SEEING SANTA CLAUS.

28. A VERY BAD BOY.

29. “’TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS, AND ALL THROUGH THE HOUSE NOT
A CREATURE WAS STIRRING, _not even a Mouse_.”

30. CHRISTMAS STATION.

31. THE SAME OLD CHRISTMAS STORY OVER AGAIN.

32. “HERE WE ARE AGAIN!”

33. PEACE AND GOOD WILL.

34. THE COMING OF SANTA CLAUS.

35. CHRISTMAS EVE.--OLD FACES FOR YOUNG HEARTS.

36. MERRY CHRISTMAS.

37. A CHRISTMAS SKETCH.

38. A CHRISTMAS BOX.

39. CAUGHT!

40. THE SHRINE OF ST. NICHOLAS.

41. “LITTLE BO-PEEP FELL FAST ASLEEP AND DREAMPT--”

42. SEE! THE CHRISTMAS PLUM PUDDING.

43. “COME NOW, SANTA CLAUS, I’S READY.”

44. CHRISTKINDCHEN.

45. LITTLE JACK HORNER.

46. CHRISTMAS FLIRTATION.

47. THE DOMESTIC EXPRESS.

48. OLD MOTHER GOOSE MELODIES.

49. NURSERY TILES.

50. THE CRUSTY OLD BACHELOR WHO IS BOUND TO HAVE SOMETHING IN HIS
STOCKING.

51. A CHRISTMAS STORY.

52. MERRY CHRISTMAS.

53. MERRY OLD SANTA CLAUS.

54. SANTA CLAUS’S REBUKE.

55. THE CHRIST CHILD.

56. THE DEAR LITTLE BOY THAT THOUGHT CHRISTMAS CAME OFTENER.

57. MOVING DAY.

58. “FOR HE’S A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW, SO SAY WE ALL OF US.”

59. SANTA CLAUS’S TOOL-BOX.

60. CHRISTMAS IN CAMP.

61. CHRISTMAS SUPPLEMENT TO “HARPER’S WEEKLY.”

62. A MERRY CHRISTMAS.

63. “MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD-NIGHT.”

64. “WISHING YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR.”

65. ’TWAS THE NIGHT AFTER CHRISTMAS.

(SANTA CLAUS.

MERRY
CHRISTMAS)
]

(Eve

Morning.)
]

“So now is come our joyful’st feast--
Let every man be jolly;
Each room with ivy leaves is cheer’d,
And every post with holly.”
]

A chance to test Santa Claus’s generosity.]

(ON THE LOOK OUT
FOR GOOD CHILDREN

HERE HE COMES!

ACCOUNT BOOK,
RECORD OF BEHAVIOUR.

SANTA CLAUS
AND
HIS WORKS.

SANTA CLAUS STABLE

SANTA-CLAUSVILLE N.P.

FARM YARD.

GOOD PUSSY.

HIS WATCH DOG.

WORK-SHOP.

HOLIDAY WEEK.

DOLLIES’ TEA PARTY.

WHICH DOLLY WILL YOU HAVE?

THE CHRISTMAS TREE.

CHRISTMAS-EVE.

DOLLIES’ KITCHEN.

DOLLIES’ PARLOR

MAKING DOLLIES’ CLOTHES.)
]

RECIPROCATION.

“Won’t Santa Claus be surprised to find that he has not been forgotten?”

(CANDY FOR SANTA CLAUS)]

“’Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, _not even a mouse_.”
]

(Santa Claus STOP Here Please.)]

(RINGING IN THE AIR.

DING! DONG!!)
]

(THE TOPSIDE UP WITH CARE)]

(CHRISTMAS
BOX
1882
ST. NICHOLAS.
NORTH POLE)
]

_Old Bachelor_: “How glad I am that I don’t have to cart round endless bundles for greedy brats during the holidays.”]

“I’ll never do it again.”

(DEAR SANTA CLAUS

TOMMY HAS BEEN SUCH
A NAUGHTY BOY THAT
WE THINK YOU HAD
BETTER NOT BRING
HIM ANY·THING
THIS CHRISTMAS

PAPA AND MAMA.)
]

(PEACE ON EARTH
AND GOOD WILL
TOWARD MEN)
]

(CHRISTMAS
COMES BUT
ONCE
A YEAR.

THEREFORE, LET’S BE
MERRY.)
]

(MERRY CHRISTMAS
WORDS & MUSIC BY SANTA CLAUS.

CHRISTMAS COMES BUT ONCE A YEAR
AND THEREFORE
LET’S BE MERRY

CHRISTMAS BOX)
]

(U S

WELCOME SANTA CLAUS)]

(BLUE BEARD

RED RIDING HOOD

TOM THUMB

SANTA

CLAUS

PUSS IN BOOTS.

PEACE ON EARTH AND GOOD WILL TOWARD MEN!

CINDERELLA.)
]

Transcriber’s Notes

Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a predominant preference was found in the original book; otherwise they were not changed.

Simple typographical errors were corrected; unbalanced quotation marks were remedied when the change was obvious, and otherwise left unbalanced.

This book does not have page numbers.

Transcriber added sequence numbers to the entries in the Table of Contents.

When illustrations did not have captions, Transcriber added them by using part of the corresponding entry in the Table of Contents, or text within the illustrations themselves.

Transcriber added words and phrases that were within some of the illustrations to their captions, and enclosed them in parentheses to indicate they were not parts of the original captions.

The first illustration is the cover.

The original book was autographed. A copy of that is included in this eBook as the second illustration.