Now as Pa by the rail, with his sleeves rolled back,

Was swatting each pris-ner a sounding smack,

Down over the plank, with ponderous trot,

Came the fat, jolly captain, the last of the lot.

The old plank groaned as it bent ‘neath his weight–

He was round–and so fat, and his old bald pate

Was hid by a little round red fur cap,

And his long, white beard reached clear to his lap.

So along he came like a jolly fat gourd;

Pa Pirate again would have smote with his sword,

But the Pirate kids held him back because,

They cried, "Papa Pirate! ‘Tis Santa Claus!"

Then the children all romped on a regular spree,

As they danced around Santa Claus, giggling with glee;

And one and all of them, girls and boys,

Yelled out at old Santa Claus, "Where are your toys?"

Then old Santa gathered the Pirate kids ‘round,

And told how that day on the sea he was bound

With a boat load of candy, and heaps of nice toys,

To deliver that Christmas to good girls and boys.

And how he had found, in his journey's roun',

The poorest of children in every town, (‘children' is ‘clildren' in original)

Had invited them all on this Christmas day

To join in this lark o'er the sea, far away.

And then he told Willie, Tilly, and Ted

Of a boat and an engine, a doll and a sled;

And he said, as he took their hands, "We'll go now

And look through the ship from stem to bow."

But while this took place on the old Pirate Ship,

Pa Pirate, so busy was given the slip

By his bad pirate crew, who were spoiling for fight,

After drinking that red lem-o-nade all night.