"Your motorists - ah yes, they,
too, get a gift,"
Old Santa Claus laughed at this juncture;
"The present I'm sending will gladden their hearts -
Some tires that will never puncture!"
"To the
soldier boys who guard the Canal,
No trenches in mud to dig;
No sentry work to do at night,
And not so much fatigue!"
"You've termites that get in you
furniture
And tunnel it thru and thru?
Gamboa's town-site I give them -
A whole new town to chew!"
"For your golfers who dub, hook,
and slice in the sun,
And bruise dispositions and shoes,
I've found a fine gift that will pep up their game -
Some new, fragrant cuss-words to use!"
"To the tired postal clerks who
worry
and sweat
Thru that Christmas hurly-burly,
I am sending a thousand folks or so
Who will mail their presents early!"
"Those faithful black
women who toil on the
Zone,
Each Clementine, Rosebud, and Abby -
For them I've new jobs that pay two dollars
more,
Where the mistress is not quite so crabby!"
"To thee bossy-cows that
give rich mil,
I'll send deep, shady I cricks;
And knee-deep grass and sunny slopes,
And not so many ticks!"
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"To the naked brown
babies of Bolivar Street,
Who wriggle wherever you walk,
I am sending warm sunshine, the thing they like best,
And pieces of sugar-cane stalk!"
"The
dentists who do your tooth-carpenter work
Are getting no green holly wreath;
The gift I am sending will pay for their rent -
It's filling the Zone's aching teeth!"
"The saloon-keeps who run
all those little canteens
Which furnish the town's bottled cheer -
I shall send them a plan to get rid of such pests
As gardens where people quaff beer!"
"For toilers who labor and sweat in
the shops,
I've a gift that is like unto heaven;
A whistle that hardly ever blows,
And which never blows at seven!"
"My lovely gift for your traffic
cops
Includes neither candy nor sweets;
For them, it's a gift more useful than these -
No bone-heads on one-way street!"
"To the lottery vendors I bequeath
Cool door-ways dark for slumber,
With the hope that each may some day sell
The winning grand-prize number!"
"To the public markets in Panama
I send big crabs in shells;
And shrimps and fish of many kinds
Without so many smells!"
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