The following two stories were copied from media produced on a 78 vinyl record courtesy of Stella Young’s son, Rev. Norman Colby Young. We believe that Stella May (Porter) Young was one of the first to perform these two talks and may have been the first to record Little Orphan Joe as well as one other story Santa on the Train on a 78 vinyl record.
Little Orphan Joe told by Stella Porter Young formerly of Auburn, Maine
SANTA CLAUS ON THE TRAIN
BY HENRY C. WALSH
On a Christmas Eve an emigrant train
Sped on through the blackness of night,
And cleft the pitchy dark in twain
With the gleam of its fierce headlight.
In a crowded car, a noisome place,
Sat a mother and her child;
The woman’s face bore want’s wan trace,
But the little one only smiled,
And tugged and pulled at her mother’s dress,
And her voice had a merry ring,
As she lisped, “Now, mamma, come and guess
What Santa Claus’ll bring.”
But sadly the mother shook her head,
As she thought of a happier past;
“He never can catch us here,” she said.
“The train is going too fast.”
“O, mamma, yes, he’ll come, I say,
So swift are his little deer,
They run all over the world today; –
I’ll hang my stocking up here.”
She pinned her stocking to the seat,
And closed her tired eyes;
And soon she saw each longed-for sweet
In dreamland’s paradise.
On a seat behind the little maid
A rough man sat apart,
But a soft light o’er his features played,
And stole into his heart.
As the cars drew up at a busy town
The rough man left the train,
But scarce had from the steps jumped down
Ere he was back again.
And a great big bundle of Christmas joys
Bulged out from his pocket wide;
He filled the stocking with sweets and toys
He laid by the dreamer’s side.
At dawn the little one woke with a shout,
‘Twas sweet to hear her glee;
“I knowed that Santa Claus would find me out;
He caught the train you see.”
Though some from smiling may scarce refrain,
The child was surely right,
The good St. Nicholas caught the train,
And came aboard that night.
For the saint is fond of masquerade
And may fool the old and wise,
And so he came to the little maid
In an emigrant’s disguise.
And he dresses in many ways because
He wishes no one to know him,
For he never says, “I am Santa Claus,”
But his good deeds always show him.
Stella Young later in life
