THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS

There will always be new editions of this beloved poem and this one illustrated by Everett Shinn will be welcome to many because St. Nick is very jolly. We are so old-fashioned that we still cling to the old linenette edition we had in childhood but obviously there are others who will grab up new illustrations. Here Santa is short but tubby, his pack is brimming but his reindeer see spindly-though they do seem to float through the air rather deliciously. The most amusing picture is the one to show how ""not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse"", where the mice in the cellar are curled up in miniature bed, crib and hammook.