Having worked hard all year to cultivate and create the many gifts given out by her husband every Christmas Eve, Goody Santa Claus—AKA "Goodwife" or "Mrs" Santa Claus—asks in this 1889 poem to be taken along on the annual reindeer ride, to see the end result of her many labors. In twenty-seven verses, the reader follows along as Goody Santa Claus describes the many chores she undertakes, joins the Christmas Eve mission, holds the reindeer while Santa is going down chimneys, argues in favor of an impoverished poet, and darns a little boy's stocking, so that Santa's gift doesn't fall through...

"Santa, must I tease in vain, Dear? Let me go and hold the reindeer,
While you clamber down the chimneys. Don't look savage as a Turk!
Why should you have all the glory of the joyous Christmas story,
And poor little Goody Santa Claus have nothing but the work?

It would be so very cozy, you and I, all round and rosy,
Looking like two loving snowballs in our fuzzy Arctic furs,
Tucked in warm and snug together, whisking through the winter weather
Where the tinkle of the sleigh-bells is the only sound that stirs."

Originally published by the Boston-based D. Lothrop Company in 1889, in an illustrated paperback pamphlet, complete with ribbon-binding, Goody Santa Claus on a Sleigh Ride was subsequently included in Katherine Lee Bates' 1890 collection, Sunshine and Other Verses for Children, and also in her 1916 Fairy Gold: Poems. Readers interested in the poem itself, can easily find it in these volumes, as well as on multiple sites online. The original published edition of the poem alone, together with the accompanying illustrations, is more difficult to track down, and doesn't appear to have been digitized on any of the major sites (Internet Archive, Hathi Trust, Google Books, etc). That being said, I did manage to track down scans of the original edition, on the poem's page on the Hymns and Carols of Christmas website, where it can be downloaded in ZIP format.

Having managed to obtain a copy in this way, I am happy to report that I found this publication charming, enjoying both the poem and the accompanying engraving-style artwork. Author Katherine Lee Bates, best known as the poet who penned America the Beautiful, made into a beloved national song here in the states, creates a feisty Mrs Claus in her Goody Santa Claus, one who is both affectionate and persuasive, and more than willing to press her case. Although not the original depiction of Santa Claus's wife, this poem does seem to have cemented her role as a partner to that holiday gift giver, and a major support to his mission. The poem here reads well, and is just full of fun. I'd love to see it republished, either as a facsimile of the original, or in picture book form with newly commissioned artwork (maybe both). Recommended to anyone interested in the Santa Claus story in general, and in Mrs. Claus in particular. For my part, I now intend to track down some more of Bates' poetry for children, particularly her Christmas poems. ( )