Excerpt from Lotus Leaves The silent frost of Christmastide crept all the house around, As dusky twilight dimly fell and hushed each wakeful sound. Without, the stars were peeping, and within the curtained room The fire aglow within the grate, dispelled the shades and gloom. A crackling noise, a Shower of sparks, an azure flame of light, A waving Spire of glancing fire made the dark chimney bright; The dead coal glowed with living heat, while on the hearthrug sat And purred before the genial blaze a meditative cat. Benign approval beamed from out those orbs of emerald green, As straight he sat upon the mat all in the fiery sheen, With forward ears and head erect and tail curled tightly round, His mind, in wonder, all intent upon the crackling sound. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.