31 Days of Christmas – Day #6

The Professor Told A Lie

Clem grew up in a parsonage. His daddy was a preacher, then a Bishop, and finally president of Columbia College. So you can understand how Clem skipped boyhood and became a scholar.
He was a Professor of Biblical Learning at General Theological Seminary where he authored “A Compendious Lexicon of the Hebrew Language,” — not exactly a best-seller!
In 1813, Professor Clem looked up from his reading and writing long enough to discover love. He got married, started a family, and began to explore the wonderland of make-believe.
And one day, he authored a false statement. If he had just told it to his children, nothing would have happened. But the meticulous professor wrote it down.
A friend of the family saw a copy and sent it to a New York newspaper and the story was copied, repeatedly.
Thousands came to believe it. All Clem could do was hope no one ever discovered that he, the distinguished Professor of Languages, had written this unmitigated falsehood, based on the appearance and manner of an old German handyman who worked around his house.
But finally, 15 years after it was first published, with his children grown and gone, he confessed. And the whole world rose up to thank him.
Forgotten is his “Compendious Lexicon.” We now remember Dr. Clement Clark Moore for the one whimsical story which embarrassed him. It started, “‘Twas the night before Christmas.”