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<p class="MsoNormal">Always fantastic. Thank you for sharing.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Chris<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b>From:</b> Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces@mailman.yale.edu> <b>
On Behalf Of </b>James and Judy Bryant<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Friday, December 13, 2019 1:44 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> John E Simmons <simmons.johne@gmail.com><br>
<b>Cc:</b> NHColl <nhcoll-l@mailman.yale.edu><br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [Nhcoll-l] Its that time of year again...<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:12.0pt;background:#FFEB9C"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:black">EXTERNAL SENDER</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Brilliant! Rest assured you have at least 3 supporters! <o:p>
</o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt">James Bryant<br>
SOJOURN Science - Nature - Education<br>
Santa Fe, NM<br>
<a href="https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Fin%2Fjames-bryant-0598a940%2F&data=02%7C01%7Ccjohnson%40amnh.org%7C611b9ecdcffa40b7a5c808d77ffc75a0%7Cbe0003e8c6b9496883aeb34586974b76%7C0%7C0%7C637118594605594482&sdata=1LpgUgx4T9dHnSYYlYr2e963wmn9IGckHUMToP69zpM%3D&reserved=0">https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-bryant-0598a940/</a><o:p></o:p></p>
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<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">On Dec 13, 2019, at 6:28 AM, John E Simmons <<a href="mailto:simmons.johne@gmail.com">simmons.johne@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><a name="_Hlk24509051"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">In Which St. Entropy Becomes Confounded by Literary Conjunctions</span></b></a><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk24509051"></span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">‘Twas the night before Christmas, with nothing crepusculous</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Except for a few daring, tiny
<i>Mus musculus</i>.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Throughout the museum, from basement to attic,</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">All was quiet and peaceful, with no hint of static.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The stockings were stuffed in the chimney with care</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">In hopes of impeding incoming cold air.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The curators were nestled all snug, just like chickens,</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">As I settled down with my copy of Dickens.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Not
<i>A Tale of Two Cities</i> or <i>Great Expectorations</i>—</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">A Christmas Carol</span></i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"> suited my night’s aspirations.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Not a creature was stirring in holly-tree or thicket</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">(Though, out toward the hearth, I did hear a cricket).</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">When, out on the drive, there arose such commotion</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">I sprang to my feet (pure poetry in motion)</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">And away to the window I flew like The Flash,</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Tore open the shutters, and threw up the sash.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The moon on the breast of the newly plowed snow</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Reminded me that my car was buried below.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">When, what to my watering eyes should appear,</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">But a Victorian sleigh and eight steampunk reindeer.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">More rapid than vultures the coursers they flew</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">As if food, glorious food, had just come into view.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">But… the little old driver… he looked just like Scrooge!</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">What was the meaning of this subterfuge?</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">And then in a twinkling (he moved fast for a geezer)</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Standing in front of me was old Ebenezer.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">“What’s the meaning of this?” I sputtered, afright.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Eb said “You’re due for some visits tonight.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Your museum is in for a strange trip—stand fast!”</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">And then I saw the spectre of Museums Past.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Such lovely old places! And oh, so attractive!</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">No bells, no whistles, and no interactives!</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The light was all golden. The cases were glass.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">So much to see, and so much room to pass.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">There were labels aplenty, all tidy and neat.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">You had to admit: it all looked very sweet.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">But, before I could dwell on this scene, oh, so pleasant,</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">It was replaced by the ghost of Museums Present.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The exhibits were spacious, but the objects were few</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">(and down in the café, there was coffee to brew).</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The labels I saw I could not comprehend</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">But at least they were worded so not to offend.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">There were directors, vice directors, vice-vice directors galore,</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">But the collection care staffing was, well, very poor.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">“Where are the specimens?” I asked with concern</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">As to old Ebenezer I slowly did turn.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">He just shook his head, then picked up a hatchet</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">“They all have to go,” he said, “Sorry ‘bout that, Cratchit.”</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The image then changed, and I was feeling quite numb.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">It was the much-dreaded specter of Museums Yet to Come.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The hallways were vast, the floors were all sparkling,</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">And visitors paid for both admission and parking.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">It was all automated: there was no need for staff.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Just a couple of robots (they were named Riff and Raff).</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The things on exhibit all seemed newly minted</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">As well they should—they were all 3D printed.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">A lone curator appeared, with a face oh, so grim:</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The museum had just pink-slipped poor old Tiny Tim!</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Something had to be done in this bleak house, indeed,</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Hard times or not, the museum was in need.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Was this really the future, with exhibitions so dull,</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Trapped in a boring, intellectual lull?</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">We mustn’t forget what museums are at heart--</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Sharing objects with people is our greatest of arts.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">This old curiosity shop could not come to an end!</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">So… I called on the Santaphone to our mutual friend.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">St Entropy answered my plea like an ace</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">And, being all magic, showed up at our place</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Within seconds of hearing the chimes of the call,</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Bringing with him, not some of our memories, but all!</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">He brought back dioramas, and returned the text,</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">And all the collections and curators next.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The ledgers, the labels, the tags, and the cases</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Were all instantly back in their long-standing places.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The heart of the museum was restored in the clinch.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">(I might have read Dickens, but the Saint read
<i>The Grinch</i>).</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">And being a Saint, he gave Scrooge a ride,</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">To wherever it is that old Scrooges abide.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">They sprang to the sleigh and both gave a whistle</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">As together they flew like the down of a thistle.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">I heard them exclaim (as is worth recollection)</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">“The key to the future is to use the collection!”</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">And they and their dear deer called out as they flew,</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">“Merry Christmas to all—and to all museums, too!”</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">John Simmons and Sally Shelton wish all two of our supporters the happiest of holiday seasons on this occasion, the thirtieth of these poems. </span></i><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">See what you’ve encouraged?</span></i><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">_______________________________________________<br>
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NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of<br>
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society. See <a href="http://www.spnhc.org">http://www.spnhc.org</a> for membership information.<br>
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