The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1868-12-31
THE PHILOSOPHY OF GIVING.
A TALK WITH SANTA CLAUS.


| e-r- ATALK WITH SANTA CLAUS.
There are great many little pcopl,
in my family. There are my own chill
dren first, Of course, then number o
little neices and nephews, then lot o
little neices and nephews by bcvet
children Of old and dear friends. Then
the children next door, and the boy,
round the corner, the seven others worse
than themselves who join my boys IN
their Saturdays play, bonfires, nuttings
kitchen raids for doughnuts and cookies
popcorn and lnolasses candy; who Dor
row our books, and gracionsly conclude
that "for q wolnan," so-and-so's moth.
er Is real good, treats boys as il they were
somebody. Then there are t,.s sanaa,
School classes, the Mission Sunda,
School, and the Orphan Asylum.
When Christmas is approaching,
really do not know what to do. l wish
I had the seven-icague boots, the .invis
ible cap, and the purse Of Fortunatus
I want to give them Of something;
want to give them their hearts desire.
1 want Clara, the cripple, to have the
chrome l saw yesterday ; want Dick
who is blind, to learn music; I want
Gustavc Brush to have that Don Quix-
ote upon which his heart is set; l want
Angeline to have her Irish poplin, and
Edwin his new skates. and want the
boys and girls to have all they want
generally. And yet, don't want to be
extravasant, to go beyond my means.
If there is a class Of financiers who are
to be pitied, it's the sort with big hearts
and slender purses.
ut is agony not to be a millionaire
at Christmas" cried out S. to me in un-
comfortable anguish last Advent. It
reminds me of "a man in our town."
not so wise as he was odd. A man of
means and culture of a certain Sort but
severe in manner and studiously simple
in habits of life. A sort of half-civilized
Diogenes beginning to get little discon-
tented with his tub. His pretty daugh-
ter by no means shared his ascetic tastes,
and strongly represented that the tub
was too small-was out of repair-would
cost mere to repair than it was WORTH
People expected something better Of
hin-who was Judge, and, in spite of
his oddity, q man of mark, and kept
most worshipful company. Fatal mo-
ment lor the Judge-he yielded-movcd
out of his beloved cottage, had it remov-
ed, went into other quarters, and caused
the cellar to be dug for the new house.
\ nd then to the surprise OF everybody,
the work stopped. Next winter the
children sledded down hill into the eel
lar; next spring the boys poled about
on raft. upon the pools formed in its
hollows, and in summer the neighbor-
hood goat grazed upon its dcclivities.-
But no sound of trowel or hammer or
saw was heard; the street was gui!tlcss
of stone and brick piles, and the NAPLES
dropped their scarlet garniture into its
moat-like. recesses. At last a curious
neighbour ventured to ask the reason Of
this delay. There's All insurmounta-
bic incompatibility between the conccp-
ton Of my plans and their execution"
was the reply of the Judge in his re-
marSab!c .fuisetto. II want large rooms
and plenty of them, in fact, want
great many of them, but an, dctern,in-
Ell rot to hare q large house under any
consideration"
And though the eccentric Judge is
years ago gathered to his fathers, the
house has never been built, and the
children and the goat have it all their
own way to this hour
Thus it is with my plans for the holi-
days. l counted over the sum my gen
erous husband had allotted for such pur-
poses and groancd-aye, more than
once. / don't want to be eXtravagant
have as wholesome a horror of debt as a
woman ought to have. And lots Of we'd
dings and wedding gifts to be thought
Of. And Aristine's child is named for
me, and L love the little thing dearly.
And the church is to have u fair, and
subscription is going round that the
Rev. Whitening Sollum may have his
portrait painted by poor but deserving
artist to hang up in the "Home for su-
perannuated Nurses And the wee
ones must not be lett out. l groaned
again and bowed my head upon my
hand.
wonder if l could not help you
little," said strange voice beside me.
l started up from my perplexed rev.
eric, and beside me stood (no mistaking
him) my old friend Santa Claus.
"The very one I needed to see." l
cried. welcome, most gratefully well
come!"
The good saint bowed much like a
gentleman, laid aside his fur cap, over
coat and mufiier, gave the fire a stir,
knocked the snow balls from his heels
into the crate, aud settled back-look-
ing very much at home-in the largest
and stoutest arm chair the house af-
fordeu.
II happened to overhear a part Of
your soliloquy," he remarked. II hope
smoke is not disagreeable to you
v,,oso,,,