The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1878-12-20

dreamed all this; for we all know that on
reindeer do make tracks,
The magic box seemed to be inexhausta
BILE. Santa Claus filled his pack from i
hundreds of times, until as lie told Chubb,
he had taken forty-seven carloads of pres
ents from it, He would reach in and picl
up little mite of a thing-a tip cart, per
haps, or drum-that he could hold be
tween his thumb and finger, when, presto
the instant it came out of the box it would
be as big as ever. Chubby never grew tir
ed of watching these changes, and often
laughed outright to see what looked like @
wooden mosquito suddenly swell out into
wooden OK or an elephant.
The number and richness of the presents
surprised him very much and Santa him.
self admitted that he never had a finer
stock. or course, there were thousands
upon thousands of cheap toys and trink-
cts; but there were also presents of great
value. There were, for instance, one hun
bred and seven gold watches, and seven
hundred and one silver ones, ninety three
sets OF furs, over forty diamond rings, and
earrings and breastpins by the bushel.
Sometimes, as Santa was loading his
pack, he would tell Chubby who the diff.
ferent gifts were for, and what sort of peo-
pie they were. And Chubby was greatly
perpleXed to find that many of the incest
things were for very naughty children, and
that many Of the most costly things were
for the rich, who did not need them, while
good boys and girls were often put of
with very meagre gift, and the poor, too,
often with nothing at all. But when he
asked Santa about it, the old man shook
his head, and said that he couldn't 90 into
that question then; that it had perplexed
wiser folks than Chubby and he did not
rightly understand it himself. "The good
Lord" he said, "has seen fit to make some
rich and some poor; and it was not for an
old saint like me to try to undo my Mas
ter's work.
Besides" added he, "you must under
stand that the true worth of these things,
is not the store price of them, but the
amount of happiness they bring; and l
have seen many u poor lad more pleased
with two-penny toy watch than many a
rich mans son was with a gold one
"Once," continued Santa, "when 1 was
quite young and experienced-It think it
was on my four hundredth or four hun
dred and first Christmas trip-I thought it
would be bright idea to equalize things
little. So I gave a diamond ring to an
old apple-woman's sons, and penny-whis-
tie to young millionaire. The police
found the poor boy trying to sell the ring,
and believing that he must have stolen it,
put him in prison. The young millionaire
was so enraged at the meanness of the gift,
that he got black in the face, fell down in
fit, and became an idiot After that"
said Santa, ~ never NEEDLE with folks
circumstances, but just adapt myself to
them"
"There is one other question I should
like to ask" said Chubby.
"What is it 2"
II should like to know why your pack
seems sometimes to be very light when
there are heavy things in it, and very
heavy when there are light things in it,"
Now you have hit upon my greatest
secret !" said Santa.
ooh, don't tell me if you would rather
not" said Chubby.
81 don't mind telling YOU" Santa re-
piled, though never mentioned it before.
You see our sort of people have different
weights and measures from what your sort
of people have. Things are light and
heavy to us, according to how much they
are good for. Now, here is package
marked Sam Rothschild. 1t contains a
chest of tools, a pair of skates, a croquet
set, and so on-all what you would call
heavy articles. But to me the whole con-
Germ doesn't weigh as much as good. sized
goose.quill, because they will do that I'M
happy, disconnected, unreasonable Sam no
good at all. But here is bundle marked
Tommy Jones, containing tippet and a
pair of mittens knit by his grandmother, a
new knife from his mother, and a sugar
heart from his sister Meg-all what you
would call light things, you see; yet they
are so heavy to me that l fairly stagger
under them, FOR know they'll make Tom
so happy that lie can hardly contain him
self Why, it seems to me that I'm carry
ing about five tons of happiness in that
bundle"
And sure enough Santa had all that he
could do Tilt to Tommy's presents into
the pack, but tossed Sans in as if they
were so much thistle-down. After a night
of hard work, Santa finished his task just
before daybreak. Chubby was glad to see
the last load taken from the magic box, fol-
he was getting tired and cold. Santa felt
a little tired, too, as we'll he might; and
the last load was pretty heavy one, foI
they were in neighborhood now where
a great deal of happiness went with pre-
sent. Chubby noticed something more
than fatigue in the old mans look as he
came slowly back with his empty pack
He was troubled about something, that was
plain.
"Did we take everything out of the mag.
ic box, Chubby 2" he asked.
"Everything but my sled," said Chubby
Don't you know we picked violin and q
pair of copper-toed boots out of the crack
in the left. hand corner2"
$50 we did," said Santa "anl fished
that microscope out of the nail hole on the
right"
Yet ne looked the box all over again
holding his lantern close down, and hunt
ing every corner. There was nothing there
but Chubby's sled.
"Have you lost anything ?" said Club
by.
"No; but there's poor Phil, the lar'N
boy, in the next house. l wish | hao
brought something for him."
81 suppose he couldn't use a sled, he's
lame 2" said Chubby.
Just the thing he wants. Then his big
brother Jack could draw him to school,
But we haven't one for him, that IS clear.
"There's mine," said Chubby.
"What are you thinking of ?" said Santa
Claus.
81 was thinking" said Chubby, "of what
Mr.. Marsh said when he was so kind to
me in the store. He said it was time to
do good for Jesus birthday; and should
like to do good for His sake; and think
He would like to have me give Phil the sled
and would like to, too. 1t would be a
real Christmas present then; and l should
like to see how it would lie them
Santa looked at Chubby for moment
with glistening eyes. Then he stopped
and took the sled from the magic box. II