Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1884-01-11
Playing Santa Clans.

peneda The other day was at Tom
I McGinnis' house, and he had some
company. He was big boy, and
something ike a cousin of Toms.
Would you believe 1t, that fellow sad
there wasn't any Santa Claus? / was
ashamed for him. and 1 told him nj
once that he could never have any little
Ratchet.
4 Now that boy distinctly did tell-but
| won't mention it. We should never
reveal the wickedness of other people.
and ought always to be thankful that
we are worse than any body else.
/ Otherwise we should be like the Phar-
isee, and he was very bad. | knew for
/ certain that it was fib Tom McGinnis'
cousin told. But, all the same. the
more thought about it the more l got
worried.
! Ii there is a Santa Claus-and. OF
course. there is-how could he get up
on the top of the house, so he could
come down the chimney. unless he car.
ried big ladder with him; and if he
did this, how could he carry presents
| enough to fill mornahundred stockings:
! And then how could he help getting
/ the things all over SCOT from the chin
ney, and how does he manage when the
chimney is all full of smoke and fire.
as it always is at Christmas? But
then, as the preacher says, he may be
] supernatural had to look that word
up in the dictionary.
The story Tom McGinnis' cousin told
! kept on worrying me, and finally l be-
/ gan 10 think how perfectly awful il
I would be if there was any truth i'm it.
How the children would feel There
I going to be no end of children at our
! house this Christmas. and Aunt Eliza
and her two small BOYS are here already.
heard mother and Aunt Eliza talking
about Christmas the other day, and
they agreed that all the children should
I Steep on cot bedsteads in the back
parlor, so that they could open their
stockings together, and mother said:
q" You know, Eliza, there's a big fire
place in that room, and the children
can hang their stockings around the
chimney
Now | know did wrong, but it was
only because / did not want the chill
drcn TO be disappointed. We should al
ways do to others and so on, and |
know should have been grateful if
anybody had tried to get up Santa
Claus for me in case OF the real one be-
ing out of repair. Neither do / blame
mother, though if she hadn't spoken
about the replace in the way she did,
] 1t would never. have happened. But /
do think that they ought TO have made n
little allowance for me, since l was only
trying to help make the Christmas bust
ness successful.
1t all happened yesterday. Tom Nc
Ginnis had come to see me, and all the
folks had gone out TO ride except Aunt
Eliza's little boy Harry. We were
IN king about Christmas, and was tell
ing Tom how all the children were to
sleep in the back parlor, and how there
was a chimney there that was Just the
I thing for Santa Claus. We went and
| looked at the chimney, and then
said To- Tom what fun il would be to
dress up and come down the chimney
and pretend to be Santa Claus. and how
ii would amuse the children, and how
pleased the grown-up folks would be.
for they are always wanting us to amuse
them.
Tom agreed with me that it would be
splendid fun, and said we ought TO
practice coming down the chimney, so
that we could do It easily on Christmas
eve. He said he thought | ought to do
it, because it was our house; but
said no, he was visitor. and it would
be mean and selfish in me to deprive
him of any plea urc. But Tom wouldn't
do it. He said that bs wasn't feeling
very well, and that he didn't like to
take liberties with our chimney, and,
besides, he was afraid that he was so
big that he wouldn't fit the chimney.
Then we thought of Harry. and agreed
that he was Just the right size. OF
course Harry said he'd do it when we
asked him, for he isn't afraid Of any,
thing, and is so proud to be allowed 10
play with Tom and me that he would do
anything we asked him to do.
Well, Harry took of his coat and
Shoes. and we all went up to the roof.
and Tom and boosted Harry till he got
on the top of the chimney and put his
legs in it and slid down. He went
down like flash, for he didn't know
enough to brace himself the way the
chimney sweeps do. Tom and hur-
ried down II the back parlor to meet
him; but he had not arrived vet, though
the fireplace was full of ashes and
SCOT.
We supposed he had stopped on the
way to rest; but after awhile we
thoughtw heard noise, like somebody
calling. that was a great way off. We
went up on the roof, thinking Harry
might have climbed back up the CHM
ney, but he wasn't there. When we
got on the top of the chimney we could
i'm NloTr l.,
and yelling for help, for he was stuck
about halfway down the chimney and
couldn't get either up or down.
We talEed it over for some time, and
decided that the best thing TO do was to
get a rope and let it down to him and
pull him out. So | got the clothes-line
and let it down, but Harry's arms were
jammed close to his sides, 30 he couldn't
get hold of it. Tom said we ought to
make slippernoose, catch it over
Harry's head, and pull him out that
way. but knew that Harry WASH very
strong, and | was afraid il we did that
he might come apart.
Then L proposed that we should ret
long pole and push Harry down the
rest of the chimney, but after hunting
all over the yard We couldn't find a
pole that was long enough, so we had
to give that plan up. All this
time Harry was CRYING in the most
discontinued way, although we were
doing all we could for him. That's the
way with little boys. They never have
any gratitude, and are always discon-
tented.
As we couldn't poke Harry down,
Tom said let's try to poke him up. So
we told Harry TO be patient and consid-
crate, and we went down stairs again,
and took the longest pole we could find
and pushed it up the chimney. Bushels
of SCOT came down, and flew over
everything, but we couldn't reach Har-
ry with the pole. BY this time we be-
gan to feel. discouraged. We were
awfully sorry for Harry, because, if we