The Hazlehurst signal. (Hazlehurst, Miss.) 1883-1885, 1884-01-10
Playing Santa Claus.

something Ike cousin Of Toms.
Would You believe IL. that fellow said
there wasn't any Santa Claus? was
ashamed for him. and told him ut
once that he could never have any little
hatchet.
Now that boy distinctly did tcll-but
won't mention ii. We should never
reveal the wickedncss Of other people.
and ought always to be thankful that
we are worse than any body else.
Otherwise we should be like the Phar-
isec, and he was very bad. ] knew for
certain that il was u iib Tom McGinnis'
cousin told. But, all the same. the
more thought about it the more I got
worried.
IL there is n Santa Claus-and. OF
course, there is--how could he get up
on the top of tho house. SO he could
come down the chimney, unless he car
ried big ladder with him; and IL he
did this, how could he carry presents
enough to fill mornahundrcd stockings?
And then how could he help getting
the things all over SCOT from the CHM
new, and how does he manage when the
chimney is all full of smoke and fire.
as il always is ut Christmas? But
then, as tho preacher says, he may bc
supernatural had To look that word
up in the dictionary.
The story Tom McGinnis' cousin told
kept ON worrying mo. and finally l bc.
can to think how perfectly awful 1t
would be il there was any truth in 1t.
How the children would feel, There's
roinc to be- no end Of children mt our
| house this Christmas, aId Aunt Eliza
and her two small boys arc here already.
| heard mother and Aunt Eliza talking
about Christmas the other day, aud
they agreed that all the children should
sleep ION cot bcdstcadS in tho back
parlor. so that they could open their
stockings together, and mother said:
"You know. Eliza, there's big fire.
place in that room, and the children
can hang their stockings around the
chimney
Now know did wrong, but 1t was
ONLY because l did not want the chill
drcn to be disappointed. We should nj.
WAYS do to others and so on, and |
know l should have been grateful II
ANYBODY had tried to get upa Santa
| Claus for me in case Of the real one be-
ing out of repair. Neither do l blame
mother. though II she hadn't spoken
about the fireplace in the way she did.
il would never have happened. But i
do think that they ought tO have made
little allowance for me. since was only
trying to help make the Christmas busi-
ness successful.
1t all happened yesterday. Tom Nc.
| Ginnis had come to see me, and all the
folks had gone out to ride cxoept A tdt
Eliza's little boy Harry. We were
talking about Christmas, and was tell
ing Tom how all the children were to
sleep in the back parlor, and how there
was chimney there that was just the
thing for Santa Claus. We went and
looked at the chimney, and then i
said TO Tom what fun II would be TO
dress up and come down the chimney
and pretend to be Santa Claus. and how
Il would amuse the children. and how
pleased the grown-up folks would be,
Tor they are always wantingus to amuse
them.
Tom agreed with me that IL 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
il, because il was our house; but |
said no, Inc was visitor, and IL would
be- mean and selfish In me TO deprive
him of any pleasure. But Tom wouldn't
do il. He said that he 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 lit the chimney.
Then we thought OF Harry, and agreed
that he was just the right size. Of
course Harry said he'd do II when we
asked him. for he isn't afraid of any
thing, and is so proud to be allowed To
play with Tom and me that he would do
ANYTHING we asked him to do.
We'll, 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 tho chimney and put his
legs in il and slid down. Hc went
down like flash. for hc didn't know
enough to brace himself the way the
chimney. sweeps do. Tom and hur-
ried down 10 the back parlor to meet
him. but he had not arrived yet, though
the fireplace was full of ashes and
SCOT.
We supposed he had stopped on the
way to rest; but after awhile we
thought we heard noise, like somebody
calling, that was great way oil. We
went up on the roof. thinking Harry
might have climbed back up the Chin
new, but he wasn't there. When we
rot on the top of the chimney we could
hear him plain enough. He WIS crying
and yelling for help, for he was stuck
about halfway down the chimney and
couldn't get either up or down.
We talked II over for some time. and
decided that the best thing 10 do was TO
get a rupe and let it down to him and
null him out. So got the clothcs-line
and let il down, but Harry's arms were
iammed close to his sides, so he couldn't
get hold of IL. Tom said we ought to
make slippernoosc, catch 1t over
Harry's head, and pull him out that
way, but knew that Harry wasn't very
strong, and was afraid IL We did that
he might come apart.
Then i proposed that we shouiu Bee
long pole and push Harry down the
re t OF the chimney, but after hunting
all over the yard VIC couldn't find q
pole that was long enough, so we had
to give that plan up. All this
time Harry was crying in the most
discontented 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 1t up tho chimney. Bushels
Of SCOT came down, and llcw over
| ovarvtl,inv. but we cOultln't reach Hur.