Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, Ramsey Co., Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1905, 1884-12-20
A PERFECT CHRISTMAS.
CHAPTER ]

AucIe Was. uOL u larger u IN all
the valley than Grandfather Vrooman's.
1t was old and comfortable, and seemed
to lie .sound asleep, with a snow blan.
ket all over its roof.
Nothing short of q real old-fashioned
Christmas could wake up such q house
as that.
Christmas was coming!
Unless Santa Claus and the Simpsons
and the Hopkinses should forget the
day of the month, they would all be
there at waking-up time tomorrow
morning.
"Jane," said Grandmother Vrooman,
that afternoon, to her daughter, Mrs.
Hardy, who lived with her-"Jane, I've
got EN- all fixed now just where they're
going to sleep, and I've made up a bed
on the floor in the store-room."
why, MOTHER who's that for?"
"You wait and see, after they get
here, and we've counted EN-"
anyhow, there's cookies enough,
and doughnuts."
"And the pies, Janep"
"And I'm glad Liph gathered such
piles of b~utternuts."
"Oh, mother" exclaimed little Sue,
II gathered as many as he did, and
b%eech-nuts, and hickory-nuts, and"
$50 you did, Sue; but l wonder il
two turkeys II go round, with only two
pair of chickensP"
Mother said Mrs. Hardy. 1.-THE
plum-puddingp"
YES, but all those children! 1 dc
hope they'll get here tonight in time
tor me to know where I'm going to put
EN-"
At the very minute, away up the
north road, two miles nearer town,
there was a sort of dot on the white
road. If you were far enough away
from it, it looked like a black dot, and
did not seem to move. The nearer you
came to it the funnier it looked, and
the nor it seemed 10 be trudging along
with an immense amount of small en-
ergy. Very small, indeed, for anybody
close up to it would have seen that II
was a 5.year old boy in a queer little
suit OF gray, trimmed with red. He
had on q warm gray cap, and right in
the middle of the front of it were
worked a pair of letters-"O. A."-but
there was nobody with the gray dot to
explain that those two letters stood for
Orphan Asylum" No, nor to tell
how easy it was for a boy of 5 years
old, with all the head under his gray
cap full of Christmas ideas, to turn the
wrong corner where the roads crossed,
south of the great Orphan Asylum
Building. That was what he had done,
and he had walked on and on, wonder
ing why the big building did not come
in sight, until his small legs were get
ting tired, and his brave, bright little
black eyes were all but ready for a cry
ing spell.
just as he got thoroughly discour.
aged he came to the edge of the woods,
where there st, cd a wood sleigh with
two horses in front of it, drawn close
to the roadside, and heaped with great
green boughs and branches.
The sleigh's pretty nigh full, grand
father,' sang out a clear, boyish voice
beyond the fence, and 8. very much
older one seemed to 90 right on talk.
ing.
"Your grandmother, Iiph. she al
ways did make the: best mince pies, and
she can stuff a turkey bettern'n any
one l know"
"Grandfather, do you s'pose they'll
all Gomez"
Guess they will. That there spruce
IL do for the Christmas tree. Your
grandmother said we must fetch a big
one"
That's a whopper. But will Joe
Simpson and Bob Hopkins be bigger n
they were last summer?"
Guess they've grown a little. They'll
grow this time, if they eat all their
grandmother II want 'em to. Hello,
Liph, who's that out therein the roadP'
"Guess it's a boy
II declare if it isn't ono of them little
gray mites from the 'sylum. Way out
here! I say, bub."
I'm Bijah."
There was a scared look in the black
eyes, for they had never seen anything
quite like Grandfather Vrooman, when
he pushed his face out between the
branches.
The trees all looked as if they had
boards of snow, but none had a longer
or whittier one that Liph's grandfather.
"Bijah," said he. did you know
Christmas was coming?"
"Be here Tomorrow" piped the dot
in gray, land we're going to have tur-
key"
"You don't say! just you wait until
I cut . tree down, and I'll come out
and hear all about it."
us your nam Santa Claus?'
ibid you hear that, Liph? The little
chap's miles from home, and I don't
believe-he knows it."
"Issthat your sleighp"'
Yes. Bijah, that's my sleigh"
Those amt RENDERS, and you're
bigger'n you used to be-"
"Hear that, Liphp"
Bijah had not the least doubt in the
world but that he had discovered Santa
Claus in the very act of getting ready
for Christmas, and his black eyes were
growing bigger every minute, until
1iph began to climb over the fence
Then he set off on q run as fast az his
legs could carry him.
"Hold on" shouted Liph, 1--WE won't
hurt you"
vrooman. lies on the the road t to ou1
house. Wen pick him up"
"Took me for Santa Claus, Ideclare'
Liph; this here tree'n just suit your
grandmother"
It was a splendid young spruce tree,
with wide-reaching boughs at less than
two feet from the snow level. Grand
father Vrooman worked his way care
fully in until he could reach the trunk
with saw and axe, and then there was
q sharp bit of work for him and Lipb
to get. that 'Christmas tree'' slowed
safely on the top of the sleigh load. =.