Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1885-12-24
A JOLLY SANTA CLAUS.
BY ALLAN FoRMAN.

II was Christmas Eve. and we chill
dreu had been hustled unceremoni-
ously off into the back parlor, while
Uncle Jack oar sailor uncle, super
insended the carrying upstairs Of 81
certain MISUNDERSTANDING basket
ca efully wrapped in a horse blanket,
We did not mind this so much, for
we were used to being hurried out Of
the way lust before Christmas-time /:
but the group in our little back parlor
was by no means so jolly as II had
been ia former years. Papa looked
troubled, and poor mother seemed
Just completely worried and tired out
AS we were pushed into the room by
Uucle Jack, who had been entertain
ing us in the little library on the other
side of the hall, papa made an effort
TO look cheerful, and said; well, |
seppose there is no use worrying about
liz. If it is gone, it is gone; but 1T
seeras hard, for | know of so many
things we could have done with il"
Eyes" sighed mother; but don't
worry; perhaps it may come yet
Gomez repeated papa, almost
petulantly; chow can 1t come when
we've looked everywhere for itl It's
lost, and we must make the best OF
it,"
We hardly understood the import r
ance of the cit" which had been
ssoken of as lost. We knew that
papa had received from grandpa a
letter containing a crisp new bill,
which papa had said was his Christ
mas present The fact that it was a
/ Eve hundred dollar bill did not great
I IL impress us as it was no bigger or
prettier than a one. In fact had 1t
/ been O dollar, / believe the loss would
! have affected us more acuteIy, as TO
us a dollar represented large amount
Of candy and other good things; but
4 FIVE hundred dollars, that was beyond
1 the stretch OF our imagination, so we
| did not bother our heads about it; IN
deed. little HIida, the baby, had
climbed up on papa's knee, and pat
\ ting his cheek with her soft, little
palm, had lisped sympatheticallg,
" did 90 lose the nice geen picter "
I But the rest Of US were too busy IA
surmising what was in UBcle Jack 3
| basket to pay much attention to any
thing else. 1t was the custom ia our
! family TO distribute the presents-with
/ the exception Of few bonhons and
trih IS that Santa Claus left ia the
stockings Of the younger ones after
/ bres kfast on Christmas mOrnInp. but
! for some reason this package OF Uncle
Jack S excited our curiosity more than
any other Of the packages we had
seen brought into the house for the
past month. Perhaps because Uncle
Jack always knew just what We
wanted, and generally got it for US
perhaps because there was an undo
/ Unable feeling, as we saw the man
bring il in, that it contained some
thing alive.
You may be sure that we did not
sleep much that night, for, il addi
! ton 10 the wakefulness occasioned by
our curiosity, there were certain mys.
/ terious sounds as OF gnawing and
1 breaking OF wicker-work proce eding
] from the little hall bedroom where
/ Uncle jacks box had been placed.
But, like all things, the night at last
came 10 an end, and we were up bright
and early to ruin our dgest!ons and
pass away the tine before breakfast in
eating the candy we would tin1 in our
stockings. But imagine our surprise
when we went 10 the chimney in the
nursery and found our stockings gone
There were few candies scattered ON
the Hearth stone; knife, some scraps
OF paper, and an orange or two lay on
the floor; but the stockings were 40.
where to b. seen. We wondered
somewhat at that, but we older ones
supposed that papa or mamma had for
some good reason taken them away,
while little H1da contented herself
with an exclamation of her own.
Santa Claus looked EN- up chin
ney 10 fill 'em better" and shortly
after she ran off 10 nurse to get
dressed, being always the first Of The
/ family downstairs. But this morn.
/ ing she did not have much the start
! az US, and before long we were all
/ down in the dining room waiting i'm
patiently for the elders to come TO