The Warner sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1885-1???, 1886-12-24

believe anything would've put me 70
sleep. / heard the big clock in the sit
ting.room strike IL, and l had begun
wonderln' if you never were going to
come, when all of a sudden lheard the
tinkle Of the bells around your rem
deers' necks. Then l heard the rein
deers prancin' on the roof and the
sound of your sleigh. runners cuttln
through the crust and slippin' over
the shingles. | was kind o scared and
| covered my head up with the sheet
and quilts-only | left a little hole so
l could peek out and see what was
goin' on. As soon as / SAY you | got
over bein' scared-tor you were Jolly
and smilin' like, and you chuckled as
you went aronnd to each stockln'
and filled it up"
Eyes, l can remember the night, "
said Santa Claus; II brought you a
sled, didn't II"
Eyes, and you brought Otis one,
too" replied Joel; "mine vas red and
had Yankee Doodle painted in black
letters on the side; Otis was black,
and had Snow Queen in gilt letters"
81 remember those sleds distinctly
said Santa Claus, 'for l made them
especially for you boys"
You set the sleds up against the
WALL" continued Joel, land then you
filled the stockin's."
There were six OF 'em, as | recol-
lect," said Santa Claus.
LET me see," said Joel. There
was mine, and Otis, and Elvira's and
Than kful's, and Susan Prickett's-Su-
san was our help, you know. No,
there were only five, and, as | remem-
Der, they were the biggest we could
beg or borIer of Aunt Dorcas, who
weighed nigh onto 200 pounds. Otis
and l didn't like Susan Prickett, and
we were hopin' you'd put a coid po-
tato in her stockin'."
But Susan was a good girl" re-
monstrated Santa Claus. "You
know I put cold potatoes inthestock-
ms of boys and girls only who are
bad anddon't believein Santa Claus"
cat any rate" said Joel, "you filled
all the stockin's with candy and pop
corn and nuts aud raisins, and | can
remember you said you were afraid
run out of popcorn balls be-
fore you got around. Then you left
each of US a book. Evira got the
best one, which 1.-THE Garland of
Friendship and had~poems in it
about the bleeding of hearts, and so
Father wasn't expecting any
thing, bat you left him a new pair of
mittens and mother got a new fur
boa to wear to meetin'."
"Qf course" said Santa Claus; II
never forgot father and mother"
"Well, it was as much as | could do
to lay STILL" continued Joel, for I'd
been longin' for a sled an the sight of
that red sled with yankee Doodle
painted on it jest made me wild. But,
or other, l began to get
powerful sleepy all at once and l
couldn't keep my eyes open. The next
thing | knew Otis was nudgin' me in the
ribs. Cit up, JOEL says he; its
Christmas an Santa Claus has been
here Merry Chris mas! Merry Chris
masp we cried as we tumbled out of
O. bed. Then Elvira an Thankful came
in, not more'n ~half-dressed, and
Susan came in. too. an we just
made Rome howl with Merry Chris
mas!' to each other. 'Ef you children
don't make less noise in there cried
father, 'Pll hev to send you all back
to bed!' The idea of askin' boys an
girls to keep quite on Christmas
mornin' when they've got new sleds
an 'Garlands of Frien'ship'!"
Santa Claus chu2kled; his rosy
cheeks fairly beamed with joy.
"Otis an / didn't want any break
FAST" said Joel. "We made up our
minds that a stockin'ful of candy
and popcorn an raisins would stay
us for awhile. / do believe there
wasn't buckwheat cakes enoughin the
township to keep us indoors that
mornin'; buckwheat cakes don't size
up much 'longside OF q red sled with
Yankee Decide painted onto it and
a black sled named Snow Queen
We didn't care how cold it was-so
much the better for slidin' down hill!
All the boys had new sleds-Lafe
Dawson, Bill Holbrook, Gum Adams,
RUDE Playford, Leander Merrick,
Ezra Purple-all on 'em had new
sleds excep' Martin Peavey, and he
said he calculated Santa Claus had
skipped him this year cause his fa-
Their had broke his leg haulin' logs
from the Pelham woods and been KEEP
indoors six weeks. But Martin had
his OF sled, and he didn't hev to ask
any odds of any of us, neither"
III brought Martin a sled the next
Christmas" said Santa Causl
Likes not; but did you aver slide
down hill, Santa Claus? / don't NEAR
such hills as they hev out here in this
new country, but one OF them old
fashioned New England hills that was
made specially for boys to Shutdown
full ofbumpers an thank-ye-marms
and about ten times longer comm ur
than it is goin, down. The wind blew