New Ulm weekly review., 1886-12-22

goin' on. AS soonias Tsawssyou got
over bein' scared-tor you were Jolly
and smilin' like, and you chuckled as
you went aronnd to each stockin'
and filled it up
Eyes, can remember the night"
said Santa Claus; II brought you a
sled, didn't I?''
eyes, and you brought Otis one,
too," replied Joel; "mine was red and
had Yankee Doodle painted in black
letters on the side; Otis was black.
and had Snow Queen in gilt letters
II remember those sleds distinctly,
said Santa Claus, 'for / made them
especially for you boys"
'You set the sleds up against the
WALL" continued Joel, ''and then you
filled the stockin's 81
s"There were six of 'em, as I recol-
lect," said Santa Claus.
"Let me see," said Joel. "There
was mine, and Otis, and Eivira's and
| Thankfups, and Susan Prickett' s-Su-
san was our help, you know. Nc,
| there were only five, and, as | remem-
! Der, they were the biggest We could
beg Or borler Of Aunt Dorcas, who
weighed nigh onto 200 pounds. Otis
and didn't like Susan Prickett, and
we were hopin' you'd put a cold po-
| tato in her stockin' ~
"But Susan was good girl" re-
monstrated Santa Claus. "You
| know put cold potatoes in the stock
ms of boys and girls only who are
bad and don't believe in Santa Claus"
SAT any rate" said Joel, ''you filled
all the stockin's with candy and pop
corn and nuts and raisins, and can
remember you said you were afraid
you'd run out OF popcorn balls be-
fore you got around. Then you left
each of us a book. Elvira got the
best one, which "The Garland of
ien'ship,' and had poems in it
about the bleeding of hearts, and so
forth. Father wasn't expecting any
thing, bat you left him new pair of
mittens and mother got a new fur
boa to wear to meetin'.''
"Of 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 sled an the sight of
that red sled with ''Yankee Doodle
painted on it jest made me wild. But,
somehow or other, I began to get
powerful sleepy all at once and I
couldn't keep my eyes open. The next
thing knew Otis was nudgin' mel the
ribs. Cit up, JOEL says he; its
| Chris mas an Santa Claus has been
here Merry Chris mas! Merry Chris
mas!' 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, Tll hey to send you all back
to bed!' The idea of askin' boys an
girls to keep quite on Chris mas
mornin' when they've got new sleds
an 'Garlands of Frien' ship'!"
Santa Claus chuckled; his rosy
cheeks fairly beamed with Joy.
"Otis an didn't want any break
fast" said Joel. ''We made up our
minds that stockin'ful of candy
and popcorn an raisins would stay
US for awhile. do believe there
wasn't buckwheat cakes enough in the
township to keep us indoors that
mornin'; buckwheat cakes don't size
up much 'longside of a red sled with
Yankee Doodle 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,
Rube 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-
ther had broke his leg haulin' logs
from the Pelham woods and been kep'
indoors six weeks. But Martin had
his OF sled, and he didn't hev to ask
any odds OF any of us, neither"
"l brought Martin a sled the next
Christmas" said Santa Claus!
''Like's not; but did you ever slide
down hill, Santa Claus? / don't mean
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 slide down
full Of bumpers an thank-ye- -marms,
than 1t is goin' down! The wind blew
in our faces and almos' took our
breath away. Merry Chris mas to ye,
little boys! it seemed to say, and it
united our mufflers an whirled the
snow in our faces, Just as if it was u
boy, too, an wanted to play
with us. An OF crow came flap
pin over us from the ecornfeld beyond
the meadow. He said: Cav, caw,'
when he saw my new sled; I s'pose
he'd never seen red one before. Otis
had a hard time with his sled-the
black one-an' he wondered why it
wouldn't go as fast as mine would.
'Hev you scraped the paint of'n the
the runners?' asked Wralsey Good
now Course I hev,' said Otis;
broke my own knife an Lutte Ingra-
hams a-doin' it, but it don't seem to
make no dif'rence-the darned OF
thing won't go!' Then, what did ST.
mon Buzzell say but that, likes not,
it was because Otis sled's name was
Snow Queen Never did see a girl
c1o1 fhof xrov%l, a oo,,k