The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1886-12-23

Know put cold potatoes IN the stock
ms of boys and girls only who are
bad and don't believe in Santa Claus"
"At any rate" said Joel, ''you filled
all the stockin's with candy and pop
corn and nuts and raisins, and l 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 book. Elvira cot tho
best one, which "The Garland of
Friendship and had poems in it
about the bleeding of hearts, and so
forth. Father wasn't expecting any.
thing, but you left him q new pair of
mlttens and mother cot q new fur
boa to wear to meetin'."
"Ot 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 q 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 pet
powerful sleepy all at once and
couldn't keep my eyes open. The next
thing knew Otis was nudgin' me in the
ribs. Git 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-dfessed, and
Susan came in. too, an we Just
made Rome howl with Merry Chris
mas? to each other. Ell you children
don't make less noise in there cried
father, IN hev to send you all back
to bed!' The idea of askin' bows an
girls to keep quite on Christine
! mornin' when they've cot new eleds
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. 1--WE made up our
minds that a stockin'ful of candy
and popcorn an raisins would stay
us Tor awhile. I do believe there
wasn't buckwheat cakes enough in the
township to keep us indoors that
mornln'; buckwheat cakes don't size
up much 'longside of q red sled with
Yankee Doodle' painted onto it and
q 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-aIl on 'em had new
sleds excep' Martin Peavey, and he
said he calculated Santa Claus had
skipped him this year cause his ia.
ther 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
| 50! brought Martin sled the next
Christmas" said Santa CLAUSE
"Ilke 9 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,
and about ten times longer comm up
than it is goin' down! The wind blew
in our faces and almos' took our
breath away. Merry Chris mas to We,
little boys! it seemed to say, and it
united Cur mufflers an whirled the
snow in our faces, Just as if it was Il
boy, too, an wanted to play
with us. An OF crow came hap:
pin over us from the cornfield beyond
the meadow. He said: Cav, cav,
when he saw my new sled; l s'pose
he'd never seen a red one before. Otis
had a hard time with his sled--the
black one-an' he wondered why it
wouldn't 60 as fast as mine would.
'Hev you scraped the paint off'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 q girl
sled that was worth a cent, anyway,
SEE Simon. Well, now, that jest about
broke Otis up in business. 1T amt q
girl sled,' SEE he, and it's name amt
Snow Queen! Pm a'goin' to call it
Dan'l Webster, or Oliver Optic, or
Sheriff Robbins, or after some other
big mani An the boys plagued him
so much about that pesky girl sled
that he scratched of the name, an,
as l remember, it did 20 better after
that!
"About the only thing" continued
Joel, "that marred the harmony oil
the occasion, as the editor of the
Hampshire County Phoenix used to
say, was the ashes that Deacon Morris
frisbie sprinkled out in front OF his
house. He said he wasn't going to
have folks breakin' their necks just
on account of a lot of frivolous boys
that was goin' to the gallows as fas
as they could! Oh, how we hated him
and we'd we snowballed him, too, il
we hadn't been afraid of the Constable
that lived next door. But the ashes
didn't bother us much. and every tim {
we slid side saddle we'd give the ashed
a kick, and that sort O. scattered EN-"
That bare thought OF this made San
ia Claus laugh.
"Goin' on bout 8 o'clock, +" said Joel
"the girls come along-Sister Elvira
an Thankful, Prudence Tucker, Belle
Yocum, Sophrone Holbrook, Sis Hub
bard an Marthy Sawyer. Marthy's
brother Increase wanted her to ride
on his sled, but Marthy allowed that
a red sled was her choice every time
4 don't see how Pm goin' to hold on,
said Marthy; Seems as if would he,
my hands full keepin' my things from
BLOWN away Don't worry about
yourself, Marthy,' seq I, for if you'll
look after your things I kind O. cal'
c'late I'll managenot to lose you on thu
way Dear Marthy-seems as if
could see you nov, with your tangled
hair a.blowin' in the wind, your eyes
all bright an sparkling an your
cheeks as red as apples. Seems, too
as If l could hear you laughin' an
callen,' jist as you did as I toiled ~
the old New England hill that Chris
mas mornin'-a-callin' Joel, Joel, 10
el-ain't W ever comm, Joel?' But
the hill is long an steep, Marthy, an
Joel amt the boy he used to be; he!
old an gray, an feeble, but there.
love an faith in his heart, an they
kind O. keep Inn totterin' towards tn,
| vaicn ha hoo a Him. T~o1 T1o1 tn