Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1886-12-23

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| jan, land here am, right where ~
coming to-"
SO he was, and he and Liph and Busl
watched them finish setting the supper
table, till suddenly Bush gave great
bark and sprang away toward the from.
door. Grandfather Vrooman had hard
Iy been gone from the house an hour
and here he was, back again.
Jingle, jingle, jingle. How the sleigh.
bells did dance as that great load o.
young folk came down the road and
what racket they uade at the gate.
and how Bush and Liph, and grand.
mother, and the rest did help them!
He's caught 'em all, said Biiab.
but they amt scared a bit.
NO one would have thought so IL they
had seen Mrs. Prue Hopkins and her
husband and her six children follow
Grandfather Vrooman into the house.
They were hardly there, and some Of
Them had their things on yet, when
there came another jingle, and ever SO
much talking and laughter down the
other road.
lies caught some more. Some are
little and some are big. Iwonder who'll
get the baby?"
Bush was making himself hoarse, AMI
had to be spoken to by Mr. Hardy
while Mrs. Simpson tried to unmix her
children from the Hopkinses long
enough to be sure none of them had
dropped out of the sleigh on the road.
Then Liph set to work to introduce
his cousins to Bijah, and Bush came
and stood by his new friend in gray, to
see that it was properly done.
Where d you come from?" said Joe
Simpson.
"Sylum, said Bijah. "Where'd he
catch youP'
"Catch what?" said Joe, but Liph
managed to choke off the chuckle he
was going out and to shout out:
''Why, Joe, we found him in the road
to-day He thinks grandfather's old
Santa Claus, and this house is Christ
mas
$50 / am-so it is, p" said Grandfather
Vrooman. "We'll make him hang up
his stocking with all the rest tonight 8
Bijah could not feel scared at all with
so many children around him, and he
was used to being among a crowd of
them. Still, it was hard to feel at home
after supper, and he might have had a
blue time of it if it hadn't been for
Llph and Bush. 1t had somehow got
into Bush's mind that the dot in gray
was under his protection, and he fol-
lowed Bijah from one corner to another.
All the doors in the dark room
were open, and it was the lightcst
room in the house, with its big fire ON
the hearth and all the lamps that were
taken in after supper; but there was
not one thing hanging on the Christ
mas tree until Grandfather Vrooman
exclaimed
"Now for stockings! It's getting late,
children. | must have you all in bed
before long"
"Stockingspn
They all knew what that meant, AMI
so did Bijah, but it was wonderful how
many that tree had to carry. Bob
Hopkins insisted on hanging two pairs
Tor himself, and Thad Simpson was
begging his mother for a second pair.
when Liph Hardy came in from the
kitchen with a great, long, empty grain
Dag
"What in the world is that for?'
lsked grandmother, perfectly astonsh-
I'd. "Why, child, what do you mean
oy bringing that thing in hcre?"
Zone big stocking for grandfather.
let's hang it up, boys. Maybe Santa
Jlaus II come and fill it.
There was no end of fun over Grand
'ather Vrooman' grain bag stocking.
that was all leg and no foot, but Uncle
Hiram Simpson took it and fastened il
strongly to a branch in the middle OF
the tree. 1t was close TO the trunk, and
was almost hidden; but Liph saw I'M
Gle Hiram wink at Aunt Ellen, and he
knew there was fun of some kind that
he had not thought of.
Grandmother Vrooman had been so
busy with all those children from the
moment they came into the house that
she had almost lost her anxiety; but it
came back to her now all of a sudden.
"Sakes alive! Jane" she said to
Mrs. Hardy, "cvery last one of EN-
got to be in bed before we can do
thing with the stockings.
Biiah heard her, for he was just be-
yond the dining-room door, with a
crullcr in each hand, and it made him
SILVER all over.
II wish was in the 'sylum. No. |
don't either, but / Kind o wish | was. ="
Bjah was very small boy, and he
had not seen much OF the world, but
his ideas were almost as clear as those
of the other children, and Grandmoth-
err Vrooman for the next fifteen min
utes. The way the Simpson and Hop
kins families got mixed up, with Liph
and Sue Hardy tohelp them, was some
thing wonderful. Old Bush wandered
from room to room after them, wag-
ging his tail and whining.
Another" exclaimed Mrs. Hardy at
last, "thc bed yon made on the floor in
the store-room!h
just the thing for him. All the rest
90 in pairs. III put that poor little
dear right in there. "
So she did, and not one of her own
grandchildren was tucked in warmer
than was Bijah. He did not kick the
bedclothes off next minute, either, and
he was the only child in the house OF
whom that could be said. Grandfather
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