Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1893-12-21

WINES mere AoT tNtTN Udu u tlat
enters into any ones heart"
Il am very sorry" said yigg: lit was
very naughty and ugly Of me, and / am
ashamed"
They vent on and on, through many
crooked roads, deeper and deeper into
the mountains. After awhile it began
to grow lighter. and at last they turned
a corner and came into a grand hall.
The walls We're made OF mountain
crystals, which glittered brilliantly In
the light of torches held by innumera-
BILE awarfs, who were ranged around
three sides of the great hall. The light
shining through the crystals lighted il
with all the colors of the rainbow.
On the fourth side of the hall was the
king in his golden chair. dressed in
ermine and velvet, Sprinkled with
precious stones. bur his face was very
grave and thoughtful.
Beside him sat his daughter, all
dressed in silver gauZe, most beautiful
TO look upon. She was pretty. but very.
very pale, and seemed To be dying.
In the middle of the hall hung a
huge pair OF scales, and around the
scales stood a great many dwarfS. lay
ing weights-now on one side, and now
on the other.
In front of the king stood a great
crowd of brownies from all the houses
and cottages for miles around. They
told the king where they lived, and
what they and their masters had
thought and said and done during the
last year. For every good thought and
every good thing of which they spoke,
fha lrxs, rf. tnsl 81 wa1I,r. -r-NswA# "a "a
side of the scales, and for every bad
thought and every bad thing. they laid
a toad or a snake in the other scale.
"Eigg," said Santa Claus. that beau
tlfui princess is very sick, and If she
does not get out of the mountain soon
she will die. Shs longs for the air
Of heaven and the sunlight and the
sight OF the golden stars in the sky.
She has been promised that she should
see the starry heavens, and the angels.
and be happy forever. She longs for
il all. bat she cannot leave the noun
tam until some Christmas V when the
scale of good deeds and words shall
be weighed down 10 the floor. and that
with the evil shall 60 up to the cell
ing. You see now the scales are Just
even"
Scarcely had Santa Claus said this,
when he was summoned before the
king. He had a great deal TO speak OF.
and it was nearly all good, for he
worked only at Christmas time when
people are almost always Kind and
friendly toward each other. The dwarfs
laid many, many golden weights on The
scale while Santa Claus was talking.
| and the side with them in 1t grew
heavier and heavier.
While Santa Claus was speaking, NlgS
was on pins and needles, dreading TO
hear his own name pronounced. When
at last it came, he turned at first red
and then pale. What Santa Claus said
about him and about the wooden stock
ings. I will mo- repeat, but the dwarf
laid in the scale. on the side of the
bad things, the dreadful toad h a NIgg
had seen in the stones. The toad was
| heavy, and every eye but that OF Santa
| Claus was turned upon the little boy.
| The king around the princess. the
| dwarfs and the brownies, were all look
ing at him. Some Of the glances were
hard and severe, and others fun o.
commission and sorrow, especially those
of the beautiful princess, whose gas
was so mild and pitful that Nigs Gov
cred his face with his hands, for III
felt bitterly ashamed.
Santa Claus told about poor Mothe'
Gertrude on the moor-how she nae
taken the little fatherleSs and mother
less Vigg. and cared for him, II nov
she made mittenS, and rugs, ant
brooms. and sold them 10 the groce'
in the village in order TO feed MIN
how willing she was to mend his ciothe
and do everything for him; how niue
she loved him and how little though
she had for herself, happy In has ros.
cheeks and bright eyes, and AWAY
ready 10 forgive even his d~lsobealehce
how earnestly she prayed for him ever
night before she went TO sleep, an
how only this very morning b ha'
walked alone over the snow 10 III
village. lust TO get a Christmas ire
and other little things for him. Wml
Santa Claus was telling all this, IN
dwarfs laid heavy GOLDEN weights
the scale of the good things, and' IN
ugly green toad jumped down ana Oh
appeared. and the eyes OF the
princess were wet with a and VIZ
was sobbing.
Yes. he was sobbing in his sleel
and the grand hall with its cryst;
walls and brilliant lights was gone, an
yigg was lying on his little bed IN III
cottage on the moor.
The Christmas fire was burnlu
brightly in the stove. and by the De
stood Mother Gertrude, saying, roo
little yiggl You had TO be all aiot
here for a long time with no iish
but I could not get home soone No
I have the candle for you, aud such
candle as it Is! And bread, and sinGe