The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1902-12-14

| WRITTEN FOR THE = NDAN REPLSLIt-
l. Wa = crisp. cid morning when. in re-
spOnSs To an Invitation from Santa Claus.
| visited him a. h.~ headquarters in Ihe
Toy fields 10 Talk over the general holiday
situation
I had had 4 hard r!ie from The city owing
TO the VetE great ss-=e<,ion OF traffic. hs$t
On The Flu Contra! Hallway. and later oL
the Greenland Air Line, upon which systems
| one ROW has ~ travel ~ reach the Santa
Claus pat.
Tired as I was. however. 7 was soon
bracsd TYP b. IL" inv.Eyrallug air thar l
tTeathed into my lungs II the Iarnty-mil=
sleigh ride from D~oiltown, Tie Railway sta
tion. out 10 CIaUsy::!e.
| Here the yeur-au.e Saint OF YUIetiIe has
his Office.
The reindeer were in excellent form and
maze snort work Of the score Of miles that
lay between TIE railway and my objective
point.
1t was difficult az first for me to get used
to the idea OF whizz!ns over this dazzingsy-
white country in q se.ish drawn by SIX mag
ni::eeIL creatures VINO hai never KNOWN
the feeling OF = rein.
| Fer 4 brief while my sensations were
much Ike those Of Gle who is being run
away with; but five minutes OF il served
10 restore tny confidence II my safety.
At The end Of ten / was quite as comfort
able in my mind as l AVE eyeg been IL
q hanson cao.
i pom ~ G-Elsa. a. Tie tIi.SEl.!S ttOtSI
l found = sfeamins bot breakfast prepared
for me, consisting of broiled chocolate
! creams. a coupl. OF hdrd-bOiled pepperminc
sticks and some candied apples, just from
the ovens.
These l ate with relish. and then walked
up the broad mali. street OF ClauSyiIIa 10
the headquarters Of Nj. Claus. He received
me with his usual cordiaiity and made me-
feel perfectly at home The moment 1 en-
tered his private office
If YOU don't mind waiting a moment"
he said. after he had made me welcome: Il
am just finishing up my correspondence.
and there are just a few letters OF import
ance that remain to be answered
tn be with you in aboU: five minutes"
l gladly acqu:esCed and Santa turned 20 q
row OF twenty stenographeTs at one end Of
his room and soon had the fingers of every
one of them busy taking down his marvel
lousy rapid diCtatiCr.
While this was gong on I had a chance
to look about his room and was much e..-
tertained at what l saw there
Models for mechanical railways and auto
mobiles in miniature and engines and car
riages OF all sorts and descriptions were 10
be found on every side.
On the walls We're pictures of most inter-
estilS make, most of them movable. in
which the figures seemed TO be alive and TO
enact some little story for the on!ooker.
In one corner OF the room, which was very
large ana bright. stood a huge bookcase,
containing. l should say. about a thousand
volumes. which Santa CIaus's authors have
turned out III the last year.
On the other side was another case. which
had held some 500 large Volumes, which. l
judged from labels on their backs, contained
the records OF all the youngsters in the
world. alphabetically arranged.
l was strongly tempted to take down one
of these TO see how my own youngsters
had been behaving themselves.
While 7 WAS turning tho nrproSI-ino ay-A
in my mind Santa Claus left his stenogra-
pliers and announced his readiness u talk
to me.
well" he said genially. as he handed me
a candy cigar, I'm very glad to see you.
Just try that Flora ChocolatOra and tell
me how you like it,
Thank YOU" said I. putting the cigar IL
my mouth. D w~e-ah-light these?'.
No. indeed" he replied with a laugh:
you just pull at il as you would on a real
cigar.
Its Il dry smoke. but very toothsoma and
nourishing. And now for your questions.
q gathered from your letter that you
wanted me to give you an interview for
Christmas"
Yes" said I, but I had an idea World he
willing to just talk. and after you had said
all you had TO say l could write in the
questions"
HIM. That's the way You do it, eh?" he
said. scratching his chin.
Welt uoN [ Know Just what to talk
ahout-Tve never been interviewed before"
How dc you feel in regard to the auto
mobile. for instance. as Il substitute for
Prancer and Dancer and Your reindeer out
tit?' I suggested.
l was glad l asked the question. for i,
was evident the minute 1 spoke that | had
touched him upon one of his raw spots.
It'll never do in this world" he cried,
pounding the table with his fist.
Il tried it last year against nv wishes,
but yielding to the solicitations of a number
OF our Board of Directors, and the way
the thing was botChed was disGraceful.
We sent out two hundred and ffty an
tomobiles all loaded with toys. and only
five of EN- accomplished their work salts
factorily.
Sixteen of them blew up before they'd
gone a hundred miles: forty-two eot
stuck in the snow half way between Clans
vile and Boston: thirty of our chauffeurs
were jagged for scocching before they'd
delivered Il single toy
-Four of them punctured their tires on
church steepies and lightning rods.
Between You and me. it was because one
of the biggest Of 'em-a SO. 10 Mercedes
Collided with the rOU of it. in tho drSt that