Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-12-13
SYNOPSIS of Preceding Chapters.

to making happy the children Of men. Accord,
ingly the fairies and knocks, or gnomcs, bnlla
him house. and there Clans makes the hlst
TOW Toy-makmg soon becomes his chief octn
patton. The Ryles give him the colors win
which they decorate flowers and Claus Is IN
spIrrd TO make the first dol-an IMAGE OF
Nccilc, Claus is granted the nsa OF the ieihaeer
team on Christmas eve TO distribute ms Toys,
supply. The Fairies come to his assistance ana
find the toys stolen by the Awgwas'
1t did not take them long to burst open
the mouth of the cave, and then each one
seized as many toys as he could carry
and they all flew to Claus and laid the
treasure before him.
The good man was rejoiced to receive,
lust in the nick of time such a store OF
plavthings with which to load his sledge,
and he sent word to Glossie and Flossie
to he ready for the journey at nightfaH.
With all his other labors he had managed
to find time since the last trip to repair
the harness and to strengthen his sledge,
so that when the deer came to him at twi-
light he had no difficulty in Harvesting
them.
1--WE must go in another direction to-
night" he told them, where we shall find
children I have never yet visited. And we
must travel fast and work quickly, for
my sack is full of toys and running over
the brimv'
So just as the moon arose, they dashed
out of the Laughing Valley and across the
plain and over the hills to the south The
air was sharp and frosty and the starlight
touched the snowakes and made them
glitter like countless diamonds. The rein
deer leaped onward with strong, steady
bounds and Claus heart was so light and
merry that he laughed and sang while the
wind whistled past his ears:
with no. no, no!
And I> a no. I ho. ha. h hs. hee
Ger the frozen snow,
As merry as we can be,
Jack Frost heard him and came racing up
with his nippers but when he saw it was
Claus he laughed and turned away again.
The mother owls heard him as he passed
near a wood and stuck their heads out of
the hollow places in the tree trunks, but
when they saw who it was they whispered
to the owlets nesting near them that it
was only Santa Claus carrying toys to the
children. 1t is strange how much those
mother owls know.
Claus stopped at some of the scattered
farm houses and climbed down the Chin
neys to leave presents for the babies Soon
after he reached a village and worked
merrily for an hour distributing playthings
among the sleeping little ones. Then away
again he went, singing his joyous carol:
Now away we go
Der the cleaning snow.
While the deer swift and free.
For to girls and boys
We carry the toys
That win fill their hearts with glee!
The deer liked the sound of his deep bass
voice and kept time to the song with their
hoofbeats the hard snow; but soon they
stopped at another chimney, and Santa
Claus, with sparkling eyes and face brushed
red by the wind, climbed down it's smoky
sides and left a present for every child the
house contained.
1t was a merry, happy night. Swiftly the
deer ran, and busily their driver worked to
scatter his gifts among the sleeping chill
dren.
But the sack was empty at last, and the
sledge headed homeward; and now again
the race with daybreak began. Glossie and