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

years with their generous master. They
were all exceedingly beautiful, with STEM
der limbs, spreading antlers, velvety dark
eyes and smooth coats of faWn color spot
ted with white.
Claus loved them at once, and has loved
them ever since, for they are loyal friends
and have rendered him priceless service.
The new harness fitted them nicely and
soon they were all fastened to the sledge
by twos, with Glossie and Fiossie in the
lead These wore the strings of sleigh
bells, and were so delighted with the
music they made that they kept prancing
up and down to make the bells ring.
Claus now seated himself in the sledge,
drew warm robe over his knees and his
flu" cap over his ears, and cracked his
long whip a signal to start
Instantly the ten leaped forward and
were away like the wind, while jolly Claus
laughed gleefully to see them run and
shouted song in his big, hearty voice:
with no, no, no!
And a ha, ha, ha!
And no, no, ha. ha hee!
Now away We go
Der the frozen snow,
AS merry as We can be.
There are many Joys
In load of toys,
As many a child will know:
Wen scatter them wide
On wild night ride
Ger the crisp and sparkling snow"'
Now it was on this same Christmas Eve
that little Margot and her brother Dick
and her cousins Ned and Sara, who were
visiting at Margot's house, came in from
making snowman, with their clothes
damp, their mittens dripping and their
shoes and stockings wet through and
through They We're not scolded, for Mar
COTS mother knew the snow was melting,
but they were sent early to bed that their
clothes might be hung over chairs to dry.
The shoes were placed on the red tiles of
the hearth, where the heat from the hot
embers would strike them, and the stock
ings were carefully hung in row by the
chimney, directly over the fireplace.
That was the reason Santa Claus no.
ticed them when he came down the CHM
ney that night and all the household were
fast asleep. He was in a tremendous
hurry, and seeing the stockings all belonged
to children he quickly stuffed his toys into
them and dashed up the chimney again,
appearing on the roof so suddenly that the
reindeer were astonished at his agility.
II wish they would all hang up their
stockings he thought. as he drove to
the next chimney. 1T would save me a
lot Of time and / could then visit more
children before daybreak.''
When Margot and Dick and Ned and
Sara jumped out of bed next morning and
ran downstairs to get their stockings from
the fireplace they were filled with delight
to find the toys from Santa Claus inside
them. In fact, 1 think they found more
presents in their stockings than any other
children of that city had received for Santa
Claus was in a hurry and did not stop to
count the toys.
OF course they told all their little friends
about it, and, of course, every one of them
decided to hang his own stockings by the
fireplace the next Christmas Eve. Even
Bessie Blithesome, who made a visit to
that city with her father, the great Lord
of Lerd, heard the story from the children
and hung her own pretty stockings by the
chimney when she returned home at
Christmas time
On his next trip Santa Claus found so
many stockings hung up in anticipation of
his visit that he could fill them in a jiffy
and be away again in half the time re-
quired to hunt the children up and place
the toys by their bedsides.
The custom grew year after year, and
has always been a great help to Santa
Claus. And, with SO many children to
visit. he surely needs all the help we are
able to give him.