The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1903-12-25

Claus, l visited him at his headQuar-
tiers in the Toy fields to talk over the
general holiday situation. Tired as I
was, however, | was soon braced up
by the i~nvigorating air that I breathed
into my lungs in the tWenty-mile
sleigh ride from Dolltown, the railway
station, out TO Clausville, where the
venerable saint of the Yuletide has his
offices . The reindeer We're in excellent
form and made short work Of the score
of miles that, lay between the railway
and my objective point.
Upon my arrival at the Clausville
hotel found a steaming hot breakfast
prepared for me, consisting of broiled
chocolate creams, a couple of hard
boiled peppermint sticks and some
candied apples, just from the ovens.
These l ate with relish, n then
walked up the broad main street of
C!ausville to. the headquarters of Mr..
Claus. Il. received me with his usual
cordiality and made me feel perfectly
at home the m l entered his pri~
vate office.
If you don't mind waiting a mo-
ment," he said, after he had made me
welcomes; "ltam just finishing up my
correspondence, and there are just a
few letters of importance hat remain
to be answered. I'll be with you in
about five minutes"
| gladly aCquiesced and Santa turned
to a row of twenty Stenographers at
one end of his room and soon he had
the fingers of every one of them busy
taking down his marVellously rapid
dicration.
Well he said, genially, as he hand
ed me a candy cigar, I'm very glad
to see you. Just try that Flora Choco-
latora and tell me how you like it,
THANK you" said l, putting the cigar
in my mouth. DO we-ah-light
these"
No, indeed" he replied with a
laugh; you just pull at it as you would
on a real cigar. It's a dry smoke, put
very toothsome and n~ourishing. And
now for your questions. l gathered
from your letter that you wanted me
to give you an Interview for Christ
mas
YES aid I, but I had an idea
you'd be willing to just talk, and after
you had said all you had to say l could
write in the questions"
HIN! That's the way you do it. eh?"
he said, scratching his chin. 'Well-I
don't know Just to talk about-I've
never been interviewed before"
How do you feel in regard to the
automobile, for instance. as a substi-
tute for Prancer and Dancer and your
reindeer outits?' l suggested.
l was glad | asked the question, for
1t was evident the minute ! spoke that
l had touched him upon one of his raw
spots.
"ItIl never do in this world,' he cAed.
pounding the table with his fist. II
tried it last year against my wishes,
but yielding to the solicitations of a
number of our boards Of directors, and
the Way. the thing was botcled was dis
graceful. We sent out $50 automobiles
all loaded with toys. and only five Of
'em accomplished their work satisfac-
torily. Sixteen of them blew up be-
fore they'd gone a hundred miles; forty
two got stuck in the snow half way be-
tween Clausville m Kansas City, thir-
ty Of our cnautfeurS wtre jagged for
scorching before they'd delivered a
single toy: four of them punctured their
tires on church steeples and lightning
rods, and between you and me. it was
because one of the biggest of 'en-a
$3.50, GOO Mercedes-collided with the top
of ii. in the dusk, hat the Campanile
at Venice later came Gathering down
about the ears Of the %populace.
"Wors of all, the toys that We're de-
liFered successfully smellcd SO of gas
oline that they made half the children
sick before morning came, and the
chug-chuggjng of the machines up on
the roof tops walked up nearly every
body in their neighborhood. No, sir!
We're going to stick to first principles
IN here, and that while there's. q rein
deer left in the world we have mo- use
For automobiIes in orr business"
POSSIBLY in ten o. fifteen years youth
find the airship," I suggested.
.'Possibly,'' lie said, "and then they'll
call me SANITY Dumont instead OF sanity
CIaus-eh?' he added with a chuckle.
DON'T YOU pin your faith to the airship,
young man. We've been experimenting
on that, too, and il never works surely
enough for us. l sent one out last year
alung with the automobiles, and it col
lapsed somewhere over the Sahara,
where there isn't a kid of any kind to
be provided for. What was the result?
Somewhere in that vast stretch of sand
there are enough toys TO stock a de-
paTtment store. and two tons of marsh
tnal!ows wasting thcir sweetness on
The desert air. No, sir, No airships' in
nine
The reindeer n the sleigh are as
much a part OF Christmas as l am, and
hereafter We stand or fall together. If
they abolish the reindeer for the auto
mobile they'll have to abolish me along
with EN- e n substitute a toy emporium
for yours ruly.'
Good | calculated. There's no
yielding to the iconoclastic spirit of the
age in yea, is there
''tN1G t'G.I .npNF W0rI 70 mo - ga i'll San