The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1905-01-05
L. FRANK BAUM.

And Peter agreed to furnish strips of
tough leather for the harness,
This leather was cut from the skins
Of lions that had reached such an adj
vanced age that. they died naturally,
and on one side was tawny hair, while
the other side was cured to the soft
ness Of velvet by the deft Knocks.
When Claus received these strips Of
leather he sewed them neatly into q
harness for the ten reindeer, and 1t
proved strong and serviceable and
lasted him for many years.
The harness and sledge were pre-
pared at odd times, for Claus devoted
most Of his days to the. making Of
toys. These were now much better
than his first ones had been, for the
immortals often came to his house to
watch him work and to offer sugges-
tons. It was Needles idea to make
some Of the dolls say papa" and
mamma 1t was thought Of the
Knocks to put squeak inside the
lambs, so that when child squeezed
them they would say "baa-a-a-a" And
the Fairy Queen advised Claus to put
whistles in the birds, so they could be
made TO sing, and wheels on the horses
so children could draw them around.
Many animals persisted in the Forest,
from one cause or another, and their
fur was brought to Claus that he
might cover with it the small images
Of beasts he made for playthings. A
merry Ryl suggested that Claus make
donkey with nodding head, which
he did and afterward found that ii
amused the little ones immensely. And
80 the toys grew in beauty and attrac-
tiveness every day until they were
the wonder Of even the immortals.
When another Christmas Eve drew
near there was a monster load of beau
tiful gifts for children ready to be
loaded upon, the big sledge Claus fill
ed three sacks to the brim and tucked
every corner of the sledge box full Of
toys besides.
Then, at twilight, the ten reindeer
and Flossie introduced them
all to Claus. They were Racer and
PAGER, Reckless and Speckless, Fear
less and Peerless and Ready and
Steady. who, with Glossie and Flossie
made up the ten who have traversed
the world these hundreds Of years
with their generous master. They
were all exceedingly beautiful, with
slender limbs, spreading antlers, vel
vety dark eyes and smooth coats of
fawn color spotted with white.
81
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 Flos-
sic in the lead. These wore the strings
of sleighbells 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 a warm robe over his
knees and his fur cap over his ears
and cracked his long whip as a signal
to start.
Instantly the ten leaped forward
anu were away ike the wind, While
jolly Claus laughed gleefully to see
them run and shouted a song in his
big, hearty voice:
with no, no, no!
And ha, ha, ha!
And no, no. ha, ha, hee!
Now away we 60
Ger the frozen snow,
AS merry as we can be!
There are many joys
In our load Of toys,
AS many child will know;
Well scatter them wide
On our 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 a snow man,
with their clothes damp, their mittens
dripping and their shoes and stock
ings wet through and through. They
We're not scolded, for Margot's mother
knew the snow was melting, but they
were sent early to bed that their
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