St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1907-12-21

ne E&ktnnoS Real santa Claus.
Sheldon Jackson, an official employ
e by khe United States bureau of ed
location To work in the wilds of Alaska.
Carried Christmas to the Eskimo chill
ren there In 1894. He gave a deep
II interesting account of how he did
IL Ia & report to the bureau.
E'or several days Immediately pre-
ceding Christmas he said, 81 took
occasion to tell the scholars how it
olaserNed BIZ the whites, and ex.
pIained some features about the day
ais my limited knowledge of the Ian
guage would adnit Of; SO that, by
the close Of school the day before,
they pretty well knew why it was OBJ
served
81 told the children about Santa
Claus, and for them to tic their fur
stockings up near their beds. as he
was coming to visit them for the first
time, and would remember every
child.
/ made up 3 lot Of little bags out
Of empty -four sacks. and into each
ore put eight cubes Of white sugar,
about q dozen pieces of dried apples
and a dozen raisins not a very ap-
propTiate assortment for a Christmas
present for white child, but it was
the best we had, and I found out aft
erward that the selection was very
much appreciated by the little Es-
kimO
Although our supplies were very
limited, concluded to take enough
from such as we had and give each
family the same assortment 1t was
made up of a tin can filled with flour,
eight navy biscuits. one pint of
rec. one-half pound Of sugar and one
third pound of tea. There are ten
houses In the village, and about 100
persons all told. The supplies above
enumerated were made up into ten
packages.
had the herders harness one of
tie deer teams to a sled, and at IL
o'clock started with four natives for
me village, a half mile west Of the
station.
when we reached the first house,
look d flash1ight view Of the deer
stAnding by the little skin window
through which a faint CLEAN of light
WI thrown from the oil lamp burn
Tag below
s.It occurred to me that perhaps
thig was the first time in the history
81 civilization that live Santa Claus
made his midnight visit upon an err
rand Of mercy with a team of rein
deer, and that the Eskimo were the
Hrst to actually experience what
throughout Christendom is only a
myth.
TT became necessary to dig away
tho frost from one corner of the win
dow ii order to get the packages
through, and In nearly every instance
tie operation alarmed those below,
when package was Immediately drop
ped down and they became quiet.
The night was glorious one cold
aud crisp, with the stars shining in
lustruus splendor from the pale blue
canopy above. and not a breath of ar
was stirring.
Inc hour ! spent in this service
was one of supreme delight to me,
especially so as the little handful of
food 4 distributed made the bright eyes
oE hundred people glisten with hap
piness and supplied as many stomachs
with feast they enjoyed before they
again closed their eyes in sleep.
1T viii take too much space to re.
cord all the times / gathered as Il
aeered through their little skin win
dows and saw them dancing around in
great glee, old and young, and ex-
pressing their thankfulness for the
many good things received, the like
III which they had never before eaten"
MAaers Santa Claus Caused Terror.
Mr@ bertha Slower, the wife OF