New-York tribune., 1911-12-24

J hair and long, white beard, and there was
snow on his shoulders, which showed that
he must have come a. long way IN hurry
10 catch those s P. c. c. youngsters in the
middle Of a good time and make II better
by what he had TO bring
Renders on the Outside,
Then he had his sleigh outside, for you
could hear the bells ring as the reindeers
shook themselves, and after he had SAID
Hello" TO everybody he went out again
and came in with half dozen big red bags
full Of bundles for the children. He had 70
make two trips to get the bags, they were
so big. but when some OF the grown-ups
wanted TO help him bring them in he re-
fused He said he didn't need any one TO
help him bring the good things 10 those
children. They had never seen him before.
he said. they had only heard about him.
and didn't believe in him, and he was go
ing to do It all himself, and show that he
was a real Santa Claus. and didn't need
help from grown-ups 10 make the children
happy.
There was another thing to prove good
faith Santa knew all che children -
name, and with such lot of them as
there were there, gathered in from every
where in the city, and none Of whom had
ever seen him before. no one except Santa
Claus could have known all their names,
for there is no one save Santa Claus who
knows all the children Of all ages. Santa
knew all Of them at the Society for the
Prevention Of Cruelty to Children last
night. though, and each child's package
was marked with his own name, so that
there could be no mistake. And there
| was yet one more proof Each child got
/ Just what he wanted most And there
can't be better proof of a real live Santa
| Claus than that
Before the old gentleman came the chill
! dren started out to have festival Of their
| own. Trey had the help Of the grown-ups
| in that and II was q nice evening that was
planned for them with a lot Of fun In It.
| even though Santa had not come to make
everything complete. The big playroom
/ on the third floor was turned over 10 them
| and the grovn-ups hung holly vrsaths on
/ the walls and strung festoons Of green
| stuff across the room. At one end there
was a tree that had candles inside among
the branches and was strung all over with
tinsel that picked up the sparkles from
the candles and banded them about Ike
sun rays on a pebbly brook.
! The children marched in 20 the big room
! end circled the tree and sang America
! and then they found lot Of seats placed
! for them az the other end OF the room.
and there vas magician who took
,, live rabbits out OF anybody's hat and
! pulled string OF sausage out Of little
| negro boys shirt bosom.
He found a billiard cue twice as tall as
the little girl in the back Of little girl
! dress and picked an American nag up OF
a perfectly bare table, Whereupon mere theIe
was great cheering There was a piano
very industriously az work while all this
! was going on, and whenever the children
had time they sang the songs the operator
/ turned OF.
Then Punch Gets Busy.
After the magician had all his rabbits
Icaeed up again and had stopped his alarm
clocks from blzzing, and had gathered his
four bushels Of confett into a Quart cup
and had packed al the wonderful things
he had found in all sorts OF out-of-the-Way
places into little two-foot-square box
Punch turned up on a miniature stage over
in one corner Of the room and began TO tax
IN that queer. squeaEy voice that genera
tons Of Punches have inherited from their
torebears He had killed the policeman ana
saved himself from being swallowed ny
a crocodile after wonderful efforts, when
Santa Claus came, and Punch hurried out
Of sight
Santa could not stay all the evening, OF
course he has too many places 70 visit
So after he had gone the children went
back 10 the entertainment the grown-ups
had helped 20 plan and danced and sang
until they were ready for luncheon In the
big dining room back OF the playroom. Then
they danced and sang again and showed
each other the toys Santa Claus haa
brought until they were ready for bed
Tomorrow they will eat big turkey
dinner and al have ,ndgestion-iust ike
groWn-ups