New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-12-22

slept again He thought that he must be in Heaven, in
which he had never, being clever, believed.
Finally feelings OF shame and curiosity took him out
Of bed and into his shabby clothes He slipped out self
consciously and 10 his utter amazcmcnt upon the
town Of Oymakcrs Of which Santa Claus President.
He had eaten unwiSey OF the luscious fruits Of TN.
reality and had then drunk deeply OF the icy Of
hard fact But here a very real unrcality which
suited him 10 perfection He was no longer clever he
was hungry. Ii only he might never be sent away. II
only he could make himself useful that he could live
in this sunny white industrious place unit, The Jour
nal printed three lines OF obituary notice.
He asked eagerly where he might find Santa Claus,
and found him hard at work upon his directory Of chill
dren. He put his case humbly enough. He was liter
airy man, he said, forgetting for moment that he was
merely dramatiSt. Was there not something that he
could DO to prove his gratitude and pay his way Santa
Claus bcamcd upon him. 1T so happens he said,
that our poet has written himself out. DO YOU think
that YOU are literary enough 10 undertake the important
poeical work Of motto writing for our crackers Con-
rad Llywhte quoted from some Of the notices OF his
plays that had been written by his friends and the bar
gain was sealed
When he left the bedside Of Santa Claus he carried
with him the directory Of children and the map Of the
earth. He had been chosen 70 Santa Causs IN
dcrstudy because he had been 4 man of the world.
WHEN at last he lowered over the vast, unwieldy
w mass OF houses that stood for New lork,-hay-
ing PLAYED Santa Claus everywhere eSe-he found him.
self in a somewhat excited state Of mind For the first
time in his life he enter the houses ~ The three
classes Of which he had writen.-the rich and eSured
whom he had always drawn careless creatures devoid
of mOthcrlv love- health. affection. and ordinary ntel
gcnCc; the middle class, 10 whom he had always referred
snobbiSh and unpatriotic, ignorant and sci ndugen
and the poor, who were always according o. him. limit
less, unwaShed, and drunken He first descended upon
the roofs Of the houses Of the Bowery y too lat
to 60 down the chimncyS into the bedrooms " The chill
drcn but that did not matter Santa Claus himself never
went down the chimney he simply Wake through the
wals,-an easy feat. especially when SO many Of them
were jerry-bult This strange and convenient git ne
had injected like microbc, into LilyWh,.. who used
it with confidence.
And it was at the Bowery that he received the first
series of shocks, and discovered for hm~. how stacy
and machine made all his characters had bccn no" i4e
and theatrical all his drawings Of women nal men. ne
found all the gnS Of SQualor and starvation ana drunk
cnneSS and brutality OF course. in many o.. the raDD;
warrcnS that passed for houses in this dr.a ana norma
district; but in just many he came upon clean D'u;
rooms and tidy beds upon whose pillows ly yen oEuSyu
little heads filled with joyful expectation Not stock
ing in these but darned to perfection and not one
that he did not fill to bursting.
And then, with a new feeling OF shame upon nm nc
made the tour OF the more prosperous suoui> OIL wv
places round about 200th-st He came upon company
promoters who might have passed easily tUr gDt-ene'
who were not bit like the gross creature, WITH chcP
lcwcry and huge noses they had always been G"H
by him. He came upon brokers who were not suiS IL
their ShirtSleevcS in the kitchen drinking deeply Hol.
the bottle; NonconormiSt ministers VINO were ~,
reading Boccaccio to the editors OF Socialist papers
actors and actresses who untdy and undreeu
sitting in chaos of hairpinS and sporting papers gram
aphonc records and cheap magazines dirty packs u
cards and the ends of Virginia cigarettes. Il anything
the houses OF these Woodworking. economical, eMl,
pary people were more ScrupuouSly well run ana NSs
Bohemian than those Of police inspectors and memO's
Of vigilance committees They even had card trays o
the hall stands and SpittoonS in the smoking rooms
NoveStS and musicians, palmStS and clerks Slo0A
brokers and insurance agents journalists hcater man
ayers critics billiard players muSc-ha artists lawyers
real estate agents, cloth merchants and even puDlSe
we're ALL he found, to his Undesirable surprise ul''
unlike the people he had always imagined them 10 W.
clnsn Stlu Of the nn,s ~ his hrnihnr NrLIllsls.