The Bottineau courant., 1912-12-13
~ i7t, segs
/ larry,
the Postrr1an
How He Delivered a
Child's Letter to
Santa Claus
By RUTH GRAHAM

mamma, Will papa come nome TOT
Christmas and bring us some. nice
presents?" .-.
The mother turned away to hide her
tears from her little girl and did not
reply for some time. Then she said:
"No, dear Papa will not be home
for Christmas" She did not add, Papa
will never come home" 1t would have
been unnecessary, for by the time an
other Christmas came round his chill
dren, who were very young. would
have. forgotten their father.
"Well then," said Bob, boy Of five,
II suppose I'll have to write letter to
Santa Claus and tell him to bring me
twice as many toys, because my papa
Isn't going to bring me any at ALL"
"H'm,' said his sister Lucy. "Td
like to know how you're going to do
that since you can't write"
"Mamma'll do it for me-"
Lucy. you'd better do it for him."
said the mother
So Lucy went for some writing mate
rials and brought them to the dining
room table, for, writing being no easy
matter with her, she required pfenty of
room, and after much labor, including
the .erasure of blots and a number of
errors, completed the following letter:
Dere Santa Claus-My papa went to sea
on his ship, the Penguin, long time ago
and can't come home fur Christmas. So
wont get any presents from him this
yere 50 want you to bring 'em all.
Bring me a drum, q trumpet, box of
paints, q jewsharp. some games and q box
= - y BOB oB,MARKHAM.
p. e.-Don't forget the drum.
The letter having been finished, the
children waited the arrival Of Harry.
the postman, who had delivered let
ters at the house before the children
were born and who always had some
thing to say to them whenever he
handed them a letter-for Bob delight
ed to receive the mail-and as soon as
he came along Bob. handing him his
missive, said:
Harry, I want you to be sure to
send it to Santa Claus. Will your
II certainly WILL" replied Harry. TN
put it with the other letters for Santa
Claus. There are ten bags full for
him, all from little children"
And Harry tramped on, making
rounds day after day regularly. and
sometimes it seemed endless as the
Journeys of the earth around the sun.
But he didn't put lBob's letter with the
other letters to Santa Claus: he put
it in his pocket, intending to find out
what the boy especially wanted for
Christmas and supply it himself. He
was very fond of the child and had
been the recipient Of many gifts from
his parents.
II wish," mused the postman, that
I could take his mother letter say
ing that Captain Markham would be
home for Christmas. Bad business.
the loss of his ship! wouldn't like
to be master of q vessel to see when
she is sinking, the crew saving them
selves and having to 80 down under
tho black water myself. Ugh! They
can talk about bounding over the bill
lows all they like. It's a different
thing when the billows bound over
you" ........ ....
So mused the postman at the loss Of
the Penguin, which he knew all about
and Of WHICH Lucy and Bob had never
been told. Those Of the crew who had
saYed themselves reported that their
captain had refused to leave his post
and they had come away in the boats
without him. Some of them said that
they saw the stern of the ship rise
out Of the water and her bow plunge
down under a wave. after which she
was never seen again. Others declared
that at that very moment the. fog be-
came thicker and shut her of from
view.
The Penguin had struck an ice
berg and had never been seen again.
Since four months had elapsed with
no news of her no one doubted that
she had gone to the bottom.
It was with heavy heart that Mrs,
Markham made her preparations for a
Christmas which was to take place
without her husband. Since their mar
riage Captain Markham had not missed
single Christmas at home, being In
command Of coaster which made
short trips, which enabled him to part
ly control his time. His widow would
have preferred to pass the day without
aoticing it, but felt that it was due to
her children to throw off as much of
her sorrow as possible, that they might
enjoy the little peoples favorite ami
versary.
One morning Harry, the postman, was
arranging his mail for delivery when
his eyes fell upon letter that made
them stand out in his head That hand
writing he had seen on many q letter
before, but he had never delivered any
Of them postmarked from 80 distant a
port, for the letter had been mailed
from South Africa. It was addressed
to Mrs. Robert g. Markham and in her
husbands handwriting.
Suddenly the other men in the gen
eral delivery room saw Harry dance
about on the floor.
Whats uI,?'' he was asked
hi,,S 1,Nlx 30 no