Evening star., 1934-11-20

only they work much swifter, and
descending we had glimpses OF floor
after floor of all kinds of rooms where
armies of gnomes and fairies were
working, shaping wood and steel, as
sembling, molding, painting and
packing things.
At last we came to the bottom. The
first thing we noticed was the chief
gnome, who greeted Santa, and all his
fellow workers were clad in ma
chinists' uniforms.
This is my great power house"
Santa explained. You have all heard
of the axis of the earth, which points
to the Polar star, and on which the
world spins around. I have con-
nected my machinery with this axis
and the power that spins the earth
drives all my machinery, the lathes
and saws and drills, for you know it
takes lot of power to manufacture
toys for over SO million children"
Great turbines were turning huge
fly wheels. Gigantic dynamoS emitted
electric flashes and sparks. Hydraulic
presses were pushing up huge pis-
tons, wheels on wheels and inside of
wheels, cables and shafts and betting,
buzzing and turning and moving in
all directions, but there was order
about everything and you felt the
great mind of genius behind it.
Record Room.
We went up again, but this time on
an elevator, and as we passed one
floor after another we noticed instead
of numbers the names of different
countries. On the top floor We read
United States" and at sign from
Santa the gnomes stopped the ele-
Vator.
Here was large room with count
less desks on which gnomes were
writing in books Shelf upon shelf
was piled with books, but they were
not story books, but ledgers, num-
bered and alphabetically arranged.
The room was divided into sections
and each section bore the name of
a State. The State of Rhode Island
occupied only small space. while
New York took up exactly the
fifteenth part of the whole room
You can easily guess the reason. In
these books were records in which
the deeds of the children were
entered and how they improved from
year to year.
You are from Washington, and
here you are" Santa laughed, and
sure enough We found Washington
labeled.
How do you manage to keep
watch over the children?" I asked.
''Well," said Santa, you will find out
before you leave and see my magic
observatory"
Then Santa asked the gnomes,
"What has little Josie Walker done
today?" The gnome turned over
some pages and then read: "She
helped her mother wash the dishes,
swept the kitchen and minded the
baby for an hour" That pleased
Santa and he said: Mark on the
margin-a walking doll with real
hair"
Although yesterday the great castle
and everything in it had filled us
with awe, we are now quite at ease
and feel at home. Santa has a Won
derful way of making guests feel
right at home. His genial broad
smile, the gnomes say, never leaves
his rosy cheeks. He has given over
his big wireless station for our use
and We are going to send you pic
lures right along, for we could not
do it with our portable set. And here
Is some great news:
Santa has allowed us to take mov-
ing pictures of everything and I am
starting in today to take the first
pictures of the rooms in the castle.
Workshops.
Santa escorted us to his gigantic
workshop. 1t is so near Christmas
and Santa's busiest season, we feel
as If we were imposing on him, but
he is such a genial, pleasing
old man. we really believe he is en-
1oying our visit as much as we are.
The workshop consists of 1000
rooms, 500 of which are given over
to boys toys, where the workers are
gnomes, and the other rooms to toys
for girls, where little fairies are at
work.
In one of the boys rooms all the
toys pertaining to water are made,
such as yachts, submarines, boats,
ponds and fish. Another room is for
the air, with flying machines, dirig-
ibles, kites and toy balloons. Another
room Is for the earth, with trains,