Evening star., 1944-12-24
CHAPTER 18.

CHAPTER 18.
A Merry Christmas at Last.
First the Santa Land folk united
Louis and set him free
do you have the box?" Santa
asked him. When Louis showed him
how he had it hidden inside his
shirt Santa patted his back.
Good boy" he said, simply, and
Louis blushed with pride.
Then the brownies tied up the
three witches while they slept on the
marsh grass.
How beautiful they are" mur-
INJURED the fairies admiringly. You
would never believe they were evil"
At this moment the witches
awoke. How surprised they were to
find themselves captive! At first
they couldn't believe it, and when
they did they began TO cry.
Then Louis said: They never
really wanted to be wicked They are
that way because they have no
hearts"
mo hearts," said Santa. What
an awful thing!"
Yes" agreed one of the witches
through her tears. And you don't
know what an awful thing it Is to
be a witch!"
Well" said Santa. "If all that is
needed is a heart for each of you we
can fix that up" He called Mimi,
the fairy who ran the doll shop
in Santa Land. DO you have any
candy hearts with you?" he asked.
1t happened that she did have
three tiny candy hearts in her
apron pocket. Santa gave the three
hearts to the witches. Eat them" "
he said
The witches quickly swallowed
the candy hearts, and then, while
every one looked on with popping
eyes, a remarkable thing happened.
The three sisters began to shrink
and melt away until finally they
were only 10 inches tall
They were no longer witches but
the most beautiful dolls in all the
world. Santa leaned over and put
his finger against each tiny chest,
and under his finger he could feel a
candy heart. He put the dolls in
his pocket and turned to his work.
ers.
Now, quickly. into the sleigh!"
he cried There is not another
moment to lose"
One Day to Go.
Meanwhile. back in Santa Land
the little Princess had become very
i'll indeed. 1t was only one more
day until Christmas, and. you re-
member, the doctors had said unless
Ruth smiled by Christmas Day she
would surely die.
You must hang on little long
er," begged Mrs. Claus. Santa
will be here very soon"
"11l try" promised Ruth, but it
was easy to see her strength was
going.
Then, on Christmas Eve morning,
there was a knock at the door, and
Hoppy the Toad from CAMERON
came in.
Every one in CAMERON is sor-
rowful," he told Mrs. Claus. The
Kings hair has turned white with
grief, and there will be no Christ
mas in the kingdom this year-nor
perhaps ever again"
Ruth overheard what Hoppy said
and she got out of bed and began
pulling on her clothes.
Ruth Goes Home.
Il must return" she said. Per
haps I can give my father some hap
piness just by being with him at the
end"
"Hoppy the Toad said, 81 can take
you back very quickly"
Mrs. Claus didn't try to stop Ruth
She knew it was best that the little
girl return.
So it happened that Ruth hao
been gone from Santa Land fol-
many hours when Santa returned
Little Louis was almost overcome
But Santa said. After going through
so much-don't give up yeti"
Then. Santa ordered his workers
to fill up his sleigh with Christmas
toys. In very few minutes yor
could hardly see the sleigh at all
it was so filled with drums and bows
and arrows and dollhouses and toy
stoves and all such gifts for chill
dren all over the world.
Come now said Santa to Louis
"And we will take a Merry Christ
mas to CAMERON"
When Christmas eve came tt
CAMERON there was no rejoicing ir
any home. Princess Ruth had re.
turned safely from Santa Land, but
there was still no smile on her face
and by now her heart was very
nearly squeezed dry.
But still the, people tried to please
her. The king set up a Christina:
tree in Ruths room and every one
in the kingdom brought a gift, hop.
| ing that one at least would bring
her joy
What gifts there were! There was
. toy lamb with white fleece. He
could say "baa-baa" like real live
one. There was a doll house with
a marble staircase and a Lighted
candle in every window. There was
a rocking chair that played song
when 1t was rocked.
Every toy you could possibly
dream of was laid under the great
Christmas tree. The king took ur
each one and held it for his daugh-
ter to see.
Just look! he exclaimed. 'Surely
this must give you joy!"
But the poor princess would look
at the toy and then turn to hel
father and sadly shake her head
Then the king wept and all the
people standing at the door wep,
and all in the courtyard below were
sorrowful.
Then when all hope had beer