Chapter XV: Part 15

“Sure enough, it was Santa Claus, for he had a big bag of presents with him, and at once he set to work. At first he trimmed the tree. He had plenty of silver trimming and candles; but, best of all (thought the mice), he strung popcorn over the tree and made it look as if the snow had fallen over it. Then he tied candy canes and candy animals of all sorts on the branches. Next he filled the stockings, and how the mouths of the two little mice did water as they saw all sorts of nuts, raisins and big rosy-cheeked apples going in! The toys didn’t interest the mice, as they were longing to get at the things to eat.

“Before long Santa was through and quickly disappeared up the chimney. And then—the mice began their feast. And, oh, what a time they did have! They ate until they could eat no more, and they thought Christmas the finest time of the year, for never before had they seen food still before them which they weren’t hungry for!

“The next morning when the children saw so many nutshells and bits of popcorn lying around they knew that some little mice must have had a party, but they didn’t set a trap, as they thought it was fine that the mice had had a Christmas party too.”

DECEMBER 25: Christmas Morning

“Christmas comes but once a year! Christmas comes but once a year!” shouted the children as they hurried down stairs on Christmas morning. They sat down on the floor as soon as they reached the library. And each one took a stocking which had been hanging in front of the mantelpiece. Every stocking was well filled. And each stocking stuck out queerly so that no one could guess what was in it. After the stockings had been looked at and the oranges and apples had rolled out of the toes, the presents were taken from the tree. Before long they began to feel hungry, for they hadn’t waited to have breakfast first. They ate Santa’s wonderful oranges, and the children’s mother said to their daddy:

“Dear me, I wish I could find such big juicy oranges as Santa Claus does. He’s a better shopper than I am!”

“He’s a wonder,” said Dot and Jimmie and Betty together, and then every one took his or her orange and paraded into the dining-room, singing once more,

“Christmas comes but once a year!”

DECEMBER 26: Santa’s Telescope

“Did you ever hear of Santa Claus’ telescope?” asked daddy. The children shook their heads.

“He has the most wonderful telescope—more wonderful than any other, and he can see through it miles and miles and miles.

“Every Christmas morning he sits at the window at the extreme end of his toy-shop and looks through the telescope. He sees into the different homes and he watches the children as they take their presents and open them, and empty their stockings.

“‘There,’ he said to himself last Christmas, ‘it is just as I thought; little girls will never grow tired of dolls and boys will always like trains.

“‘And they enjoy a good game, too, for the winter evenings. And, ah, I see that boy at his skates! He asked for a pair in his letter to me—that is, he asked for them in six different letters he wrote me. He really can hardly wait to start using them. I do believe he would like it if the floor were suddenly covered with ice!

“‘And how that little girl is hugging her doll! I thought the one I made with the golden curls and the eyes that opened and shut would just about suit her. She told me the kind she wanted in her letter. What a help those letters are! They tell me what they want, and they tell me so many more nice things, too. They tell me how much they are looking forward to my visit, and that they hope I’ll have a Merry Christmas, too. The dear little people! As if I could help but have a Merry Christmas when I look through this telescope and see their smiles! How happy they do look! How their eyes sparkle.

“‘And if ever I see a child scowl or look cross—oh, dear—how sad it does make me! There! I just saw a little girl look very cross because she thinks her brother’s set of soldiers are better than her paper dolls. Oh, that makes me very unhappy!’

“But Santa’s faithful dog, Boy of the North, put his head in Santa’s lap and licked his hands.

“‘Oh, Boy of the North, you will not see me unhappy! I feel happy again. The little girl is not scowling now. Something or some one must have whispered in her ear that it was making me sad!

“‘Now I see a little girl who has been so sick this fall. She has that nice white lamb with the blue ribbon around its neck that I gave her. And how she does love him. What joy it is to have this telescope!’ And again this year Santa will look through his telescope!”

DECEMBER 27: Christmas Letters

Santa Claus was talking to his dog, Boy of the North.

“You see I get so many letters—hundreds and hundreds of letters. I love them so much and I read them many times. But if I kept them I would have to build houses and houses to hold them all. So I have a yearly bonfire, as you know, Boy of the North.

“The ashes from the letters of the children keep me warm all through the long winter months. And in the summer I have to have a fire to help make the toys and to keep us warm. For it’s cold here in the summer too.

“Yes, these ashes are used for the bottom of my fire in my big stove in the toy-shop and in my little house alongside. And I never have any trouble with my fire because it is started with these wonderful letters which keep going until next year. When we put fresh wood on the fire it starts up anew, because at the bottom are these ashes. Only I can have such a fire, so you see what a lucky old chap I am.”

And Santa Claus started the bonfire of the letters children had written to him which made him so happy to read and which kept his fire going all through the year, and Boy of the North wagged his tail as the fire was started.

DECEMBER 28: Homes without Chimneys

“When they began to build these great, big apartment houses, years ago, Santa Claus was on the lookout,” said daddy. ‘Now,’ he said to himself, ‘I must think out a way to get to the children who will live in those big buildings.’

“The people went on building, and they were so interested in watching the floors grow—one went right on top of the other—that they seemed to forget all about Santa Claus and his one trip of the year, which is worth more than anything else that happens.

“And then the people began to build fire-escapes. For they said that when the buildings were so large and there were so many rooms and so many families, they must have a way of getting out in case of fire. And from top to bottom of every building—on every side—they put fire escapes, so that no home was without one.

“‘Well,’ said Santa Claus, as he drove his reindeer over the roofs of the city that night, to see about his Christmas trip, ‘that is something I like! Now I know what to do!’

“So when Santa Claus goes to the city homes where there are no chimneys he leaves his reindeer on the roof, and down he goes on the fire-escape to every single home, and in he gets with his pack. For did you ever know any place locked up so tightly but that there was a way for Santa Claus to get in?

“Oh, yes, Santa Claus visits the cities and the villages and the farms. He just has to do a little differently in some homes than in others. But it makes no difference to him what they may build, for, after all, Santa Claus is Santa Claus, and he always makes a way to visit children every Christmas! For he is the children’s King and he reigns over Christmas Day—the greatest day of all!”

DECEMBER 29: The Barnyard Christmas

“Well, as it was Christmas time,” said daddy, “all the barnyard fowls thought they should play some games, so all joined in. There were the turkey hens, turkey gobblers, peafowls, guinea-hens, roosters, chickens, Mr. and Mrs. Duck and all the little ducks. And after they had finished playing the farmer gave them a regular Christmas time feast which made them full of the joyous Christmas spirit of happiness—as well as of food!”

DECEMBER 30: Ambitions

“Do you know what ambition means?” asked daddy. “I think it means to want to get on,” said Jack. “Isn’t there a word called ambitious? And when a person is spoken of as ambitious it means that person wants to get on and improve and all.”

“Right,” said daddy. “That’s fine. That saves me all the trouble of explaining, too.”

“It was nearing the New Year,” daddy said, “and Billie Brownie was going around calling one evening. The Dreamland King promised to help him. So he called on a little boy.

“‘How are you this fine evening?’ Billie Brownie asked the little boy, whose name, by the way, was Jasper.

“‘I am thinking of what I am going to do when I am big,’ said Jasper. ‘I have great ambitions.’

“‘Gracious,’ said Billie Brownie, ‘that does sound noble.’

“‘Would you like to hear them?’ asked Jasper.

“‘Enormously,’ said Billie Brownie.

“‘Well,’ said Jasper, ‘when I grow up I want to be very famous. I want to be praised more than anything. Oh, Billie Brownie, I want to write great stories and books and have every one say that I’m greater than Shakespeare. I want to write great plays and have audiences rise to their feet and cheer and cheer. I want to play in concerts and have signs go up which say that all the seats are sold and that there is only standing room.

“‘I want to be so popular that I’ll never have to pay for anything, but others will always be honored to treat me. I want some day to make a great speech and have the policemen called out to keep back the crowds who would hear me. I would like to be a great singer and have crowds stand in the rain waiting in line to get tickets. And I’d like to be a tight-rope walker in a circus and have people admire me.

“‘I’d like to have long hair and have folks think me clever without having to say a word. I’d like to own a big automobile and I’d like to act in a show where all I’d have to do would be to smile and folks would think me grand.’

“‘Well, well,’ said Billie Brownie. ‘Anything else?’

“‘Yes,’ said Jasper, ‘I’d like to make a great deal of money and have a fine job and not have to work at all.’

“‘In fact,’ said Billie Brownie, ‘you’d like to be famous and rich and admired without doing a thing yourself! Well, well, Jasper, your ideas are all mixed up. You haven’t ambitions. You’re just greedy, I fear. And if I were you, I’d think a while and make a New Year’s resolution that I’d be good and kind and work hard and make myself worth while rather than rich. And when you’ve tried what fun it is to work hard and play hard and be kind, you’ll find how happy you are. And happiness is greater than fame. Billie Brownie knows!’”

DECEMBER 31: Little Pitchers

Fairy Grant-Your-Wishes was calling on a little girl named Janet on New Year’s Eve after Janet was in bed and asleep. For the Dreamland King had arranged this.

“I have come to grant your wishes,” the Fairy said.

“Then I wish,” said Janet, “that my mother and daddy would know that it hurts me dreadfully when they say that ‘little pitchers have big ears.’ I feel so much in the way then. And when people come to visit and say that ‘children should be seen and not heard,’ and ‘I used to know you when you were so high.’ Oh, dear, I wish they wouldn’t say such things.”

“I’ll tell you what I’ll do,” the Fairy said, “I will ask the Dreamland King to tell your mother and daddy that it hurts you to be told these things. And I will get the Dreamland King to tell as many other people as he can, too. And he will send his messengers right out by the direct route from Dreamland to Grown-up-Land.”

THE END