Chapter I: Front Matter

THE STORY OF SANTA KLAUS

From Thomas Nast’s “Christmas Drawings for the Human Race.”

Copyright 1889 by Harper and Brothers.]

THE STORY OF SANTA KLAUS

TOLD FOR CHILDREN OF ALL
AGES FROM SIX TO SIXTY

BY
WILLIAM S. WALSH

AND ILLUSTRATED BY ARTISTS OF ALL AGES
FROM FRA ANGELICO TO HENRY HUTT

NEW YORK
MOFFAT, YARD AND COMPANY
1909

Copyright, 1909, by
WILLIAM S. WALSH
NEW YORK

Published October, 1909

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. WHO IS SANTA KLAUS 13

II. STRANGE ADVENTURES OF THE SAINT’S BODY 39

III. CHRIST-KINKLE AND CHRIST-KINDLEIN 50

IV. THE EVOLUTION OF CHRISTMAS 58

V. SILENUS, SATURN, THOR 69

VI. A TERRIBLE CHRISTMAS IN OLD FRANCE 80

VII. THE CHRISTMAS TREE IN LEGEND 90

VIII. THE CHRISTMAS TREE IN HISTORY 99

IX. THE CHRISTMAS TREE IN EUROPE 109

X. THE CHRISTMAS TREE IN ENGLAND AND AMERICA 118

XI. THE STORY OF THE THREE KINGS 124

XII. SOME TWELFTH NIGHT CUSTOMS 151

XIII. ST. NICHOLAS IN ENGLAND 158

XIV. FATHER CHRISTMAS AND HIS FAMILY 165

XV. PANTOMIME IN THE PAST AND PRESENT 185

XVI. SAINT NICHOLAS IN EUROPE 194

XVII. SAINT NICHOLAS IN AMERICA 214

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

Merry Christmas to all! _Frontispiece_

St. Nicholas as the patron saint of children 15

The Consecration of St. Nicholas 19

St. Nicholas and the three maidens 23

St. Nicholas resuscitating the schoolboys 27

Bishop Nicholas 31

St. Nicholas of Bari 35

Heads of the Christ-child 41

The Christ-child surrounded by angels 47

“Suffer little children to come unto me” 51

Christ the giver 55

Christmas presents 59

Saturn, the God of Time 63

Silenus and Fauns 71

Santa Claus and his young friends 73

Carrying home the Christmas dinner 77

The Feast of the Passover 81

The Adoration of the Lamb 87

Luther and the Christmas tree 101

Christmas tree of the English royal family 111

On the way to Bethlehem 125

The Three Kings visit Herod 129

The Journey of the Three Kings 133

The Arrival of the Three Kings 137

The Adoration of the Magi (1) 141

The Adoration of the Magi (2) 145

The Adoration of the Three Kings 149

The Child’s Twelfth Night Dream 153

Father Christmas 167

Father Christmas (another conception) 171

The Old and the New Christmas 175

Bringing in Old Christmas 179

The Christmas Waits 183

Jongleurs announcing the birth of our Lord 187

Going to the Pantomime 191

Mute admiration 195

Santa Klaus comes to grief on an automobile 199

“No, I don’t believe in you any more” 203

Santa Klaus 207

Santa Klaus up in a balloon 211

New Year’s gifts in a French workingman’s family 215

French children gazing up the chimney for gifts 219

Silenus and Bacchus 223

The bambino 225

Santa Klaus on New Year’s eve 227

The investigating committee 229

St. Nicholas unveils 231

THE STORY OF SANTA KLAUS