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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/25896-h.zip b/25896-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c751609 --- /dev/null +++ b/25896-h.zip diff --git a/25896-h/25896-h.htm b/25896-h/25896-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..749fc95 --- /dev/null +++ b/25896-h/25896-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2945 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" +"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> +<title> +The Project Gutenberg eBook of Tommy Trot’s Visit to Santa Claus, by Thomas Nelson Page +</title> + +<style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p {margin-top: 0.5em; text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.5em;} + body {margin-left: 11%; margin-right: 10%;} + a {text-decoration: none;} + h3 {text-align:center; font-weight: normal; font-size: 1.4em} + div.ce p {text-align: center; margin: auto 0;} + .figcenter {margin: 2em auto 2em auto; text-align: center;} + .caption {font-size:.8em} + hr.tb {width: 35%; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; border:none; border-bottom:1px solid black; clear:both;} + .pagenum {display: inline; font-size: x-small; text-align: right; position: absolute; right: 2%; padding: 1px 3px; font-style: normal; font-variant:normal; font-weight:normal; text-decoration: none; color: silver; background-color: inherit; border:1px solid #eee;} + hr.silver {width: 100%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em; border:none; border-bottom:1px solid silver;} + h2 {text-align:center; font-weight: normal; font-size: 1.6em} +// --> +/* XML end ]]>*/ +</style> + +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's Tommy Trots Visit to Santa Claus, by Thomas Nelson Page + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Tommy Trots Visit to Santa Claus + +Author: Thomas Nelson Page + +Illustrator: Victor C. Anderson + +Release Date: June 25, 2008 [EBook #25896] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TOMMY TROTS VISIT TO SANTA CLAUS *** + + + + +Produced by David Edwards, Ronnie Sahlberg, Joseph Cooper, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class='figcenter'> +<img src='images/cover.jpg' width='400' height='558' alt='' title='' /><br /> +<span class='caption'> + +<br /> +</span> +</div> + +<hr class='silver' /> + +<div class='ce' style=' font-size:1.6em;'> +<p>TOMMY TROT’S VISIT</p> +<p>TO</p> +<p>SANTA CLAUS</p> +</div> + +<hr class='silver' /> + +<table style="border: double; border-spacing: 40px 0px; width:500px; margin: 2em auto 2em auto;" summary="Book titles"> + +<tr> +<td colspan="2"> +<p style="font-size:1.5em; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0.5em; text-align:center;">BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS</p> + +<p style="font-size:1.5em; margin-top:0.5em; margin-bottom:1em; text-align:center;">BY THOMAS NELSON PAGE</p> + +<p style="font-size:1.0em; margin-bottom:2.5em; text-align:center;"> +<span style="font-variant: small-caps">Published by CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS</span>. +</p> +</td> +</tr> + + +<tr> +<td> +<p style="font-size:1em; margin-bottom:1em; padding-left: 1em;"> +Tommy Trot’s Visit to Santa Claus.<br /> +<span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Illustrated in color</span></p> +</td> + +<td> +<p style="font-size:1em; margin-bottom:1em; text-align: right; padding-right: 1em;"> +<br /> +$1.50</p> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +<p style="font-size:1em; margin-bottom:1em; padding-left: 1em;"> +Santa Claus’s Partner<br /> +<span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Illustrated in color</span></p> +</td> + +<td> +<p style="font-size:1em; margin-bottom:1em; text-align: right; padding-right: 1em;"> +<br /> +$1.50</p> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +<p style="font-size:1em; margin-bottom:1em; padding-left: 1em;"> +A Captured Santa Claus<br /> +<span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Illustrated in color</span></p> +</td> + +<td> +<p style="font-size:1em; margin-bottom:1em; text-align: right; padding-right: 1em;"> +<br /> +$ .75</p> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +<p style="font-size:1em; margin-bottom:1em; padding-left: 1em;"> +Among the Camps. Illustrated</p> +</td> + +<td> +<p style="font-size:1em; margin-bottom:1em; text-align: right; padding-right: 1em;"> +$1.50</p> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +<p style="font-size:1em; margin-bottom:1em; padding-left: 1em;"> +Two Little Confederates. Illustrated</p> +</td> + +<td> +<p style="font-size:1em; margin-bottom:1em; text-align: right; padding-right: 1em;"> +$1.50</p> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +<p style="font-size:1em; margin-bottom:1em; padding-left: 1em;"> +The Page Story Book. Illustrated</p> +</td> + +<td> +<p style="font-size:1em; margin-bottom:1em; text-align: right; padding-right: 1em;"> +$ .50</p></td> +</tr> + +</table> + +<hr class='silver' /> + +<div class='figcenter'> +<a name='linki_1' id='linki_1'></a> +<img src='images/c001.jpg' width='400' height='590' alt='' title='' /><br /> +<span class='caption'> +As wide awake as a boy could be who had made up his mind<br /> +to keep awake until midnight. +<br /> +</span> +</div> + +<hr class='silver' /> + +<div class='ce'> +<p style=' font-size:2em; margin-top:1em;'>TOMMY TROT’S VISIT</p> +<p style=' font-size:1.5em; margin-top:0.5em;'>TO</p> +<p style=' font-size:2em; margin-top:0.5em;'>SANTA CLAUS</p> +<div style='margin-top:1em'></div> +<p style=' font-size:0.8em; margin-top:4em;'>BY</p> +<div style='margin-top:1em'></div> +<p style=' font-size:1.5em; margin-top:0.5em;'>THOMAS NELSON PAGE</p> +<div style='margin-top:1em'></div> +<p style=' font-size:0.8em; margin-top:1em;'>ILLUSTRATED BY</p> +<p style=' font-size:1.0em; margin-top:0.5em;'>VICTOR C. ANDERSON</p> +</div> + +<div class='figcenter'> +<img src='images/g001.jpg' width='150' height='142' alt='' title='' /><br /> +<span class='caption'> + +<br /> +</span> +</div> + +<div class='ce'> +<p style=' font-size:1.0em; margin-top:2em;'>NEW YORK</p> +<p style=' font-size:1.0em; margin-top:0.25em;'>CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS</p> +<p style=' font-size:1.0em; margin-top:0.25em;'>1908</p> +</div> + +<hr class='silver' /> + +<div class='ce'> +<p>1908, <span style='font-variant: small-caps'>By</span></p> +<p>CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS</p> +<div style='margin-top:1em'></div> +<p>Published October 1908</p> +</div> + +<div class='figcenter'> +<img src='images/g002.jpg' width='100' height='111' alt='' title='' /><br /> +<span class='caption'> + +<br /> +</span> +</div> + +<hr class='silver' /> + +<div class='ce'> +<p>TO</p> +<p>THE GREATEST LOVER OF CHILDREN</p> +<p>THE AUTHOR HAS EVER KNOWN</p> +<p>AND TO THE CHILDREN SHE LOVES</p> +<p>BEST IN ALL THE WORLD</p> +</div> + +<hr class='silver' /> + +<div class='ce'> +<p style=' font-size:larger; margin-bottom:1em;'><a name='illus' id='illus'>ILLUSTRATIONS</a></p> +</div> + +<p style='line-height: 1'> </p> + +<table border='0' width='500' cellpadding='2' cellspacing='0' summary='Contents' style='margin:1em auto'> +<col style='width:80%;' /> +<col style='width:20%;' /> +<tr> + <td></td> + <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>PAGE</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='left'>As wide awake as a boy could be who had made up his mind to keep awake until midnight.</td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_1'>Frontispiece</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='left'>Tommy had never before had any real coasting like this.</td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_2'>10</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='left'>They flew on, over fields of white snow.</td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_3'>43</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='left'>“Look, Look! The captain has lent that little boy his ‘Seven Leaguers.’”</td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_4'>54</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='left'>What was their horror to find that they both had forgotten to load their guns.</td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_5'>84</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='left'>Santa Claus said to him, “I want to put Johnny in bed without waking him up.”</td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_6'>93</a></td> +</tr> +</table> +<hr class='silver' /> + +<div class='figcenter'> +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_1' name='page_1'></a>1</span> +<img src='images/g003.jpg' width='400' height='240' alt='' title='' /><br /> +</div> + +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='TOMMY_TROT_S_VISIT_TO_SANTA_CLAUS_I' id='TOMMY_TROT_S_VISIT_TO_SANTA_CLAUS_I'></a> +<h2>TOMMY TROT’S VISIT TO SANTA CLAUS</h2> +<h3>I</h3> +</div> + +<p>The little boy whose story is told here +lived in the beautiful country of +“Once upon a Time.” His name, as I +heard it, was Tommy Trot; but I think +that, maybe, this was only a nick-name. +When he was about your age, he had, on +Christmas Eve, the wonderful adventure +of seeing Santa Claus in his own country, +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_2' name='page_2'></a>2</span> +where he lives and makes all the beautiful +things that boys and girls get at Christmas. +In fact, he not only went to see +him in his own wonderful city away up +toward the North Pole, where the snow +never melts and the Aurora lightens up the +sky; but he and his friend, Johnny Stout, +went with dogs and guns to hunt the great +polar bear whose skin afterwards always lay +in front of the big library fireplace in +Tommy’s home. +</p> +<p>This is the way it all happened. +</p> +<p>Tommy lived in a big house on top of +quite a high hill, not far from a town which +could be seen clearly from the front portico +and windows. Around the house was a large +lawn with trees and shrubbery in it, and at +the back was a big lot, in one corner of which +stood the stables and barns, while on the other +side sloped down a long steep hill to a little +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_3' name='page_3'></a>3</span> +stream bordered with willows and maples +and with a tract of woodland beyond. This +lot was known as the “cow-pasture,” and +the woodland was known as the “wood-lot,” +while yet beyond was a field which +Peake, the farmer, always spoke of as the +“big field.” On the other side of the cow-lot, +where the stables stood, was a road +which ran down the hill and across the +stream and beyond the woods, and on the +other side of this road near the bottom of the +hill was the little house in which lived Johnny +Stout and his mother. They had no fields or +lots, but only a backyard in which there were +chickens and pigeons and, in the Fall, just +before Tommy’s visit to Santa Claus, two +white goats, named “Billy” and “Carry,” +which Johnny had broken and used to drive +to a little rough wagon which he had made +himself out of a box set on four wheels. +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_4' name='page_4'></a>4</span></p> +<p>Tommy had no brothers or sisters, and +the only cousins he had in town were little +girls younger than himself, to whom he +had to “give up” when any one was +around, so he was not as fond of them as +he should have been; and Sate, his dog, +a terrier of temper and humours, was about +his only real playmate. He used to play +by himself and he was often very lonely, +though he had more toys than any other boy +he knew. In fact, he had so many toys that +he was unable to enjoy any one of them very +long, and after having them a little while he +usually broke them up. He used to enjoy the +stories which his father read to him out of +Mother Goose and the fairy-books and +the tales he told him of travellers and +hunters who had shot lions and bears and +Bengal tigers; but when he grew tired of this, +he often wished he could go out in the street +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_5' name='page_5'></a>5</span> +and play all the time like Johnny Stout and +some of the other boys. Several times he +slipped out into the road beyond the cow-lot +to try to get a chance to play with +Johnny who was only about a year older +than he, but could do so many things +which Tommy could not do that he quite +envied him. It was one of the proudest +days of his life when Johnny let him come +over and drive his goats, and when he went +home that evening, although he was quite +cold, he was so full of having driven them +that he could not think or talk of anything +else, and when Christmas drew near, one of +the first things he wrote to ask Santa Claus +for, when he put the letter in the library fire, +was a wagon and a pair of goats. Even his +father’s statement that he feared he was too +small yet for Santa Claus to bring him such +things, did not wholly dampen his hope. +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_6' name='page_6'></a>6</span></p> +<p>He even began to dream of being able to +go out some time and join the bigger boys +in coasting down the long hill on the other +side from Johnny Stout’s, for though his +father and mother thought he was still +rather small to do this, his father had promised +that he might do it sometime, and +Tommy thought “sometime” would be +after his next birthday. When the heavy +snow fell just before Christmas he began +to be sorry that he had broken up the sled +Santa Claus had given him the Christmas +before. In fact, Tommy had never wanted a +sled so much as he did the afternoon two days +before Christmas, when he persuaded his +father to take him out again to the coasting +hill to see the boys coasting. There were +all sorts of sleds: short sleds and long sleds, +bob-sleds and flexible fliers. They held +one, two, three, and sometimes even half a +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_7' name='page_7'></a>7</span> +dozen boys and girls—for there were girls, +too—all shouting and laughing as they went +flying down the hill, some sitting and some +lying down, but all flying and shouting, and +none taking the least notice of Tommy. +Sate made them take notice of him; for he +would rush out after the sleds, barking just +as if they had been cats, and several times +he got bowled over—once, indeed, he got +tangled up in the string of a sled and was +dragged squealing with fright down the +hill. Suddenly, however, Tommy gave a +jump. Among the sleds flying by, most of +them painted red, and very fine looking, +was a plain, unpainted one, and lying full +length upon it, on his stomach, with his +heels high in the air, was Johnny Stout, +with a red comforter around his neck, and +a big cap pulled down over his ears. Tommy +knew him at once. +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_8' name='page_8'></a>8</span></p> +<p>“Look, father, look!” he cried, pointing; +but Johnny’s sled was far down the hill +before his father could see him. A few +minutes later he came trudging up the hill +again and, seeing Tommy, ran across and +asked him if he would like to have a ride. +Tommy’s heart bounded, but sank within +him again when his father said, “I am +afraid he is rather little.” +</p> +<p>“Oh! I’ll take care of him, sir,” said +Johnny, whose cheeks were glowing. Tommy +began to jump up and down. +</p> +<p>“Please, father, please,” he urged. His +father only smiled. +</p> +<p>“Why, you are not so very big yourself,” +he said to Johnny. +</p> +<p>“Big enough to take care of him,” said +Johnny. +</p> +<p>“Why, father, he’s awful big,” chimed +in Tommy. +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_9' name='page_9'></a>9</span></p> +<p>“Do you think so?” laughed his father. +He turned to Johnny. “What is your name?” +</p> +<p>“Johnny, sir. I live down below your +house.” He pointed across toward his +own home. +</p> +<p>“I know him,” said Tommy proudly. “He +has got goats and he let me drive them.” +</p> +<p>“Yes, he can drive,” said Johnny, condescendingly, +with a nod, and Tommy was +proud of his praise. His father looked at him. +</p> +<p>“Is your sled strong?” he asked. +</p> +<p>“Yes, sir. I made it myself,” said +Johnny, and he gave the sled a good kick +to show how strong it was. +</p> +<p>“All right,” said Tommy’s father. They +followed Johnny to the top of the slide, +and Tommy got on in front and his father +tucked his coat in. +</p> +<p>“Hold on and don’t be afraid,” he said. +</p> +<p>“Afraid!” said Tommy contemptuously. +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_10' name='page_10'></a>10</span> +Just then Johnny, with a whoop and a +push which almost upset Tommy, flung +himself on behind and away they went down +the hill, as Johnny said, “just ski-uting.” +</p> +<p>Tommy had had sledding in his own +yard; but he had never before had any +real coasting like this, and he had never +dreamed before of anything like the thrill +of dashing down that long hill, flying like +the wind, with Johnny on behind, yelling +“Look out!” to every one, and guiding so +that the sled tore in and out among the +others, and at the foot of the hill actually +turned around the curve and went far on +down the road. +</p> +<p>“You’re all right,” said Johnny, and +Tommy had never felt prouder. His only +regret was that the hill did not tilt up the +other way so that they could coast back instead +of having to trudge back on foot. +</p> +<div class='figcenter'> +<a name='linki_2' id='linki_2'></a> +<img src='images/c002.jpg' width='400' height='599' alt='' title='' /><br /> +<span class='caption'> +Tommy had never before had any real coasting like this. +<br /> +</span> +</div> + +<div><span class='pagenum'><a id='page_11' name='page_11'></a>11</span></div> +<p>When they got back again to the top of +the hill, Tommy’s father wanted to know +if they had had enough, but Tommy told +him he never could have enough. So they +coasted down again and again, until at +length his father thought they had better +be going home, and Johnny said he had to +go home, too, “to help his mother.” +</p> +<p>“How do you help?” asked Tommy’s +father, as they started off. +</p> +<p>“Oh, just little ways,” said Johnny. +“I get wood—and split it up—and go to +Mr. Bucket’s and get her things for her—draw +water and feed the cow, when we had +a cow—we ain’t got a cow now since our +cow died—and—oh—just a few little things +like that.” +</p> +<p>Tommy’s father made no reply, and +Tommy, himself, was divided between wonder +that Johnny could call all that work +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_12' name='page_12'></a>12</span> +“just a few little things,” and shame that +he should say, “ain’t got,” which he, himself, +had been told he must never say. +</p> +<p>His father, however, presently asked, +“Who is Mr. Bucket?” +</p> +<p>“Don’t you know Mr. Bucket?” said +Johnny. “He keeps that grocery on Hill +Street. He gave me the box I made this +old thing out of.” +</p> +<p>“Oh,” said Tommy’s father, and turned +and looked the sled over again. +</p> +<p>“What was the matter with your cow?” +asked Tommy. +</p> +<p>“Broke her leg—right here,” and Johnny +pulled up his trousers and showed just +where the leg was broken below the knee. +“The doctor said she must be killed, and so +she was; but Mr. Bucket said he could have +saved her if the ’Siety would’ve let him. +He’d ’a just swung her up until she got well.” +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_13' name='page_13'></a>13</span></p> +<p>“How?” asked Tommy, much interested. +</p> +<p>“What Society?” asked his father. +</p> +<p>Johnny answered the last question first. +“‘Pervention of Cruelty,’” he said, shortly. +</p> +<p>“Oh,” said Tommy’s father. +</p> +<p>“I know how she broke her leg,” said +Johnny. +</p> +<p>“How did she break her leg?” inquired +Tommy. +</p> +<p>“A boy done it. I know him and I know +he done it, and some day I’m going to catch +him when he ain’t looking for me.” +</p> +<p>“You have not had a cow since?” inquired +Tommy’s father. “Then you do +not have to go and drive her up and milk +her when the weather is cold?” +</p> +<p>“Oh, I would not mind that,” said +Johnny cheerily. “I’d drive her up if the +weather was as cold as Greenland, and +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_14' name='page_14'></a>14</span> +milk her, too, so I had her. I used to love +to feed her and I didn’t mind carryin’ milk +around; for I used to get money for it for +my mother to buy things with; but now, +since that boy broke her leg and the ’Siety +killed her——” +</p> +<p>He did not say what there was since; he +just stopped talking and presently Tommy’s +father said: “You do not have so +much money since?” +</p> +<p>“No, sir!” said Johnny, “and my mother +has to work a heap harder, you see.” +</p> +<p>“And you work too?” +</p> +<p>“Some,” said Johnny. “I sell papers +and clean off the sidewalk when there is +snow to clean off, and run errands for Mr. +Bucket and do a few things. Well, I’ve +got to go along,” he added, “I’ve got some +things to do now. I was just trying this old +sled over on the hill to see how she would +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_15' name='page_15'></a>15</span> +go. I’ve got some work to do now”; and +he trotted off, whistling and dragging his +sled behind him. +</p> +<p>As Tommy and his father turned into +their grounds, his father asked, “Where did +he say he lived?” +</p> +<p>“Wait, I’ll show you,” said Tommy, +proud of his knowledge. “Down there +[pointing]. See that little house down in +the bottom, away over beyond the cow-pasture?” +</p> +<p>“How do you know he lives there?” +</p> +<p>“Because I’ve been there. He’s got +goats,” said Tommy, “and he let me drive +them. I wish I had some goats. I wish +Santa Claus would bring me two goats +like Johnny’s.” +</p> +<p>“Which would you rather have? Goats +or a cow?” asked his father. +</p> +<p>“Goats,” said Tommy, promptly. +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_16' name='page_16'></a>16</span></p> +<p>“I wonder if Johnny would!” laughed his +father. +</p> +<p>“Father, where is Greenland?” said +Tommy, presently. +</p> +<p>“A country away up at the North—away +up in that direction.” His father pointed +far across the cow-pasture, which lay shining +in the evening light. “I must show it +to you on the map.” +</p> +<p>“Is it very cold there?” asked Tommy. +</p> +<p>“Very cold in winter.” +</p> +<p>“Colder than this?” +</p> +<p>“Oh, yes, because it is so far north that +the sun never gets up in winter to warm +it, and away up there the winter is just +one long night and the summer one long +day.” +</p> +<p>“Why, that’s where Santa Claus comes +from,” said Tommy. “Do people live up +there?” +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_17' name='page_17'></a>17</span></p> +<p>“People called Eskimos,” said his father, +“who live by fishing and hunting.” +</p> +<p>“Tell me about them,” said Tommy. +“What do they hunt?” +</p> +<p>“Bears,” said his father, “polar bears—and +walrus—and seals—and——” +</p> +<p>“Oh, tell me about them,” said Tommy, +eagerly. +</p> +<p>So, as they walked along, his father told +him of the strange little, flat-faced people, +who live all winter in houses made of ice +and snow and hunted on the ice-floes for +polar bears and seals and walrus, and in the +summer got in their little kiaks and paddled +around, hunting for seals and walrus with +their arrows and harpoons, on the “pans” +or smooth ice, where every family of +“harps” or seals have their own private +door, gnawed down through the ice with +their teeth. +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_18' name='page_18'></a>18</span></p> +<p>“I wish I could go there,” said Tommy, +his eyes gazing across the long, white glistening +fields with the dark border of the +woodland beyond and the rich saffron of +the winter sky above the tree-tops stretching +across in a border below the steelly +white of the upper heavens. +</p> +<p>“What would you do?” asked his father. +</p> +<p>“Hunt polar bears,” said Tommy +promptly. “I’d get one most as big as the +library, so mother could give you the skin; +because I heard her say she would like to +have one in front of the library fire, and the +only way she could get one would be to give +it to you for Christmas.” +</p> +<p>His father laughed. “All right, get a big +one.” +</p> +<p>“You will have to give me a gun. A +real gun that will shoot. A big one—so +big.” Tommy measured with his arms out +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_19' name='page_19'></a>19</span> +straight. “Bigger than that. And I tell +you what I would do. I would get Johnny +and we would hitch his goats to the sled +and drive all the way up there and hunt +polar bears, and I’d hunt for sealskins, too, +so you could give mother a coat. I heard +her say she wanted you to give her one. +Wouldn’t it be fine if I could get a great big +bearskin and a sealskin, too! I wish I had +Johnny’s goats!” +</p> +<p>“You must have dogs up there to draw +your sled,” said his father. +</p> +<p>“All right! After I got there I would get +Santa Claus to give me some,” said Tommy. +“But you give me the gun.” +</p> +<p>His father laughed again. “Well, maybe—some +day,” said he. +</p> +<p>“‘Some day’ is too far away,” said +Tommy. “I want to go now.” +</p> +<p>“Not so far away when you are my +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_20' name='page_20'></a>20</span> +age,” said his father smiling. “Ah, there +is where the North Star is,” he said, pointing. +“You cannot see it yet. I will show +it to you later, so you can steer by it.” +</p> +<p>“That is the way Santa Claus comes,” +said Tommy, his eyes on the Northern +sky. “I am going to wait for him tomorrow +night.” +</p> +<p>“You know he does not bring things to +boys who keep awake!” +</p> +<p>“I know; but I won’t let him see me.” +</p> +<p>As they trudged along Tommy suddenly +asked, “Don’t you wish, Father, Santa Claus +would bring Johnny a cow for his mother?” +</p> +<p>“Why, yes,” said his father. +</p> +<p>“Like Cowslip or Rose or even old +Crumpled Horn?” +</p> +<p>“Like our cows!” echoed his father, absently. +“Why, yes.” +</p> +<p>“Because they are all fine cows, you +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_21' name='page_21'></a>21</span> +know. Peake says so, and Peake knows +a good cow,” said Tommy, proud of his +intimacy with the farmer. “I tell you +what I am going to do when I get home,” +he declared. “I am going to write another +letter to Santa Claus and put it in the chimney +and ask him to send Johnny a whole +lot of things: a cow and a gun and all sorts +of things. Do you think it’s too late for him +to get it now?” +</p> +<p>“I don’t know. It is pretty late,” said +his father. “Why didn’t you ask him to +send these things to Johnny when you +wrote your other letter?” +</p> +<p>“I did not think of it,” said Tommy, +frankly. “I forgot him.” +</p> +<p>“Do you ask only for yourself?” +</p> +<p>“No. For little Sis and Mother and +Peake and one other, but I’m not going to +tell you who he is.” +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_22' name='page_22'></a>22</span></p> +<p>His father smiled. “Not Johnny?” +</p> +<p>“No,” said Tommy. “I forgot him.” +</p> +<p>“I am afraid I did, too,” said his father +slowly. “Well, write another and try. +You can never tell. Trying is better than +crying.” +</p> +<p>This was two days before Christmas. +And the next afternoon Tommy went again +with his father to the coasting-hill to see +the boys and once more take a coast with +Johnny. But no Johnny was there and no +other boy asked Tommy if he wanted a ride. +So, they returned home much disappointed, +his father telling him more about the Eskimos +and the polar bears. But, just as they +were turning the corner before reaching the +gate which led into their grounds, they +came on Johnny struggling along through +the snow, under the weight of a big basket +full of bundles. At sight of them he swung +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_23' name='page_23'></a>23</span> +the basket down in the snow with a loud, +“Whew, that’s heavy! I tell you.” Tommy +ran forward to meet him. +</p> +<p>“We have been looking for you,” he said. +</p> +<p>“I could not go to-day,” explained +Johnny. “I had to work. I am working +for Mr. Bucket to-day to make some money +to buy Christmas things.” +</p> +<p>“How much do you make?” asked +Tommy’s father. +</p> +<p>“Half a dollar to-day, if I work late. I +generally make ten cents, sometimes fifteen.” +</p> +<p>“That is a pretty heavy load—in the +snow,” said Tommy’s father, as Johnny +stooped and swung his basket up on his hip. +</p> +<p>“Oh, I can manage it,” said the boy, +cheerfully. “A boy stole my sled last night, +or I would carry it on that.” +</p> +<p>“Stole your sled!” cried Tommy. +</p> +<p>“Yes, I left it outside the door when I +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_24' name='page_24'></a>24</span> +was getting my load to put on, and when I +came out it was gone. I wish I could +catch him.” +</p> +<p>“I am going to watch for him, too,” said +Tommy. +</p> +<p>“If I had a box I could make another +one,” said Johnny. “Maybe, Mr. Bucket +will give me one after Christmas. He said +maybe he would. Then I will give you another +ride.” He called over his shoulder to +them, as he trudged off, “Well, good-by. +I hope you will have a merry Christmas, +and that Santa Claus will bring you lots of +things,” and away he trudged. They wished +him a merry Christmas, too, and then turned +into their grounds. +</p> +<p>“Father,” said Tommy, suddenly, “let’s +give Johnny a sled.” +</p> +<p>“Yes,” said his father, “you might give +him yours—the one you got last Christmas.” +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_25' name='page_25'></a>25</span></p> +<p>“I haven’t got it now. It’s gone,” said +Tommy. +</p> +<p>“Did some one take it—like Johnny’s?” +</p> +<p>“No, I broke it,” said Tommy, crestfallen. +</p> +<p>“You might mend it?” suggested his +father. +</p> +<p>“I broke it all up,” said Tommy, sadly. +</p> +<p>“Ah, that is a pity,” said his father. +</p> +<p>Tommy was still thinking. +</p> +<p>“Father, why can’t I give him a box?” +he said. “The basement and the wood-shed +are full of big boxes.” +</p> +<p>“Why not give him the one I gave you +a few days ago?” +</p> +<p>“I broke it up, too,” said Tommy shamefacedly. +</p> +<p>“Oh,” said his father. “That’s a pity. +Johnny could have made a sled out of it.” +Tommy felt very troubled, and he began +to think what he might do. +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_26' name='page_26'></a>26</span></p> +<p>“If you will give me another, I will give +it to Johnny,” he said presently. +</p> +<p>“Why, I’ll tell you what I will do,” said +his father. “I will furnish the box if you +will carry it over to Johnny’s home.” +</p> +<p>“All right. I will do it,” said Tommy +promptly. So as soon as they reached +home Tommy dived down into the basement +and soon came out, puffing and blowing, +dragging along with him a big box as +high as his head. +</p> +<p>“I am afraid that is too big for you to +carry,” suggested his father. +</p> +<p>“Oh, I will make Richard carry it.” +</p> +<p>“Richard is my servant, not yours,” said +his father. “Besides, you were to carry it +yourself.” +</p> +<p>“It is too big for me. The snow is too +deep.” +</p> +<p>“Now, if you had not broken up your +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_27' name='page_27'></a>27</span> +sled you might carry it on that,” said his +father. +</p> +<p>“Yes,” said Tommy sadly. “I wish I +had not broken it up. I’ll be bound that I +don’t break up the next one I get.” +</p> +<p>“That’s a good beginning,” said his +father. “But wishing alone will never do +anything, not even if you had the magical +wishing-cap I read you about. You must +not only wish; you must help yourself. +Now, Johnny would make a sled out of +that box.” +</p> +<p>“I wish I could,” said Tommy. “I +would try if I had some tools. I wish I had +some tools.” +</p> +<p>“What tools would you need?” +</p> +<p>Tommy thought a minute. “Why, a hammer +and some nails.” +</p> +<p>“A hammer and nails would hardly +make a sled by themselves.” +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_28' name='page_28'></a>28</span></p> +<p>“Why, no. I wish I had a saw, too.” +</p> +<p>“I thought Santa Claus brought you all +these tools last Christmas?” suggested his +father. +</p> +<p>“He did; but I lost them,” said Tommy. +</p> +<p>“Did you ever hunt for them?” +</p> +<p>“Some. I have hunted for the hammer.” +</p> +<p>“Well, suppose you hunt again. Look +everywhere. If you find any I might lend +you the others. You might look in my +lumber room.” Tommy ran off and soon +returned with a hammer and some nails +which he had found, and a few minutes later +his father brought a saw and a hatchet, +and they selected a good box, which +Tommy could drag out, and put it in the +back hall. +</p> +<p>“Now,” said Tommy, “what shall we +do next?” +</p> +<p>“That is for you to say,” said his father. +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_29' name='page_29'></a>29</span> +“Johnny does not ask that question. He +thinks for himself.” +</p> +<p>“Well, we must knock this box to pieces,” +said Tommy. +</p> +<p>“I think so, too,” assented his father. +“Very carefully, so as not to split the +boards.” +</p> +<p>“Yes, very carefully,” said Tommy, and +he began to hammer. The nails, however, +were in very tight and there was a strip of +iron along each of the edges, through which +they were driven, so it was hard work; but +when Tommy really tried and could not +get the boards off, his father helped him, +and soon the strips were off and the boards +quickly followed. +</p> +<p>“Now what shall we do?” asked his +father. +</p> +<p>“Why, we must make the sled.” +</p> +<p>“Yes—but how?” +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_30' name='page_30'></a>30</span></p> +<p>“Why, we must have runners and then +the top to sit on. That’s all.” +</p> +<p>“Very well. Go ahead,” said his father. +So Tommy picked up two boards and +looked at them. But they were square at +the ends. +</p> +<p>“We must make the runners,” he said +sadly. +</p> +<p>“That’s so,” said his father. +</p> +<p>“Will you saw them for me?” asked +Tommy. +</p> +<p>“Yes, if you will show me where to saw.” +Tommy pondered. +</p> +<p>“Wait,” he said, and he ran off, and in a +moment came back with a picture of a sled +in a magazine. “Now make it this way,” +he said, showing his father how he should +saw the edges. +</p> +<p>He was surprised to see how well his +father could do this, and his admiration for +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_31' name='page_31'></a>31</span> +him increased as he found that he could +handle the tools quite as well as Peake, the +farmer; and soon the sled began to look +like a real sled with runners, sawed true, +and with cross-pieces for the feet to rest on, +and even with a strip of iron, taken from +the edges of the boxes, carefully nailed on +the bottom of the runners. +</p> +<p>Suddenly Tommy cried, “Father, why +not give Johnny this sled?” +</p> +<p>“The very thing!” exclaimed his father +with a smile. And Tommy felt quite proud +of having suggested it. +</p> +<p>“I wish it had a place to hitch on the +goats,” said Tommy, thoughtfully. +</p> +<p>“Let’s make one,” said his father; and +in a few minutes two holes were bored in +the front of the runners. +</p> +<p>It was now about dusk, and Tommy said +he would like to take the sled down to +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_32' name='page_32'></a>32</span> +Johnny’s house and leave it at his door +where he could find it when he came home +from work, and, maybe, he might think +Santa Claus had brought it. So he and his +father went together, Tommy dragging the +sled and, while his father waited at the +gate, Tommy took the sled and put it in +the yard at the little side-door of Johnny’s +home. As they were going along, he said, +pointing to a small shed-like out-building +at the end of the little yard, “That’s the +cow-house. He keeps his goats there, +too. Don’t you wish Santa Claus would +bring his mother a cow? I don’t see +how he could get down that small chimney!” +he said, gazing at the little flue +which came out of the roof. “I wonder if +he does?” +</p> +<p>“I wonder if he does?” said his father to +himself. +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_33' name='page_33'></a>33</span></p> +<p>When Tommy slipped back again and +found his father waiting for him at the +gate, he thought he had never had so +fine a time in all his life. He determined +to make a sled for somebody every Christmas. +</p> +<div class='figcenter'> +<img src='images/g004.jpg' width='400' height='240' alt='' title='' /><br /> +<span class='caption'> + +<br /> +</span> +</div> + +<hr class='silver' /> + +<div class='figcenter'> +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_34' name='page_34'></a>34</span> +<img src='images/g005.jpg' width='400' height='234' alt='' title='' /><br /> +</div> + +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='II' id='II'></a> +<h2>II</h2> +</div> + +<p>When they reached home Tommy, +after warming his hands and telling +his mother about the sled, set to work +to write a letter to Santa Claus on behalf of +Johnny, and as he wrote, a number of +things came to him that he thought Johnny +would like to have. He remembered that +he had no gloves and that his hands were +very red; that his cap was very old and too +small for him; that a real flexible flier would +be a fine thing for him. Then, as he had +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_35' name='page_35'></a>35</span> +asked for a gun for himself to hunt polar +bears with and a fur coat to go out with in +the snow, he added these in Johnny’s letter +also; in fact, he asked for Johnny just the +things he had asked for himself, except the +goats, and, as Johnny had two goats, it was +not necessary to ask for them for him. Instead +of goats, however, he asked that Santa +Claus might give Johnny’s mother a cow, +as good as one of their cows. As he was +not a very rapid writer it took him some +time to write this letter, especially, as he did +not know how to spell a good many words, +and had to ask his mother how to spell +them, for his father had gone out soon after +their return from taking the sled to Johnny, +and immediately after showing him the +picture of the polar bear and the map of +the North-pole region. Then when the +letter was all done, signed and sealed, +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_36' name='page_36'></a>36</span> +Tommy carefully dropped it in the fire +in the library, and watched it as it first +twisted up, then burst into a blaze, and +finally disappeared in flame and smoke up +the big chimney, hoping that it would blow +away like the wind to Santa Claus to catch +him before he started out that night on his +round of visits. +</p> +<p>By this time his supper was ready and he +found that he was very hungry. He had +no sooner finished it than he drew up in a +big chair by the warm fire, and began to +wonder whether Santa Claus would get his +letter in time, and, if so, what he would bring +Johnny. The fire was warm and his eyes +soon began “to draw straws,” but he did +not wish to go to bed quite yet and, indeed, +had a lingering hope that when his father +returned he might coax him into letting him +go out again and slide with Johnny and +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_37' name='page_37'></a>37</span> +then, perhaps, stand a chance of seeing +Santa Claus come up the long hill, with his +reindeer flying like the wind over the snow +and taking the roofs of the houses with a +single bound. So he moved over to the sofa +where he could see better, and where it +would not be likely his sleepiness would be +observed. +</p> +<p>The last thing he recalled in the sitting-room +was when he parted the heavy curtains +at the foot of the sofa and looked out +at the snow stretching away down the hill +toward the woods, and shining in the light +of the great round moon which had just +come up over the side of the yard to the +eastward. Then he curled up in the corner +of the sofa as wide awake as a boy could be +who had made up his mind to keep awake +until midnight. The next thing he remembered +was Sate jumping up and snuggling +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_38' name='page_38'></a>38</span> +by him, and the next was his father coming +in and telling him Johnny was waiting outside +with his sled and the two goats hitched +to it to take a long ride, and his wrapping +him up carefully in his heavy overcoat. In +a second he was out in the yard and made +a dash for the cow-lot, and there, sure +enough, was Johnny waiting for him at the +gate in the cow-pasture with a curious little +peaked cap on his head and his coat collar +turned up around his chin and tied with a +great red comforter, so that only his eyes +and nose peeped over it. As Tommy had +never seen Johnny with that cap on before, +he asked him where he had got it, and he +said he had swapped caps with a little old +man he had met driving a cow in the road +as he came home. He could not keep this +cap on his head, so Johnny had given him his +in place of it, as it fitted him very well. And +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_39' name='page_39'></a>39</span> +there were the two goats hitched to the very +sled Tommy had made. In a minute they +were on the sled, Tommy in front with the +reins and Johnny sitting behind. Just as +they were about to start, to Tommy’s horror, +out came Sate, and do as they might, +Sate would not go back; but jumped up on +the sled and settled down at Tommy’s feet, +and as Johnny said he did not mind and +that Sate would keep Tommy’s feet warm, +they let him stay, which proved in the end +to be a very fortunate thing. Just after they +had fixed themselves comfortably, Johnny +said, “Are you ready?” “Ready!” said +Tommy, and gathered up the reins, and the +next moment the goats started off, at first +at a walk and then at a little trot, while +Tommy was telling Johnny what his father +had told him about the night in Santa +Claus’s country being so long that sometimes +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_40' name='page_40'></a>40</span> +the sun did not rise above the horizon for +several months. +</p> +<p>“If it’s as long as that,” said Johnny, “we +might go and see the old fellow and get +back before midnight? I wish we could go.” +</p> +<p>“So do I,” said Tommy, “but I’m afraid +we might not find our way.” He remembered +just then that all one had to do was to +steer by the North Star, and at that moment +he caught sight of the star right over +the goats’ heads. +</p> +<p>The coast was clear and the snow was +up to the top of the fences. The moon +made it as light as day and never again +would there be such a chance. It came to +him, too, that on the map all the lines ran +together at the North Pole, so that one +could hardly miss his way, and if he should, +there were Eskimos to guide him. So when +Johnny said, “Let’s go and try,” he agreed, +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_41' name='page_41'></a>41</span> +for if they once got there, Santa Claus, +himself, might bring them back with him. +</p> +<p>For a moment they went along as though +they were coasting down a hill, with the +little North Star shining directly in front +of them as they glided along. +</p> +<p>Just then Tommy said, “I wish the goats +were reindeer. Let’s pretend they are.” +</p> +<p>“So do I,” said Johnny. +</p> +<p>At this instant something happened; the +goats gave a jump which sent a cloud of +fine snow up into the boys’ faces; the sled +gave a great leap and on a sudden they +began to tear along like the wind. The +snow-fields flew by them, and the trees, +standing up to their knees in snow, simply +tore along to the rear. +</p> +<p>“They are running away!” said Tommy, +as soon as he could catch his breath. +</p> +<p>“All right. Let them run,” said Johnny. +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_42' name='page_42'></a>42</span> +“But steer by the North Star.” And so +they did. +</p> +<p>When the cloud of snow in their faces +cleared away, Tommy could scarcely believe +his eyes. +</p> +<p>“Look, Johnny!” he cried. “They are +real reindeer. Real live ones. Look at +their antlers.” +</p> +<p>“I know,” said Johnny. “That little +man said he wanted to swap with me.” +</p> +<p>So they flew on, up hill and down dale, +over fields of white snow where the fences +and rocks were buried and the cuts were +filled up level; down frozen streams, winding +through great forests where the pines +were mantled with white; in between great +walls of black rock towering above them, +with the stars shining down like fires; out +again across the vast stretches of snow with +the Pole Star ever twisting and turning and +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_43' name='page_43'></a>43</span> +coming before them again, until the sky +seemed lit up with wonderful colours, and +great bands of light were shooting up and +sinking down only to shoot up again with +a crackling like packs of pop-crackers in the +distance. +</p> +<div class='figcenter'> +<a name='linki_3' id='linki_3'></a> +<img src='images/c003.jpg' width='400' height='593' alt='' title='' /><br /> +<span class='caption'> +They flew on, over fields of white snow. +<br /> +</span> +</div> + +<p>The wind sang in their ears, nipped their +noses, and made Tommy drowsy, and +presently he must have fallen asleep; for +just as he was conscious that Johnny had +taken the reins, and, with one arm on either +side of him was holding him on his shoulder, +there was a great jolt and a sort of +crash as of breaking through. He would +have fallen off the sled if Johnny had not +held him tight. +</p> +<p>When he opened his eyes they seemed to +be passing through a sort of silvery haze, +as though the moonlight were shining +through a fine mist of silvery drops which +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_44' name='page_44'></a>44</span> +shed the softest radiance over everything. +And suddenly through this enchanting light +they came to a beautiful city, with walls +around it of crystal, all rimmed with gold, +like the clouds at sunset. Before them was +a great gate through which shone a wonderful +light, and inside they saw a wide street +all lit up. As they reached the gate there +was a sort of peal, as of bells, and out poured +a guard of little men in uniform with little +swords at their sides and guns in their +hands, who saluted, while their officer, who +had a letter in his hand, halted them with +a challenge. +</p> +<p>“Who goes there?” +</p> +<p>“Friends,” said Tommy, standing up and +saluting, as he had seen soldiers do at the fort. +</p> +<p>“Advance, friends, and give the countersign.” +Tommy thought they were lost +and his heart sank. +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_45' name='page_45'></a>45</span></p> +<p>But Johnny said, “‘Good-will.’” +</p> +<p>“All right,” said the captain and stepped +back. +</p> +<p>“Who gave you that sled?” he asked. +</p> +<p>“Tommy,” said Johnny. “This little +boy here made it and gave it to me.” +</p> +<p>“This is the one,” said the captain to a +guard, looking at a letter in his hand. “Let +them by.” +</p> +<p>They drove in at the gate and found +themselves in a broad street filled with enchanting +things more beautiful than Tommy +had ever dreamed of. The trees which +lined it were Christmas trees, and the +lights on them made the street as bright +as noonday. +</p> +<p>Here the reindeer slackened their pace, +and as they turned down the great street +they could see through the windows rooms +brilliantly lighted, in which were hosts of +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_46' name='page_46'></a>46</span> +people bustling about as busy as bees, working +at Christmas things of all sorts and +descriptions. They suddenly came to the +gate of a great palace-like place, which the +reindeer appeared to know, for they turned +in at the gate just as Tommy’s father’s +horses always turned in at their gate at +home, and as they drove up to the door, +with a shout of, “Here they are!” out +poured a number of the same little people—like +those they had already seen at the +gate. Some helped them out, some stood +like a guard, and some took their reindeer +to drive them to the stable. +</p> +<p>“You are just in time,” said the captain +of this party, as he stepped forward and +saluted them. “The old Gentleman has +been waiting for you, sending out to the +gate to watch for you all evening.” +</p> +<p>Tommy was about to ask, “How did he +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_47' name='page_47'></a>47</span> +know we were coming?” but before he +could get the words out, the little man said, +“Oh, he knows all that boys do, especially +about Christmas time. That’s his business.” +</p> +<p>“My!” thought Tommy, “I shall have to +mind what I even think up here. He answers +just as if I had said it. I hope he +knows what I want for Christmas.” +</p> +<p>“Wait and see,” said the little man; and +Tommy, though he was glad to hear it, determined +not to think any more just then, +but he was sorry he had not thought to wish +for more things while he was wishing. +</p> +<p>“Oh, don’t worry about that,” said the +guard. “Santa Claus doesn’t care much +what you ask for for yourself. Even if he +gives those things, you soon get tired of +them or lose them or break them up. It +is the things one asks for for others that +he gives pleasure with. That’s the reason +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_48' name='page_48'></a>48</span> +he has such a good time himself, because he +gives all the things to others.” +</p> +<p>Tommy tried to think what he had ever +given to any one. He had given pieces of +candy and cake when he had plenty, but +the sled was the only thing he had ever +really given. He was about to mention this +when the guard mentioned it for him. +</p> +<p>“Oh, that sled was all right,” he said, +with a little nod. “Come in,” and the great +ice-doors opened before them, and in they +walked. +</p> +<p>They passed through a great hall, all ice, +as transparent as glass, though curiously it +was warm and dry and filled with every +kind of Christmas “things:”—everything +that Tommy had ever seen, and a myriad +more that he had never dreamed of. They +were packed and stacked on either side, +and a lot of little people, like those he had +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_49' name='page_49'></a>49</span> +already seen, were working among them, +tossing them about and shouting to each +other with glee to “Look out,” just as the +boys did when coasting on the hill. +</p> +<p>“I tell you,” said one, “the Governor will +have a busy time to-night. It beats last +Christmas.” And he made a run and a +jump, and lit on a big pile of bundles which +suddenly toppled over with him and nearly +buried him as he sprawled on the slippery +floor. This seemed a huge joke to all the +others and they screamed with laughter at +“Old Smartie,” as they called him, and +poured more bundles down on him, just as +though they were having a pillow-fight. +Then when Old Smartie had at last gotten +on his feet, they had a great game of tag +among the piles and over them, and the +first thing Tommy knew he and Johnny +were at it as hard as anybody. He was very +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_50' name='page_50'></a>50</span> +proud because Johnny could jump over piles +as high as the best of them. Tommy, himself, +however, could not jump; for they led him +to a pile so high that he could not see over +it; and on top were the fragments of all the +things he had ever had and had broken up. +He could not help crying a little; but just +then in dashed a number of little men and +gathering them up, rushed out with them. +Tommy was wondering what they were +going to do with them, when his friend, the +guard, said: “We mend some of them; +and some we keep to remind you with. +Now try again.” Tommy tried and did +very well, only his left foot had gone to sleep +in the sled and had not quite waked up. +</p> +<p>“That was because Sate went to sleep +on it,” said his friend, the guard, and +Tommy wondered how he knew Sate’s +name. +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_51' name='page_51'></a>51</span></p> +<p>“Why,” said the guard, “we have to know +dogs’ names to keep them from barking at us +and waking everybody up. Let me lend you +these boots,” and with that he kicked off his +boots. “Now, jump,” and Tommy gave +a jump and lit in them, as he sometimes +did in his father’s shoes. No sooner had +Tommy put them on than he found that +he could jump over the highest pile in the +room. +</p> +<p>“Look, look!” cried several of the others. +“The captain has lent that little boy his +‘Seven Leaguers.’” +</p> +<p>“I know where he is going,” said one; +“to jump over the North Pole.” +</p> +<p>“No,” laughed another. “He is going +to catch the cow that ‘jumped over the +moon,’ for Johnny Stout’s mother.” +</p> +<p>Just then a message came that “Old +Santa,” as they called him, was waiting to +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_52' name='page_52'></a>52</span> +see the two boys who had come in the new +box-sled, as he wanted to know how their +mothers were and what they wished for +Christmas. So there was a great scurrying +to get their heads brushed before the bell +rang again, and Tommy got soap in his +eyes wetting the brush to make his hair lie +smooth, while Johnny’s left shoe came off +and dropped in a hole in the floor. Smartie, +however, told him that that was for the +“Old Woman who lived in a shoe” to feed +her cow in, and this was considered a great +joke. +</p> +<p>The next minute the door opened and +they entered a great apartment, filled with +the softest light from a blazing fire, and +Tommy was sure it was his father’s back +before him at the fireplace; but when the +man turned it was Santa Claus, only he did +not have on his whiskers, and looked ever +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_53' name='page_53'></a>53</span> +so much younger than in his pictures. At +first he did not even look at them, he was +so busy receiving mail that came fluttering +down the chimney in a perfect snowstorm. +As the letters came he gathered them up +and handed them to a lady who was seated +on the floor, saying, “Put that in,” to +which the lady always answered, “Just +the thing,” in a voice so like his mother’s +that Tommy felt quite at home. He was +just wondering when “Sometime” would +come, when Santa Claus picked up a letter, +which had been thrown on the floor, and +tossed it to the lady, saying, “Here’s that +letter from that little boy, Tommy Trot. +Put some of those things in so he can break +them up. He asked only for himself and +much joy he will get out of them.” Tommy +shrank back behind Johnny. He wanted +to say that he had written another letter to +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_54' name='page_54'></a>54</span> +ask for things for others, but he had lost +his tongue. Just then, however, Santa +Claus put up his hand and pulled out another +letter. +</p> +<div class='figcenter'> +<a name='linki_4' id='linki_4'></a> +<img src='images/c004.jpg' width='400' height='597' alt='' title='' /><br /> +<span class='caption'> +“Look, Look! The captain has lent that little boy his<br /> +‘Seven Leaguers.’” +<br /> +</span> +</div> + +<p>“Now,” he said, as he glanced at it, +“this is more like it. He is improving. I see +he has asked for a lot of things for a friend +of his named Johnny. Johnny Stout—who +is he? It seems to me I hardly remember +him or where he lives.” +</p> +<p>“Yes,” said Johnny, stepping up. +“That’s me. He gave me a sled, too, and +he made it himself.” Santa Claus turned +and looked at him and his expression +turned to a smile; in fact, Tommy thought +he really winked at Johnny. +</p> +<p>“Oh, I know that sled. It was a pretty +good sled, too,” he said. +</p> +<p>This gave Tommy courage, and he +stepped forward and said, “He lives in a +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_55' name='page_55'></a>55</span> +little bit of a house near our place—just that +way—” He turned and pointed. “I’ll +show it to you when you come.” +</p> +<p>“Good,” said Santa Claus. “I’ll show +it to you and you show it to me. We are +apt to overlook those little houses. So you +are Tommy Trot?” he said. “Glad to see +you,” and he turned and held out his hand +to Tommy. “I sent my reindeer to fetch +you and I am glad you made that sled, for +it is only a sled made for others that can +get up here. You see, everything here, +except the North Pole, is made for some +one else, and that’s the reason we have such +a good time up here. If you like, I’ll take +you around and show you and Johnny our +shops.” This was exactly what Tommy +wanted, so he thanked him politely. +</p> +<p>“I’ll be back in a little while,” said Santa +Claus to the lady, “for as soon as the boys +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_56' name='page_56'></a>56</span> +are all asleep I must set out. I have a great +many stockings to fill this year. See that +everything is ready. Come along, boys,” +and next minute they were going through +room after room and shop after shop, filled +with so many things that Tommy could not +keep them straight in his mind. He wondered +how any one could have thought of +so many things, except his mother, of +course; she always thought of everything +for everyone. Some of them he wished +for, but every time he thought of wanting +a thing for himself the lights got dim, so +that he stopped thinking about himself at +all, and turned to speak to Johnny, but he +was gone. +</p> +<p>Presently Santa Claus said: “These are +just my stores. Now we will go and see +where some of these things are made.” He +gave a whistle, and the next second up +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_57' name='page_57'></a>57</span> +dashed a sled with a team of reindeer in it, +and who was there holding the reins but +Johnny, with his little cap perched on the +top of his head! At Tommy’s surprise +Santa Claus gave a laugh that made him +shake all over like a bowl full of jelly, quite +as Tommy had read he did in a poem he +had learned the Christmas before, called +“The Night Before Christmas, when all +through the house.” +</p> +<p>“That comes of knowing how to drive +goats,” said Santa Claus. “Johnny knows +a lot and I am going to give him a job, +because he works so hard,” and with that +Tommy’s boots suddenly jumped him into +the sled, and Santa Claus stepped in behind +him and pulled up a big robe over +them. +</p> +<p>“Here goes,” he said, and at the word +they turned the corner, and there was a gate +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_58' name='page_58'></a>58</span> +of ice that looked like the mirrored doors +in Tommy’s mother’s room, which opened +before them, and they dashed along between +great piles of things, throwing them +on both sides like snow from a sled-runner, +and before Tommy knew it they were gliding +along a road, which Tommy felt he had +seen somewhere before, though he could not +remember where. The houses on the roadside +did not seem to have any front-walls at +all, and everywhere the people within were +working like beavers; some sewing, some +cutting out, some sawing and hammering, +all making something, all laughing or +smiling. They were mostly dressed like +grown-up people, but when they turned +their faces they all looked young. Tommy +was wondering why this was, when Santa +Claus said that was because they were +“Working for others. They grow young +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_59' name='page_59'></a>59</span> +every Christmas. This is Christmas Land +and Kindness Town.” They turned another +corner and were whisking by a little +house, inside of which was some one sewing +for dear life on a jacket. Tommy knew the +place by the little backyard. +</p> +<p>“Stop, stop!” he cried, pointing. “That’s +Johnny’s home and that’s Johnny’s mother +sewing. She’s laughing. I expect she’s +making that for Johnny.” +</p> +<p>“Where?” asked Santa Claus, turning. +Tommy pointed back, “There, there!” but +they had whisked around a corner. +</p> +<p>“I was so busy looking at that big house +that I did not see it,” said Santa Claus. +</p> +<p>“That’s our house,” said Tommy. “I +tell you what,” he said presently, “if I get +anything—I’ll give him some.” Santa +Claus smiled. +</p> +<p>So they dashed along, making all sorts of +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_60' name='page_60'></a>60</span> +turns and curves, through streets lined with +shops full of Christmas things and thronged +with people hurrying along with their arms +full of bundles; out again into the open; by +little houses half buried in snow, with a +light shining dimly through their upper +windows; on through forests of Christmas +trees, hung with toys and not yet lighted, +and presently in a wink were again at +Santa Claus’s home, in a great hall. All +along the sides were cases filled with all +sorts of toys, guns, uniforms, sleds, skates, +snow-shoes, fur gloves, fur coats, books, +toy-dogs, ponies, goats, cows, everything. +</p> +<div class='figcenter'> +<img src='images/g006.jpg' width='400' height='136' alt='' title='' /><br /> +<span class='caption'> + +<br /> +</span> +</div> + +<hr class='silver' /> + +<div class='figcenter'> +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_61' name='page_61'></a>61</span> +<img src='images/g007.jpg' width='400' height='167' alt='' title='' /><br /> +</div> + +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='III' id='III'></a> +<h2>III</h2> +</div> + +<p>Tommy was just thinking how he +would love to carry his mother a polar +bearskin for his father, and his father a +sealskin coat for his mother, when Santa +Claus came up behind him and tweaked +his ear. +</p> +<p>“Ah!” he said, “so you want something—something +you can’t get?” +</p> +<p>“Not for myself,” said Tommy, shamefacedly. +</p> +<p>“So,” said Santa Claus, with a look much +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_62' name='page_62'></a>62</span> +like Tommy’s father when he was pleased. +“I know that. They don’t have them exactly +about here. The teddy-bears drove +them out. You have to go away off to find +them.” He waved his hand to show how +far off it was. +</p> +<p>“I should like to hunt them, if I only +had a gun!” said Tommy;—“and one for +Johnny, too,” he added quickly. +</p> +<p>Santa Claus winked again. “Well,” he +said slowly, just as Tommy’s father always +did when Tommy asked for something and +he was considering—“well, I’ll think about +it.” He walked up and touched a spring, and +the glass door flew open. “Try these guns,” +he said; and Tommy tipped up and took +one out. It, however, seemed a little light +to shoot polar bears with and he put it +back and took another. That, however, +was rather heavy. +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_63' name='page_63'></a>63</span></p> +<p>“Try this,” said Santa Claus, handing +him one, and it was the very thing. “Load +right; aim right; and shoot right,” said he, +“and you’ll get your prize every time. And, +above all, stand your ground.” +</p> +<p>“Now, if I only had some dogs!” thought +Tommy, looking around at a case full of +all sorts of animals; ponies and cows; and +dogs and cats; some big, some little, and +some middle-sized. “I wish those were +real dogs.” +</p> +<p>“Where’s Sate?” asked Santa Claus. +</p> +<p>“Sate can’t pull a sled,” said Tommy. +“He’s too little. Besides, he ain’t an Eskimo +dog—I mean he isn’t,” he corrected +quickly, seeing Santa Claus look at him. +“But he’s awful bad after cats.” Just then, +to his horror, he saw Sate in the show-case +with his eye on a big, white cat. He could +hardly keep from crying out; but he called +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_64' name='page_64'></a>64</span> +to him very quietly, “Come here, come +here, Sate. Don’t you hear me, sir? +Come here.” +</p> +<p>He was just about to go up and seize +him when Santa Claus said: “He’s all +right. He’s just getting acquainted.” +</p> +<p>“My! how much he talks like Peake,” +thought Tommy. “I wonder if he is his +uncle.” +</p> +<p>Just then Sate began to nose among some +little brownish-gray dogs, and so, Tommy +called, “Here—come here—come along,” +and out walked not only Sate, but six other +dogs, and stood in a line just as though they +were hitched to a sled, the six finest Eskimo +dogs Tommy had ever seen. +</p> +<p>“Aren’t they beauties!” said Santa Claus. +“I never saw a finer lot; big-boned, broad-backed, +husky fellows. They’ll scale an +ice-mountain like my reindeer. And if +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_65' name='page_65'></a>65</span> +they ever get in sight of a bear!” He made +a gesture as much as to say, “Let him look +out.” +</p> +<p>“What are their names?” said Tommy, +who always wanted to know every one’s +name. +</p> +<p>“Buster and Muster and Fluster, and +Joe and Rob and Mac.” +</p> +<p>“Ain’t one of them named Towser?” +asked Tommy. “I thought one was always +named Towser.” +</p> +<p>“No, that’s a book-name,” said Santa +Claus so scornfully that Tommy was sorry +he had asked him, especially as he added, +“Isn’t, not ain’t.” +</p> +<p>“But they haint any harness,” said Tommy, +using the word Peake always used,—“I +mean, hisn’t any—no, I mean haven’t +any harness. I wish I had some harness +for them.” +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_66' name='page_66'></a>66</span></p> +<p>“Pooh! wishing doesn’t do anything by +itself,” said Santa Claus. +</p> +<p>“Oh! I tell you. I’ve a lot of string +that came off some Christmas things +my mother got for some poor people. I +put it in my pocket to give it to Johnny +to mend his goat-harness with, and I +never thought of it when I saw him last +night.” +</p> +<p>“So,” said Santa Claus. “That’s better. +Let’s see it.” +</p> +<p>Tommy felt in his pocket, and at first he +could not find it. “I’ve lost it,” he said +sorrowfully. +</p> +<p>“Try again,” said Santa Claus. +</p> +<p>Tommy felt again in a careless sort of +way. +</p> +<p>“No, I’ve lost it,” he said. “It must +have dropped out.” +</p> +<p>“You’re always losing something,” said +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_67' name='page_67'></a>67</span> +Santa Claus. “Now, Johnny would have +used that. You are sure you had it?” +</p> +<p>Tommy nodded. “Sure; I put it right +in this pocket.” +</p> +<p>“Then you’ve got it now. Feel in your +other pockets.” +</p> +<p>“I’ve felt there two times,” said Tommy. +</p> +<p>“Then feel again,” said Santa Claus. +And Tommy felt again, and sure enough, +there it was. He pulled it out, and as it +came it turned to harness—six sets of wonderful +dog-harness, made of curious leather-thongs, +and on every breast-strap was the +name of the dog. +</p> +<p>As Tommy made a dive for it and began +to put the harness on the dogs, Santa Claus +said, “String on bundles bought for others +sometimes comes in quite handy.” +</p> +<p>Even then Tommy did not know how to +put the harness on the dogs. As fast as he +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_68' name='page_68'></a>68</span> +got it on one, Sate would begin to play with +him and he would get all tangled up in it. +Tommy could have cried with shame, but +he remembered what his father had told +him about, “Trying instead of crying”; so +he kept on, and the first thing he knew they +were all harnessed. Just then he heard a +noise behind him and there was Johnny +with another team of dogs just like his, +hitched to his box-sled, on which they had +come, and on it a great pile of things tied, +and in his hand a list of what he had—food +of all kinds in little cans; bread and butter, +and even cake, like that he had given away; +dried beef; pemmican; coffee and tea, all +put up in little cases; cooking utensils; a +frying-pan and a coffee-pot and a few other +things—tin-cups and so forth; knives and +everything that he had read that boys had +when they went camping, matches and a +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_69' name='page_69'></a>69</span> +flint-stone in a box with tinder, in case the +matches gave out or got wet; hatchets and +saws and tools to make ice-houses or to +mend their sleds with, in fact, everything +that Tommy’s father had ever told him +men used when they went into the woods. +And on top of all, in cases, was the ammunition +they would need. +</p> +<p>“Now, if we had a tent,” said Johnny. +But Santa Claus said, “You don’t need +tents up there.” +</p> +<p>“I know,” said Tommy. “You sleep in +bags made of skin or in houses made of snow.” +</p> +<p>Santa Claus gave Johnny a wink. “That +boy is improving,” he said. “He knows +some things;” and with that he took out +of the case and gave both Tommy and +Johnny big heavy coats of whitish fur and +two bags made of skin. “And now,” he +said, “you will have to be off if you want to +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_70' name='page_70'></a>70</span> +get back here before I leave, for though the +night is very long, I must be getting away +soon,” and all of a sudden the door opened +and there was the North Star straight ahead, +and at a whistle from Santa Claus away +went the dogs, one sled right behind the +other, and Sate, galloping for life and +barking with joy, alongside. +</p> +<p>The last thing Tommy heard Santa Claus +say was, “Load right, aim right, and shoot +right; and stand your ground.” +</p> +<p>In a short time they were out of the light +of the buildings and on a great treeless +waste of snow and ice, much rougher than +anything Tommy had ever seen; where it +was almost dark and the ice seemed to turn +up on edge. They had to work their way +along slowly between jagged ice-peaks, +and sometimes they came to places which it +seemed they could never get over, but by +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_71' name='page_71'></a>71</span> +dint of pushing and hauling and pulling, +they always got over in the end. The first +meal they took was only a bite, because +they did not want to waste time, and they +were soon on their sleds again, dashing +along, and Tommy was glad, when, after +some hours of hard work, Johnny said he +thought they had better turn in, as in a few +hours they ought to be where Santa Claus +had told them they could find polar bears, +and they ought to be fresh when they struck +their tracks. They set to work, unhitched +the dogs, untied the packs and got out their +camp-outfit, and having dug a great hole in +the snow behind an ice-peak, where the wind +did not blow so hard, and having gathered +some dry wood, which seemed to have been +caught in the ice as if on purpose for them, +they lit a fire, and getting out their frying-pan +they stuck two chops on sticks and +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_72' name='page_72'></a>72</span> +toasted them, and had the best supper +Tommy had ever eaten. The bones they +gave to the dogs. Johnny suggested tying +up the dogs, but Tommy was so sleepy, he +said: “Oh, no, they won’t go away. Besides, +suppose a bear should come while we are +asleep.” They took their guns so as to be +ready in case a polar bear should come +nosing around, and each one crawled into +his bag and was soon fast asleep, Sate having +crawled into Tommy’s bag with him +and snuggled up close to keep him warm. +</p> +<p>It seemed to Tommy only a minute before +he heard Johnny calling, and he +crawled out to find him looking around in +dismay. Every dog had disappeared except +Sate. +</p> +<p>“We are lost!” said Johnny. “We must +try to get back or we shall freeze to death.” +He climbed up on top of an ice-peak and +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_73' name='page_73'></a>73</span> +looked around in every direction; but not +a dog was in sight. “We must hurry up,” +he said, “and go back after them. Why +didn’t we tie them last night! We must +take something to eat with us.” So they +set to work and got out of the bag all they +could carry, and with their guns and ammunition +were about to start back. +</p> +<p>“We must hide the rest of the things in +a cache,” said Tommy, “so that if we ever +come back we may find them.” +</p> +<p>“What’s a cache?” said Johnny. +</p> +<p>Tommy was proud that he knew something +Johnny did not know. He explained +that a “cache” was a hiding-place. +</p> +<p>So they put the things back in the bag +and covered them up with snow, and +Tommy, taking up his gun and pack, gave a +whistle to Sate, who was nosing around. Suddenly +the snow around began to move, and +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_74' name='page_74'></a>74</span> +out from under the snow appeared first the +head of one dog and then of another, until +every one—Buster and Muster and Fluster +and the rest—had come up and stood shaking +himself to get the snow out of his coat. +Then Tommy remembered that his father +had told him that that was the way the +Eskimo dogs often kept themselves warm +when they slept, by boring down deep in +the snow. Never were two boys more +delighted. In a jiffy they had uncovered +the sled, eaten breakfast, fed the dogs and +hitched them up again, and were once more +on their way. They had not gone far, +though it seemed to Tommy a long, long +way, when the ice in the distance seemed +to Tommy to turn to great mountain-like +icebergs. “That’s where they are,” said +Tommy. “They are always on icebergs +in the pictures.” Feeling sure that they +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_75' name='page_75'></a>75</span> +must be near them, they tied their dogs to +the biggest blocks of ice they could find, and +even tied Sate, and taking each his gun and +a bag of extra ammunition, they started +forward on foot. As Tommy’s ammunition +was very heavy, he was glad when Johnny +offered to carry it for him. Even so, they +had not gone very far, though it seemed far +enough to Tommy, when he proposed turning +back and getting something to eat. As +they turned they lost the North Star, and +when they looked for it again they could not +tell which it was. Johnny thought it was +one, Tommy was sure it was another. +So they tried first one and then the other, +and finally gave themselves up as lost. +They went supperless to bed that night or +rather that time, and Tommy never wished +himself in bed at home so much, or said his +prayers harder, or prayed for the poor more +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_76' name='page_76'></a>76</span> +earnestly. They were soon up again and +were working along through the ice-peaks, +growing hungrier and hungrier, when, going +over a rise of ice, they saw not far off a little +black dot on the snow which they thought +might be bear or seal. With gun in hand +they crept along slowly and watchfully, and +soon they got close enough to see that there +was a little man, an Eskimo, armed with a +spear and bow and arrows and with four or +five dogs and a rough little sled, something +like Johnny’s sled, but with runners made of +frozen salmon. At first he appeared rather +afraid of them, but they soon made signs to +him that they were friends and were lost +and very hungry. With a grin which +showed his white teeth he pointed to his +runners, and borrowing Tommy’s knife, +he clipped a piece off of them for each of +them and handed it back with the knife; +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_77' name='page_77'></a>77</span> +Tommy knew that he ought not to eat with +his knife, but he was so hungry that he +thought it would be overlooked. Having +breakfasted on frozen runner, they were +fortunate enough to make the Eskimo +understand that they wanted to find a polar +bear. He made signs to them to follow him +and he would guide them where they would +find one. “Can you shoot?” he asked, +making a sign with his bow and arrow. +</p> +<p>“Can we shoot!” laughed both Tommy +and Johnny. “Watch us. See that big +green piece of ice there?” They pointed +at an ice-peak near by. “Well, watch us!” +And first Johnny and then Tommy blazed +away at it, and the way the icicles came +clattering down satisfied them. They wished +all that trip that the ice-peak had been a +bear. So they followed him, and a great +guide he was. He showed them how to +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_78' name='page_78'></a>78</span> +avoid the rough places in the ice-fields, and, +in fact, seemed quite as much at home in +that waste of ice and snow as Johnny was +back in town. +</p> +<p>He always kept near the coast, he said, as +he could find both bear and seal there. +They had reached a very rough place, +when, as they were going along, he stopped +suddenly and pointed far off across the ice. +Neither Tommy nor Johnny could see anything +except ice and snow, try as they +might. But they understood from his excitement +that somewhere in the distance +was a seal or possibly even a polar bear +and, gun in hand, with beating hearts, they +followed him as he stole carefully through +the ice-peaks, working his way along, and +every now and then cautioning them to +stoop so as not to be seen. +</p> +<p>So they crept along until they reached +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_79' name='page_79'></a>79</span> +the foot of a high ridge of ice piled up below +a long ledge of black rock which seemed to +rise out of the frozen sea. Up this they +worked their way, stooping low, the guide +in front, clutching his bow and arrow, +Johnny next, clutching his gun, and Tommy +behind, clutching his, each treading in the +other’s tracks. Suddenly, as he neared the +top, the guide dropped flat on the snow. +Johnny followed his example and Tommy +did the same. They knew that they must +be close to the bear and they held their +breath; for the guide, having examined his +bow and arrows carefully, began to wriggle +along on his stomach. Johnny and Tommy +wriggled along behind him, clutching their +guns. Just at the top of the ledge the guide +quietly slipped an arrow out of his quiver +and held it in his hand, as he slowly raised +his head and peeped over. Johnny and +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_80' name='page_80'></a>80</span> +Tommy, guns in hand, crept up beside him +to peep also. At that instant, however, before +Tommy could see anything, the guide +sprang to his feet. “Whiz,” by Tommy’s +ear went an arrow at a great white object +towering above them at the entrance of +what seemed a sort of cave, and two more +arrows followed it, whizzing by his ear +so quickly that they were all three sticking +in deep before Tommy took in that the +object was a great white polar bear, with +his head turned from them, in the act of +going in the cave. As the arrows struck him, +he twisted himself and bit savagely at them, +breaking off all but one, which was lodged +back of his shoulder. As he reared up on +his hind legs and tried to get at this arrow, +he seemed to Tommy as high as the great +wardrobe at home. Tommy, however, had +no time to do much thinking, for in twisting +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_81' name='page_81'></a>81</span> +around the bear caught sight of them. As +he turned toward them, the guide with a +yell that sounded like “Look out!” dodged +behind, but both Tommy and Johnny threw +up their guns and pulled the trigger. What +was their horror to find that they both had +forgotten to load their guns after showing +the guide how they could shoot. The next +second, with jaws wide open, the bear made +a dash for them. Tommy’s heart leapt into +his throat. He glanced around to see if he +could run and climb a tree, for he knew that +grizzlies could not climb, and he hoped that +polar bears could not climb either, while +Tommy prided himself on climbing and +had often climbed the apple-tree in the +pasture at home; but there was not a tree +or a shrub in sight, and all he saw was the +little guide running for life and disappearing +behind an ice-peak. +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_82' name='page_82'></a>82</span></p> +<p>“Run, Johnny!” cried Tommy, and, +“Run, Tommy!” cried Johnny at the same +moment. But they had no time to run, for +the next second the bear was upon them, +his eyes glaring, his great teeth gleaming, +his huge jaws wide open, from which came +a growl that shook the ice under their feet. +As the bear sprang for them Johnny was +more directly in his way, but, happily, his +foot slipped from under him and he fell +flat on his back just as the bear lit, or he +would have been crushed instantly. Even +as it was, he was stunned and lay quite still +under the bear, which for the moment +seemed to be dazed. Either he could not +tell what had become of Johnny, or else he +could not make up his mind whether to eat +Johnny up at once or to leave him and +catch Tommy first and then eat them both +together. He seemed to decide on the +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_83' name='page_83'></a>83</span> +latter, for, standing up, he fixed his eyes on +Tommy and took a step across Johnny’s +prostrate body, with his mouth open wider +than before, his eyes glaring more fiercely, +and with a roar and a growl that made the +ice-peaks shed a shower of icicles. Then it +was that Tommy seemed to have become a +different boy. In fact, no sooner had +Johnny gone down than Tommy forgot all +about himself and his own safety, and +thought only of Johnny and how he could +save him. And, oh, how sorry he was +that he had let Johnny carry all the ammunition, +even though it was heavy! For +his gun was empty and Johnny had every +cartridge. Tommy was never so scared +in all his life. He tried to cry out, but +his throat was parched, so he began to +say his prayers, and remembering what +Santa Claus had said about boys who +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_84' name='page_84'></a>84</span> +asked only for themselves, he tried to pray +for Johnny. +</p> +<div class='figcenter'> +<a name='linki_5' id='linki_5'></a> +<img src='images/c005.jpg' width='400' height='605' alt='' title='' /><br /> +<span class='caption'> +What was their horror to find that they both had forgotten<br /> +to load their guns. +<br /> +</span> +</div> + +<p>At this moment happened what appeared +almost a miracle. By Tommy dashed a +little hairy ball and flew at the bear like +a tiger; and there was Sate, a part of his +rope still about his neck, clinging to the +bear for life. The bear deliberately stopped +and looked around as if he were too surprised +to move; but Sate’s teeth were in +him, and then the efforts of the bear to +catch him were really funny. He snapped +and snarled and snarled and snapped; but +Sate was artful enough to dodge him, and +the bear’s huge paws simply beat the air +and knocked up the snow. Do what he +might, he could not touch Sate. Finally the +bear did what bears always do when bees +settle on them when they are robbing their +hives—he began to roll over and over, and +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_85' name='page_85'></a>85</span> +the more he rolled the more he tied himself +up in the rope around Sate. As he rolled +away from Johnny, Tommy dashed forward +and picked up Johnny’s gun, coolly loaded +it, loading it right, too, and, springing forward, +raised the gun to his shoulder. The +bear, however, rolled so rapidly that Tommy +was afraid he might shoot Sate, and before +he could fire, the bear, with Sate still clinging +to him, rolled inside the mouth of the +cave. Tommy was in despair. At this +moment, however, he heard a sound, and +there was Johnny just getting on his feet. +He had never been so glad to see any one. +</p> +<p>“Where is the bear?” asked Johnny, +looking around, still a little dazed. Tommy +pointed to the cave. +</p> +<p>“In there, with Sate tied to him.” +</p> +<p>“We must save him,” said Johnny. +</p> +<p>Carefully dividing the ammunition now, +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_86' name='page_86'></a>86</span> +both boys loaded their guns, and hurrying +down the icy slope, carefully approached +the mouth of the cave, guns in hand, in +case the bear should appear. +</p> +<p>Inside it was so dark that they could at +first see nothing, but they could hear the +sound of the struggle going on between +Sate and the bear. Suddenly Sate changed +his note and gave a little cry as of pain. +At the sound of his distress Tommy forgot +himself. +</p> +<p>“Follow me!” he cried. “He is choking!” +and not waiting even to look behind +to see whether Johnny was with him, he +dashed forward into the cave, gun in hand, +thinking only to save Sate. Stumbling and +slipping, he kept on, and turning a corner +there right in front of him were the two +eyes of the bear, glaring in the darkness like +coals of fire. Pushing boldly up and aiming +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_87' name='page_87'></a>87</span> +straight between the two eyes, Tommy +pulled the trigger. With a growl which +mingled with the sound of the gun, the bear +made a spring for him and fell right at his +feet, rolled up in a great ball. Happily for +Sate, he lit just on top of the ball. Tommy +whipped out his knife and cut the cord +from about Sate’s throat, and had him in +his arms when Johnny came up. +</p> +<p>The next thing was to skin the bear, and +this the boys expected to find as hard work +as ever even Johnny had done; but, fortunately, +the bear had been so surprised at +Tommy’s courage and skill in aiming that +when the bullet hit him he had almost +jumped out of his skin. So, after they had +worked a little while, the skin came off +quite easily. What surprised Johnny was +that it was all tanned, but Tommy had +always rather thought that bears wore their +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_88' name='page_88'></a>88</span> +skin tanned on the inside and lined, too. +The next thing was to have a dinner of bear-meat, +for, as Tommy well remembered, all +bear-hunters ate bear-steaks. They were +about to go down to the shore to hunt along +for driftwood, when, their eyes becoming +accustomed to the darkness, they found a +pile of wood in the corner of the cave, which +satisfied them that at some time in the past +this cave had been used by robbers or pirates, +who probably had been driven away by this +great bear, or possibly might even have been +eaten up by him. +</p> +<p>At first they had some little difficulty in +making a fire, as their matches, warranted +water-proof, had all got damp when Tommy +fell into the water—an incident I forgot +to mention; but after trying and trying, +the tinder caught from the flint and they +quickly had a fine fire crackling in a +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_89' name='page_89'></a>89</span> +corner of the cave, and here they cooked +bear-steak and had the finest dinner they +had had since they came into the Arctic +Regions. They were just thinking of going +after the dogs and the sleds, when up came +the dogs dragging the sleds behind them, +and without a word, pitched in to make a +hearty meal of bear-meat themselves. It +seemed as if they had got a whiff of the +fresh steak and pulled the sleds loose from the +ice points to which they were fastened. They +were not, however, allowed to eat in any +peace until they had all recognized that +Sate was the hero of this bear fight, for +he gave himself as many airs as though he +had not only got the bear, but had shot and +skinned it. +</p> +<p>It was at this moment that the Eskimo +guide came back, jabbering with delight, +and with his white teeth shining, just as if +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_90' name='page_90'></a>90</span> +he had been as brave as Sate. At first, +Tommy and Johnny were inclined to be +very cold to him and pointed their fingers +at him as a coward, but when he said he +had only one arrow left and had wanted +that to get a sealskin coat for Tommy’s +mother, and, as he had the sealskin coat, +they could not contradict him, but graciously +gave him, in exchange for the coat, +the bear-meat which the dogs had not eaten. +</p> +<p>Having packed everything on the sled +carefully, with the sealskin coat on top of +the pack and the bear’s fur on top of that, +and having bid their Eskimo friend good-by, +they turned their backs on the North +Pole and struck out for home. +</p> +<p>They had hardly started, however, when +the sound of sleigh-bells reached them, +coming from far over the snow, and before +they could tell where it was, who should +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_91' name='page_91'></a>91</span> +appear, sailing along over the ice-peaks, but +Santa Claus himself, in his own sleigh, all +packed with Christmas things, his eight +reindeer shining in the moonlight and his +bells jingling merrily. Such a shout as he +gave when he found that they had actually +got the bear and had the robe to show for +it! It did them good; and both Tommy +and Johnny vied with each other in telling +what the other had done. Santa Claus was +so pleased that he made them both get in his +sleigh to tell him about it. He let Sate get +in too, and snuggle down right at their +feet. Johnny’s box-sled he hitched on behind. +The dogs were turned loose. At +first Tommy feared they might get lost, +but Santa Claus said they would soon find +their way home. +</p> +<p>“In fact,” he said with a wink, “you +have not been so far away as you think. +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_92' name='page_92'></a>92</span> +Now tell me all about it,” he said. So +Tommy began to tell him, beginning at the +very beginning when Johnny took him on +his sled. But he had only got as far as the +sofa, when he fell asleep, and he never knew +how he got back home. When he waked +up he was in bed. +</p> +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p>He never could recall exactly what happened. +Afterward he recalled Santa Claus +saying to him, “You must show me where +Johnny lives, for I’m afraid I forgot him last +Christmas.” Then he remembered that +once he heard Santa Claus calling to him in +a whisper, “Tommy Trot, Tommy Trot,” +and though he was very sleepy he raised +himself up to find Santa Claus standing up +in the sled in Johnny’s backyard, with +Johnny fast asleep in his arms; and that +Santa Claus said to him, “I want to put +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_93' name='page_93'></a>93</span> +Johnny in bed without waking him up, and +I want you to follow me, and put these +things which I have piled up here on the +sled you made for him, in his stocking by +the fire.” He remembered that at a whistle +to the deer they sprang with a bound to the +roof, the sled sailing behind them; but how +he got down he never could recall, and he +never knew how he got back home. +</p> +<div class='figcenter'> +<a name='linki_6' id='linki_6'></a> +<img src='images/c006.jpg' width='400' height='599' alt='' title='' /><br /> +<span class='caption'> +Santa Claus said to him, “I want to put Johnny in bed<br /> +without waking him up.” +<br /> +</span> +</div> + +<p>When he waked next morning there was +the polar bearskin which he and Johnny +had brought back with them, not to mention +the sealskin coat, and though Johnny, +when he next saw him, was too much excited +at first by his new sled and the fine +fresh cow which his mother had found in +her cow-house that morning, to talk about +anything else, yet, when he and his mother +came over after breakfast to see Tommy’s +father and thank him for something, they +<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_94' name='page_94'></a>94</span> +said that Santa Claus had paid them a visit +such as he never had paid before, and they +brought with them Johnny’s goats, which +they insisted on giving Tommy as a Christmas +present. So Tommy Trot knew that +Santa Claus had got his letter. +</p> +<div class='figcenter'> +<img src='images/g008.jpg' width='400' height='233' alt='' title='' /><br /> +</div> + + +<hr /> + +<p><strong>Transcriber's Note:</strong></p> + +<p>The page numbers in the list of <a href='#illus'>Illustrations</a> have been +changed to match their position in this ebook.</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Tommy Trots Visit to Santa Claus +by Thomas Nelson Page + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TOMMY TROTS VISIT TO SANTA CLAUS *** + +***** This file should be named 25896-h.htm or 25896-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/5/8/9/25896/ + +Produced by David Edwards, Ronnie Sahlberg, Joseph Cooper, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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a/25896.txt b/25896.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..90fa0ee --- /dev/null +++ b/25896.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1968 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Tommy Trots Visit to Santa Claus, by Thomas Nelson Page + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Tommy Trots Visit to Santa Claus + +Author: Thomas Nelson Page + +Illustrator: Victor C. Anderson + +Release Date: June 25, 2008 [EBook #25896] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TOMMY TROTS VISIT TO SANTA CLAUS *** + + + + +Produced by David Edwards, Ronnie Sahlberg, Joseph Cooper, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + [Illustration] + + TOMMY TROT'S VISIT + TO + SANTA CLAUS + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS + BY THOMAS NELSON PAGE + + PUBLISHED BY CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS + + Tommy Trot's Visit to Santa Claus. + Illustrated in color $1.50 + + Santa Claus's Partner + Illustrated in color $1.50 + + A Captured Santa Claus + Illustrated in color $ .75 + + Among the Camps. Illustrated $1.50 + + Two Little Confederates. Illustrated $1.50 + + The Page Story Book. Illustrated $ .50 + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +[Illustration: As wide awake as a boy could be who had made up his mind +to keep awake until midnight.] + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + TOMMY TROT'S VISIT + + TO + + SANTA CLAUS + + BY + + THOMAS NELSON PAGE + + ILLUSTRATED BY + VICTOR C. ANDERSON + + + [Illustration] + + + NEW YORK + CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS + 1908 + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + 1908, BY + CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS + + Published October 1908 + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + TO + THE GREATEST LOVER OF CHILDREN + THE AUTHOR HAS EVER KNOWN + AND TO THE CHILDREN SHE LOVES + BEST IN ALL THE WORLD + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + PAGE + +As wide awake as a boy could be who had made up his mind +to keep awake until midnight. Frontispiece + +Tommy had never before had any real coasting like this. 10 + +They flew on, over fields of white snow. 43 + +"Look, Look! The captain has lent that little boy his +'Seven Leaguers.'" 54 + +What was their horror to find that they both had forgotten +to load their guns. 84 + +Santa Claus said to him, "I want to put Johnny in bed +without waking him up." 93 + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + + + + [Illustration] + + TOMMY TROT'S VISIT TO SANTA CLAUS + + I + + +The little boy whose story is told here lived in the beautiful country +of "Once upon a Time." His name, as I heard it, was Tommy Trot; but I +think that, maybe, this was only a nick-name. When he was about your +age, he had, on Christmas Eve, the wonderful adventure of seeing Santa +Claus in his own country, where he lives and makes all the beautiful +things that boys and girls get at Christmas. In fact, he not only went +to see him in his own wonderful city away up toward the North Pole, +where the snow never melts and the Aurora lightens up the sky; but he +and his friend, Johnny Stout, went with dogs and guns to hunt the +great polar bear whose skin afterwards always lay in front of the big +library fireplace in Tommy's home. + +This is the way it all happened. + +Tommy lived in a big house on top of quite a high hill, not far from a +town which could be seen clearly from the front portico and windows. +Around the house was a large lawn with trees and shrubbery in it, and +at the back was a big lot, in one corner of which stood the stables +and barns, while on the other side sloped down a long steep hill to a +little stream bordered with willows and maples and with a tract of +woodland beyond. This lot was known as the "cow-pasture," and the +woodland was known as the "wood-lot," while yet beyond was a field +which Peake, the farmer, always spoke of as the "big field." On the +other side of the cow-lot, where the stables stood, was a road which +ran down the hill and across the stream and beyond the woods, and on +the other side of this road near the bottom of the hill was the little +house in which lived Johnny Stout and his mother. They had no fields +or lots, but only a backyard in which there were chickens and pigeons +and, in the Fall, just before Tommy's visit to Santa Claus, two white +goats, named "Billy" and "Carry," which Johnny had broken and used to +drive to a little rough wagon which he had made himself out of a box +set on four wheels. + +Tommy had no brothers or sisters, and the only cousins he had in town +were little girls younger than himself, to whom he had to "give up" +when any one was around, so he was not as fond of them as he should +have been; and Sate, his dog, a terrier of temper and humours, was +about his only real playmate. He used to play by himself and he was +often very lonely, though he had more toys than any other boy he knew. +In fact, he had so many toys that he was unable to enjoy any one of +them very long, and after having them a little while he usually broke +them up. He used to enjoy the stories which his father read to him out +of Mother Goose and the fairy-books and the tales he told him of +travellers and hunters who had shot lions and bears and Bengal tigers; +but when he grew tired of this, he often wished he could go out in the +street and play all the time like Johnny Stout and some of the other +boys. Several times he slipped out into the road beyond the cow-lot to +try to get a chance to play with Johnny who was only about a year +older than he, but could do so many things which Tommy could not do +that he quite envied him. It was one of the proudest days of his life +when Johnny let him come over and drive his goats, and when he went +home that evening, although he was quite cold, he was so full of +having driven them that he could not think or talk of anything else, +and when Christmas drew near, one of the first things he wrote to ask +Santa Claus for, when he put the letter in the library fire, was a +wagon and a pair of goats. Even his father's statement that he feared +he was too small yet for Santa Claus to bring him such things, did not +wholly dampen his hope. + +He even began to dream of being able to go out some time and join the +bigger boys in coasting down the long hill on the other side from +Johnny Stout's, for though his father and mother thought he was still +rather small to do this, his father had promised that he might do it +sometime, and Tommy thought "sometime" would be after his next +birthday. When the heavy snow fell just before Christmas he began to +be sorry that he had broken up the sled Santa Claus had given him the +Christmas before. In fact, Tommy had never wanted a sled so much as he +did the afternoon two days before Christmas, when he persuaded his +father to take him out again to the coasting hill to see the boys +coasting. There were all sorts of sleds: short sleds and long sleds, +bob-sleds and flexible fliers. They held one, two, three, and +sometimes even half a dozen boys and girls--for there were girls, +too--all shouting and laughing as they went flying down the hill, some +sitting and some lying down, but all flying and shouting, and none +taking the least notice of Tommy. Sate made them take notice of him; +for he would rush out after the sleds, barking just as if they had +been cats, and several times he got bowled over--once, indeed, he got +tangled up in the string of a sled and was dragged squealing with +fright down the hill. Suddenly, however, Tommy gave a jump. Among the +sleds flying by, most of them painted red, and very fine looking, was +a plain, unpainted one, and lying full length upon it, on his stomach, +with his heels high in the air, was Johnny Stout, with a red comforter +around his neck, and a big cap pulled down over his ears. Tommy knew +him at once. + +"Look, father, look!" he cried, pointing; but Johnny's sled was far +down the hill before his father could see him. A few minutes later he +came trudging up the hill again and, seeing Tommy, ran across and +asked him if he would like to have a ride. Tommy's heart bounded, but +sank within him again when his father said, "I am afraid he is rather +little." + +"Oh! I'll take care of him, sir," said Johnny, whose cheeks were +glowing. Tommy began to jump up and down. + +"Please, father, please," he urged. His father only smiled. + +"Why, you are not so very big yourself," he said to Johnny. + +"Big enough to take care of him," said Johnny. + +"Why, father, he's awful big," chimed in Tommy. + +"Do you think so?" laughed his father. He turned to Johnny. "What is +your name?" + +"Johnny, sir. I live down below your house." He pointed across toward +his own home. + +"I know him," said Tommy proudly. "He has got goats and he let me +drive them." + +"Yes, he can drive," said Johnny, condescendingly, with a nod, and +Tommy was proud of his praise. His father looked at him. + +"Is your sled strong?" he asked. + +"Yes, sir. I made it myself," said Johnny, and he gave the sled a good +kick to show how strong it was. + +"All right," said Tommy's father. They followed Johnny to the top of +the slide, and Tommy got on in front and his father tucked his coat +in. + +"Hold on and don't be afraid," he said. + +"Afraid!" said Tommy contemptuously. Just then Johnny, with a whoop +and a push which almost upset Tommy, flung himself on behind and away +they went down the hill, as Johnny said, "just ski-uting." + +Tommy had had sledding in his own yard; but he had never before had +any real coasting like this, and he had never dreamed before of +anything like the thrill of dashing down that long hill, flying like +the wind, with Johnny on behind, yelling "Look out!" to every one, and +guiding so that the sled tore in and out among the others, and at the +foot of the hill actually turned around the curve and went far on down +the road. + +"You're all right," said Johnny, and Tommy had never felt prouder. His +only regret was that the hill did not tilt up the other way so that +they could coast back instead of having to trudge back on foot. + +[Illustration: Tommy had never before had any real coasting like this.] + +When they got back again to the top of the hill, Tommy's father wanted +to know if they had had enough, but Tommy told him he never could have +enough. So they coasted down again and again, until at length his +father thought they had better be going home, and Johnny said he had +to go home, too, "to help his mother." + +"How do you help?" asked Tommy's father, as they started off. + +"Oh, just little ways," said Johnny. "I get wood--and split it up--and +go to Mr. Bucket's and get her things for her--draw water and feed the +cow, when we had a cow--we ain't got a cow now since our cow +died--and--oh--just a few little things like that." + +Tommy's father made no reply, and Tommy, himself, was divided between +wonder that Johnny could call all that work "just a few little +things," and shame that he should say, "ain't got," which he, himself, +had been told he must never say. + +His father, however, presently asked, "Who is Mr. Bucket?" + +"Don't you know Mr. Bucket?" said Johnny. "He keeps that grocery on +Hill Street. He gave me the box I made this old thing out of." + +"Oh," said Tommy's father, and turned and looked the sled over again. + +"What was the matter with your cow?" asked Tommy. + +"Broke her leg--right here," and Johnny pulled up his trousers and +showed just where the leg was broken below the knee. "The doctor said +she must be killed, and so she was; but Mr. Bucket said he could have +saved her if the 'Siety would've let him. He'd 'a just swung her up +until she got well." + +"How?" asked Tommy, much interested. + +"What Society?" asked his father. + +Johnny answered the last question first. "'Pervention of Cruelty,'" he +said, shortly. + +"Oh," said Tommy's father. + +"I know how she broke her leg," said Johnny. + +"How did she break her leg?" inquired Tommy. + +"A boy done it. I know him and I know he done it, and some day I'm +going to catch him when he ain't looking for me." + +"You have not had a cow since?" inquired Tommy's father. "Then you do +not have to go and drive her up and milk her when the weather is +cold?" + +"Oh, I would not mind that," said Johnny cheerily. "I'd drive her up +if the weather was as cold as Greenland, and milk her, too, so I had +her. I used to love to feed her and I didn't mind carryin' milk +around; for I used to get money for it for my mother to buy things +with; but now, since that boy broke her leg and the 'Siety killed +her----" + +He did not say what there was since; he just stopped talking and +presently Tommy's father said: "You do not have so much money since?" + +"No, sir!" said Johnny, "and my mother has to work a heap harder, you +see." + +"And you work too?" + +"Some," said Johnny. "I sell papers and clean off the sidewalk when +there is snow to clean off, and run errands for Mr. Bucket and do a +few things. Well, I've got to go along," he added, "I've got some +things to do now. I was just trying this old sled over on the hill to +see how she would go. I've got some work to do now"; and he trotted +off, whistling and dragging his sled behind him. + +As Tommy and his father turned into their grounds, his father asked, +"Where did he say he lived?" + +"Wait, I'll show you," said Tommy, proud of his knowledge. "Down there +[pointing]. See that little house down in the bottom, away over beyond +the cow-pasture?" + +"How do you know he lives there?" + +"Because I've been there. He's got goats," said Tommy, "and he let me +drive them. I wish I had some goats. I wish Santa Claus would bring me +two goats like Johnny's." + +"Which would you rather have? Goats or a cow?" asked his father. + +"Goats," said Tommy, promptly. + +"I wonder if Johnny would!" laughed his father. + +"Father, where is Greenland?" said Tommy, presently. + +"A country away up at the North--away up in that direction." His +father pointed far across the cow-pasture, which lay shining in the +evening light. "I must show it to you on the map." + +"Is it very cold there?" asked Tommy. + +"Very cold in winter." + +"Colder than this?" + +"Oh, yes, because it is so far north that the sun never gets up in +winter to warm it, and away up there the winter is just one long night +and the summer one long day." + +"Why, that's where Santa Claus comes from," said Tommy. "Do people +live up there?" + +"People called Eskimos," said his father, "who live by fishing and +hunting." + +"Tell me about them," said Tommy. "What do they hunt?" + +"Bears," said his father, "polar bears--and walrus--and seals--and----" + +"Oh, tell me about them," said Tommy, eagerly. + +So, as they walked along, his father told him of the strange little, +flat-faced people, who live all winter in houses made of ice and snow +and hunted on the ice-floes for polar bears and seals and walrus, and +in the summer got in their little kiaks and paddled around, hunting +for seals and walrus with their arrows and harpoons, on the "pans" or +smooth ice, where every family of "harps" or seals have their own +private door, gnawed down through the ice with their teeth. + +"I wish I could go there," said Tommy, his eyes gazing across the +long, white glistening fields with the dark border of the woodland +beyond and the rich saffron of the winter sky above the tree-tops +stretching across in a border below the steelly white of the upper +heavens. + +"What would you do?" asked his father. + +"Hunt polar bears," said Tommy promptly. "I'd get one most as big as +the library, so mother could give you the skin; because I heard her +say she would like to have one in front of the library fire, and the +only way she could get one would be to give it to you for Christmas." + +His father laughed. "All right, get a big one." + +"You will have to give me a gun. A real gun that will shoot. A big +one--so big." Tommy measured with his arms out straight. "Bigger than +that. And I tell you what I would do. I would get Johnny and we would +hitch his goats to the sled and drive all the way up there and hunt +polar bears, and I'd hunt for sealskins, too, so you could give mother +a coat. I heard her say she wanted you to give her one. Wouldn't it be +fine if I could get a great big bearskin and a sealskin, too! I wish I +had Johnny's goats!" + +"You must have dogs up there to draw your sled," said his father. + +"All right! After I got there I would get Santa Claus to give me +some," said Tommy. "But you give me the gun." + +His father laughed again. "Well, maybe--some day," said he. + +"'Some day' is too far away," said Tommy. "I want to go now." + +"Not so far away when you are my age," said his father smiling. "Ah, +there is where the North Star is," he said, pointing. "You cannot see +it yet. I will show it to you later, so you can steer by it." + +"That is the way Santa Claus comes," said Tommy, his eyes on the +Northern sky. "I am going to wait for him tomorrow night." + +"You know he does not bring things to boys who keep awake!" + +"I know; but I won't let him see me." + +As they trudged along Tommy suddenly asked, "Don't you wish, Father, +Santa Claus would bring Johnny a cow for his mother?" + +"Why, yes," said his father. + +"Like Cowslip or Rose or even old Crumpled Horn?" + +"Like our cows!" echoed his father, absently. "Why, yes." + +"Because they are all fine cows, you know. Peake says so, and Peake +knows a good cow," said Tommy, proud of his intimacy with the farmer. +"I tell you what I am going to do when I get home," he declared. "I am +going to write another letter to Santa Claus and put it in the chimney +and ask him to send Johnny a whole lot of things: a cow and a gun and +all sorts of things. Do you think it's too late for him to get it +now?" + +"I don't know. It is pretty late," said his father. "Why didn't you +ask him to send these things to Johnny when you wrote your other +letter?" + +"I did not think of it," said Tommy, frankly. "I forgot him." + +"Do you ask only for yourself?" + +"No. For little Sis and Mother and Peake and one other, but I'm not +going to tell you who he is." + +His father smiled. "Not Johnny?" + +"No," said Tommy. "I forgot him." + +"I am afraid I did, too," said his father slowly. "Well, write +another and try. You can never tell. Trying is better than crying." + +This was two days before Christmas. And the next afternoon Tommy went +again with his father to the coasting-hill to see the boys and once +more take a coast with Johnny. But no Johnny was there and no other +boy asked Tommy if he wanted a ride. So, they returned home much +disappointed, his father telling him more about the Eskimos and the +polar bears. But, just as they were turning the corner before reaching +the gate which led into their grounds, they came on Johnny struggling +along through the snow, under the weight of a big basket full of +bundles. At sight of them he swung the basket down in the snow with a +loud, "Whew, that's heavy! I tell you." Tommy ran forward to meet him. + +"We have been looking for you," he said. + +"I could not go to-day," explained Johnny. "I had to work. I am +working for Mr. Bucket to-day to make some money to buy Christmas +things." + +"How much do you make?" asked Tommy's father. + +"Half a dollar to-day, if I work late. I generally make ten cents, +sometimes fifteen." + +"That is a pretty heavy load--in the snow," said Tommy's father, as +Johnny stooped and swung his basket up on his hip. + +"Oh, I can manage it," said the boy, cheerfully. "A boy stole my sled +last night, or I would carry it on that." + +"Stole your sled!" cried Tommy. + +"Yes, I left it outside the door when I was getting my load to put on, +and when I came out it was gone. I wish I could catch him." + +"I am going to watch for him, too," said Tommy. + +"If I had a box I could make another one," said Johnny. "Maybe, Mr. +Bucket will give me one after Christmas. He said maybe he would. Then +I will give you another ride." He called over his shoulder to them, as +he trudged off, "Well, good-by. I hope you will have a merry +Christmas, and that Santa Claus will bring you lots of things," and +away he trudged. They wished him a merry Christmas, too, and then +turned into their grounds. + +"Father," said Tommy, suddenly, "let's give Johnny a sled." + +"Yes," said his father, "you might give him yours--the one you got +last Christmas." + +"I haven't got it now. It's gone," said Tommy. + +"Did some one take it--like Johnny's?" + +"No, I broke it," said Tommy, crestfallen. + +"You might mend it?" suggested his father. + +"I broke it all up," said Tommy, sadly. + +"Ah, that is a pity," said his father. + +Tommy was still thinking. + +"Father, why can't I give him a box?" he said. "The basement and the +wood-shed are full of big boxes." + +"Why not give him the one I gave you a few days ago?" + +"I broke it up, too," said Tommy shamefacedly. + +"Oh," said his father. "That's a pity. Johnny could have made a sled +out of it." Tommy felt very troubled, and he began to think what he +might do. + +"If you will give me another, I will give it to Johnny," he said +presently. + +"Why, I'll tell you what I will do," said his father. "I will furnish +the box if you will carry it over to Johnny's home." + +"All right. I will do it," said Tommy promptly. So as soon as they +reached home Tommy dived down into the basement and soon came out, +puffing and blowing, dragging along with him a big box as high as his +head. + +"I am afraid that is too big for you to carry," suggested his father. + +"Oh, I will make Richard carry it." + +"Richard is my servant, not yours," said his father. "Besides, you +were to carry it yourself." + +"It is too big for me. The snow is too deep." + +"Now, if you had not broken up your sled you might carry it on that," +said his father. + +"Yes," said Tommy sadly. "I wish I had not broken it up. I'll be bound +that I don't break up the next one I get." + +"That's a good beginning," said his father. "But wishing alone will +never do anything, not even if you had the magical wishing-cap I read +you about. You must not only wish; you must help yourself. Now, Johnny +would make a sled out of that box." + +"I wish I could," said Tommy. "I would try if I had some tools. I wish +I had some tools." + +"What tools would you need?" + +Tommy thought a minute. "Why, a hammer and some nails." + +"A hammer and nails would hardly make a sled by themselves." + +"Why, no. I wish I had a saw, too." + +"I thought Santa Claus brought you all these tools last Christmas?" +suggested his father. + +"He did; but I lost them," said Tommy. + +"Did you ever hunt for them?" + +"Some. I have hunted for the hammer." + +"Well, suppose you hunt again. Look everywhere. If you find any I +might lend you the others. You might look in my lumber room." Tommy +ran off and soon returned with a hammer and some nails which he had +found, and a few minutes later his father brought a saw and a hatchet, +and they selected a good box, which Tommy could drag out, and put it +in the back hall. + +"Now," said Tommy, "what shall we do next?" + +"That is for you to say," said his father. "Johnny does not ask that +question. He thinks for himself." + +"Well, we must knock this box to pieces," said Tommy. + +"I think so, too," assented his father. "Very carefully, so as not to +split the boards." + +"Yes, very carefully," said Tommy, and he began to hammer. The nails, +however, were in very tight and there was a strip of iron along each +of the edges, through which they were driven, so it was hard work; but +when Tommy really tried and could not get the boards off, his father +helped him, and soon the strips were off and the boards quickly +followed. + +"Now what shall we do?" asked his father. + +"Why, we must make the sled." + +"Yes--but how?" + +"Why, we must have runners and then the top to sit on. That's all." + +"Very well. Go ahead," said his father. So Tommy picked up two boards +and looked at them. But they were square at the ends. + +"We must make the runners," he said sadly. + +"That's so," said his father. + +"Will you saw them for me?" asked Tommy. + +"Yes, if you will show me where to saw." Tommy pondered. + +"Wait," he said, and he ran off, and in a moment came back with a +picture of a sled in a magazine. "Now make it this way," he said, +showing his father how he should saw the edges. + +He was surprised to see how well his father could do this, and his +admiration for him increased as he found that he could handle the +tools quite as well as Peake, the farmer; and soon the sled began to +look like a real sled with runners, sawed true, and with cross-pieces +for the feet to rest on, and even with a strip of iron, taken from the +edges of the boxes, carefully nailed on the bottom of the runners. + +Suddenly Tommy cried, "Father, why not give Johnny this sled?" + +"The very thing!" exclaimed his father with a smile. And Tommy felt +quite proud of having suggested it. + +"I wish it had a place to hitch on the goats," said Tommy, thoughtfully. + +"Let's make one," said his father; and in a few minutes two holes were +bored in the front of the runners. + +It was now about dusk, and Tommy said he would like to take the sled +down to Johnny's house and leave it at his door where he could find it +when he came home from work, and, maybe, he might think Santa Claus +had brought it. So he and his father went together, Tommy dragging the +sled and, while his father waited at the gate, Tommy took the sled and +put it in the yard at the little side-door of Johnny's home. As they +were going along, he said, pointing to a small shed-like out-building +at the end of the little yard, "That's the cow-house. He keeps his +goats there, too. Don't you wish Santa Claus would bring his mother a +cow? I don't see how he could get down that small chimney!" he said, +gazing at the little flue which came out of the roof. "I wonder if he +does?" + +"I wonder if he does?" said his father to himself. + +When Tommy slipped back again and found his father waiting for him at +the gate, he thought he had never had so fine a time in all his life. +He determined to make a sled for somebody every Christmas. + + [Illustration] + + + + + [Illustration] + + II + + +When they reached home Tommy, after warming his hands and telling his +mother about the sled, set to work to write a letter to Santa Claus on +behalf of Johnny, and as he wrote, a number of things came to him that +he thought Johnny would like to have. He remembered that he had no +gloves and that his hands were very red; that his cap was very old and +too small for him; that a real flexible flier would be a fine thing +for him. Then, as he had asked for a gun for himself to hunt polar +bears with and a fur coat to go out with in the snow, he added these +in Johnny's letter also; in fact, he asked for Johnny just the things +he had asked for himself, except the goats, and, as Johnny had two +goats, it was not necessary to ask for them for him. Instead of goats, +however, he asked that Santa Claus might give Johnny's mother a cow, +as good as one of their cows. As he was not a very rapid writer it +took him some time to write this letter, especially, as he did not +know how to spell a good many words, and had to ask his mother how to +spell them, for his father had gone out soon after their return from +taking the sled to Johnny, and immediately after showing him the +picture of the polar bear and the map of the North-pole region. Then +when the letter was all done, signed and sealed, Tommy carefully +dropped it in the fire in the library, and watched it as it first +twisted up, then burst into a blaze, and finally disappeared in flame +and smoke up the big chimney, hoping that it would blow away like the +wind to Santa Claus to catch him before he started out that night on +his round of visits. + +By this time his supper was ready and he found that he was very +hungry. He had no sooner finished it than he drew up in a big chair by +the warm fire, and began to wonder whether Santa Claus would get his +letter in time, and, if so, what he would bring Johnny. The fire was +warm and his eyes soon began "to draw straws," but he did not wish to +go to bed quite yet and, indeed, had a lingering hope that when his +father returned he might coax him into letting him go out again and +slide with Johnny and then, perhaps, stand a chance of seeing Santa +Claus come up the long hill, with his reindeer flying like the wind +over the snow and taking the roofs of the houses with a single bound. +So he moved over to the sofa where he could see better, and where it +would not be likely his sleepiness would be observed. + +The last thing he recalled in the sitting-room was when he parted the +heavy curtains at the foot of the sofa and looked out at the snow +stretching away down the hill toward the woods, and shining in the +light of the great round moon which had just come up over the side of +the yard to the eastward. Then he curled up in the corner of the sofa +as wide awake as a boy could be who had made up his mind to keep awake +until midnight. The next thing he remembered was Sate jumping up and +snuggling by him, and the next was his father coming in and telling +him Johnny was waiting outside with his sled and the two goats hitched +to it to take a long ride, and his wrapping him up carefully in his +heavy overcoat. In a second he was out in the yard and made a dash for +the cow-lot, and there, sure enough, was Johnny waiting for him at the +gate in the cow-pasture with a curious little peaked cap on his head +and his coat collar turned up around his chin and tied with a great +red comforter, so that only his eyes and nose peeped over it. As Tommy +had never seen Johnny with that cap on before, he asked him where he +had got it, and he said he had swapped caps with a little old man he +had met driving a cow in the road as he came home. He could not keep +this cap on his head, so Johnny had given him his in place of it, as +it fitted him very well. And there were the two goats hitched to the +very sled Tommy had made. In a minute they were on the sled, Tommy in +front with the reins and Johnny sitting behind. Just as they were +about to start, to Tommy's horror, out came Sate, and do as they +might, Sate would not go back; but jumped up on the sled and settled +down at Tommy's feet, and as Johnny said he did not mind and that Sate +would keep Tommy's feet warm, they let him stay, which proved in the +end to be a very fortunate thing. Just after they had fixed themselves +comfortably, Johnny said, "Are you ready?" "Ready!" said Tommy, and +gathered up the reins, and the next moment the goats started off, at +first at a walk and then at a little trot, while Tommy was telling +Johnny what his father had told him about the night in Santa Claus's +country being so long that sometimes the sun did not rise above the +horizon for several months. + +"If it's as long as that," said Johnny, "we might go and see the old +fellow and get back before midnight? I wish we could go." + +"So do I," said Tommy, "but I'm afraid we might not find our way." He +remembered just then that all one had to do was to steer by the North +Star, and at that moment he caught sight of the star right over the +goats' heads. + +The coast was clear and the snow was up to the top of the fences. The +moon made it as light as day and never again would there be such a +chance. It came to him, too, that on the map all the lines ran +together at the North Pole, so that one could hardly miss his way, and +if he should, there were Eskimos to guide him. So when Johnny said, +"Let's go and try," he agreed, for if they once got there, Santa +Claus, himself, might bring them back with him. + +For a moment they went along as though they were coasting down a hill, +with the little North Star shining directly in front of them as they +glided along. + +Just then Tommy said, "I wish the goats were reindeer. Let's pretend +they are." + +"So do I," said Johnny. + +At this instant something happened; the goats gave a jump which sent a +cloud of fine snow up into the boys' faces; the sled gave a great leap +and on a sudden they began to tear along like the wind. The snow-fields +flew by them, and the trees, standing up to their knees in snow, simply +tore along to the rear. + +"They are running away!" said Tommy, as soon as he could catch his +breath. + +"All right. Let them run," said Johnny. "But steer by the North Star." +And so they did. + +When the cloud of snow in their faces cleared away, Tommy could +scarcely believe his eyes. + +"Look, Johnny!" he cried. "They are real reindeer. Real live ones. +Look at their antlers." + +"I know," said Johnny. "That little man said he wanted to swap with +me." + +So they flew on, up hill and down dale, over fields of white snow +where the fences and rocks were buried and the cuts were filled up +level; down frozen streams, winding through great forests where the +pines were mantled with white; in between great walls of black rock +towering above them, with the stars shining down like fires; out again +across the vast stretches of snow with the Pole Star ever twisting and +turning and coming before them again, until the sky seemed lit up with +wonderful colours, and great bands of light were shooting up and +sinking down only to shoot up again with a crackling like packs of +pop-crackers in the distance. + +[Illustration: They flew on, over fields of white snow.] + +The wind sang in their ears, nipped their noses, and made Tommy +drowsy, and presently he must have fallen asleep; for just as he was +conscious that Johnny had taken the reins, and, with one arm on either +side of him was holding him on his shoulder, there was a great jolt +and a sort of crash as of breaking through. He would have fallen off +the sled if Johnny had not held him tight. + +When he opened his eyes they seemed to be passing through a sort of +silvery haze, as though the moonlight were shining through a fine mist +of silvery drops which shed the softest radiance over everything. And +suddenly through this enchanting light they came to a beautiful city, +with walls around it of crystal, all rimmed with gold, like the clouds +at sunset. Before them was a great gate through which shone a +wonderful light, and inside they saw a wide street all lit up. As they +reached the gate there was a sort of peal, as of bells, and out poured +a guard of little men in uniform with little swords at their sides and +guns in their hands, who saluted, while their officer, who had a +letter in his hand, halted them with a challenge. + +"Who goes there?" + +"Friends," said Tommy, standing up and saluting, as he had seen +soldiers do at the fort. + +"Advance, friends, and give the countersign." Tommy thought they were +lost and his heart sank. + +But Johnny said, "'Good-will.'" + +"All right," said the captain and stepped back. + +"Who gave you that sled?" he asked. + +"Tommy," said Johnny. "This little boy here made it and gave it to +me." + +"This is the one," said the captain to a guard, looking at a letter in +his hand. "Let them by." + +They drove in at the gate and found themselves in a broad street +filled with enchanting things more beautiful than Tommy had ever +dreamed of. The trees which lined it were Christmas trees, and the +lights on them made the street as bright as noonday. + +Here the reindeer slackened their pace, and as they turned down the +great street they could see through the windows rooms brilliantly +lighted, in which were hosts of people bustling about as busy as bees, +working at Christmas things of all sorts and descriptions. They +suddenly came to the gate of a great palace-like place, which the +reindeer appeared to know, for they turned in at the gate just as +Tommy's father's horses always turned in at their gate at home, and as +they drove up to the door, with a shout of, "Here they are!" out +poured a number of the same little people--like those they had already +seen at the gate. Some helped them out, some stood like a guard, and +some took their reindeer to drive them to the stable. + +"You are just in time," said the captain of this party, as he stepped +forward and saluted them. "The old Gentleman has been waiting for you, +sending out to the gate to watch for you all evening." + +Tommy was about to ask, "How did he know we were coming?" but before +he could get the words out, the little man said, "Oh, he knows all +that boys do, especially about Christmas time. That's his business." + +"My!" thought Tommy, "I shall have to mind what I even think up here. +He answers just as if I had said it. I hope he knows what I want for +Christmas." + +"Wait and see," said the little man; and Tommy, though he was glad to +hear it, determined not to think any more just then, but he was sorry +he had not thought to wish for more things while he was wishing. + +"Oh, don't worry about that," said the guard. "Santa Claus doesn't +care much what you ask for for yourself. Even if he gives those +things, you soon get tired of them or lose them or break them up. It +is the things one asks for for others that he gives pleasure with. +That's the reason he has such a good time himself, because he gives +all the things to others." + +Tommy tried to think what he had ever given to any one. He had given +pieces of candy and cake when he had plenty, but the sled was the only +thing he had ever really given. He was about to mention this when the +guard mentioned it for him. + +"Oh, that sled was all right," he said, with a little nod. "Come in," +and the great ice-doors opened before them, and in they walked. + +They passed through a great hall, all ice, as transparent as glass, +though curiously it was warm and dry and filled with every kind of +Christmas "things:"--everything that Tommy had ever seen, and a myriad +more that he had never dreamed of. They were packed and stacked on +either side, and a lot of little people, like those he had already +seen, were working among them, tossing them about and shouting to each +other with glee to "Look out," just as the boys did when coasting on +the hill. + +"I tell you," said one, "the Governor will have a busy time to-night. +It beats last Christmas." And he made a run and a jump, and lit on a +big pile of bundles which suddenly toppled over with him and nearly +buried him as he sprawled on the slippery floor. This seemed a huge +joke to all the others and they screamed with laughter at "Old +Smartie," as they called him, and poured more bundles down on him, +just as though they were having a pillow-fight. Then when Old Smartie +had at last gotten on his feet, they had a great game of tag among the +piles and over them, and the first thing Tommy knew he and Johnny were +at it as hard as anybody. He was very proud because Johnny could jump +over piles as high as the best of them. Tommy, himself, however, could +not jump; for they led him to a pile so high that he could not see +over it; and on top were the fragments of all the things he had ever +had and had broken up. He could not help crying a little; but just +then in dashed a number of little men and gathering them up, rushed +out with them. Tommy was wondering what they were going to do with +them, when his friend, the guard, said: "We mend some of them; and +some we keep to remind you with. Now try again." Tommy tried and did +very well, only his left foot had gone to sleep in the sled and had +not quite waked up. + +"That was because Sate went to sleep on it," said his friend, the +guard, and Tommy wondered how he knew Sate's name. + +"Why," said the guard, "we have to know dogs' names to keep them from +barking at us and waking everybody up. Let me lend you these boots," +and with that he kicked off his boots. "Now, jump," and Tommy gave a +jump and lit in them, as he sometimes did in his father's shoes. No +sooner had Tommy put them on than he found that he could jump over the +highest pile in the room. + +"Look, look!" cried several of the others. "The captain has lent that +little boy his 'Seven Leaguers.'" + +"I know where he is going," said one; "to jump over the North Pole." + +"No," laughed another. "He is going to catch the cow that 'jumped over +the moon,' for Johnny Stout's mother." + +Just then a message came that "Old Santa," as they called him, was +waiting to see the two boys who had come in the new box-sled, as he +wanted to know how their mothers were and what they wished for +Christmas. So there was a great scurrying to get their heads brushed +before the bell rang again, and Tommy got soap in his eyes wetting the +brush to make his hair lie smooth, while Johnny's left shoe came off +and dropped in a hole in the floor. Smartie, however, told him that +that was for the "Old Woman who lived in a shoe" to feed her cow in, +and this was considered a great joke. + +The next minute the door opened and they entered a great apartment, +filled with the softest light from a blazing fire, and Tommy was sure +it was his father's back before him at the fireplace; but when the man +turned it was Santa Claus, only he did not have on his whiskers, and +looked ever so much younger than in his pictures. At first he did not +even look at them, he was so busy receiving mail that came fluttering +down the chimney in a perfect snowstorm. As the letters came he +gathered them up and handed them to a lady who was seated on the +floor, saying, "Put that in," to which the lady always answered, "Just +the thing," in a voice so like his mother's that Tommy felt quite at +home. He was just wondering when "Sometime" would come, when Santa +Claus picked up a letter, which had been thrown on the floor, and +tossed it to the lady, saying, "Here's that letter from that little +boy, Tommy Trot. Put some of those things in so he can break them up. +He asked only for himself and much joy he will get out of them." Tommy +shrank back behind Johnny. He wanted to say that he had written +another letter to ask for things for others, but he had lost his +tongue. Just then, however, Santa Claus put up his hand and pulled out +another letter. + +[Illustration: "Look, Look! The captain has lent that little boy his +'Seven Leaguers.'"] + +"Now," he said, as he glanced at it, "this is more like it. He is +improving. I see he has asked for a lot of things for a friend of his +named Johnny. Johnny Stout--who is he? It seems to me I hardly +remember him or where he lives." + +"Yes," said Johnny, stepping up. "That's me. He gave me a sled, too, +and he made it himself." Santa Claus turned and looked at him and his +expression turned to a smile; in fact, Tommy thought he really winked +at Johnny. + +"Oh, I know that sled. It was a pretty good sled, too," he said. + +This gave Tommy courage, and he stepped forward and said, "He lives in +a little bit of a house near our place--just that way--" He turned and +pointed. "I'll show it to you when you come." + +"Good," said Santa Claus. "I'll show it to you and you show it to me. +We are apt to overlook those little houses. So you are Tommy Trot?" he +said. "Glad to see you," and he turned and held out his hand to Tommy. +"I sent my reindeer to fetch you and I am glad you made that sled, for +it is only a sled made for others that can get up here. You see, +everything here, except the North Pole, is made for some one else, and +that's the reason we have such a good time up here. If you like, I'll +take you around and show you and Johnny our shops." This was exactly +what Tommy wanted, so he thanked him politely. + +"I'll be back in a little while," said Santa Claus to the lady, "for +as soon as the boys are all asleep I must set out. I have a great many +stockings to fill this year. See that everything is ready. Come along, +boys," and next minute they were going through room after room and +shop after shop, filled with so many things that Tommy could not keep +them straight in his mind. He wondered how any one could have thought +of so many things, except his mother, of course; she always thought of +everything for everyone. Some of them he wished for, but every time he +thought of wanting a thing for himself the lights got dim, so that he +stopped thinking about himself at all, and turned to speak to Johnny, +but he was gone. + +Presently Santa Claus said: "These are just my stores. Now we will go +and see where some of these things are made." He gave a whistle, and +the next second up dashed a sled with a team of reindeer in it, and +who was there holding the reins but Johnny, with his little cap +perched on the top of his head! At Tommy's surprise Santa Claus gave a +laugh that made him shake all over like a bowl full of jelly, quite as +Tommy had read he did in a poem he had learned the Christmas before, +called "The Night Before Christmas, when all through the house." + +"That comes of knowing how to drive goats," said Santa Claus. "Johnny +knows a lot and I am going to give him a job, because he works so +hard," and with that Tommy's boots suddenly jumped him into the sled, +and Santa Claus stepped in behind him and pulled up a big robe over +them. + +"Here goes," he said, and at the word they turned the corner, and +there was a gate of ice that looked like the mirrored doors in Tommy's +mother's room, which opened before them, and they dashed along between +great piles of things, throwing them on both sides like snow from a +sled-runner, and before Tommy knew it they were gliding along a road, +which Tommy felt he had seen somewhere before, though he could not +remember where. The houses on the roadside did not seem to have any +front-walls at all, and everywhere the people within were working like +beavers; some sewing, some cutting out, some sawing and hammering, all +making something, all laughing or smiling. They were mostly dressed +like grown-up people, but when they turned their faces they all looked +young. Tommy was wondering why this was, when Santa Claus said that +was because they were "Working for others. They grow young every +Christmas. This is Christmas Land and Kindness Town." They turned +another corner and were whisking by a little house, inside of which +was some one sewing for dear life on a jacket. Tommy knew the place by +the little backyard. + +"Stop, stop!" he cried, pointing. "That's Johnny's home and that's +Johnny's mother sewing. She's laughing. I expect she's making that for +Johnny." + +"Where?" asked Santa Claus, turning. Tommy pointed back, "There, +there!" but they had whisked around a corner. + +"I was so busy looking at that big house that I did not see it," said +Santa Claus. + +"That's our house," said Tommy. "I tell you what," he said presently, +"if I get anything--I'll give him some." Santa Claus smiled. + +So they dashed along, making all sorts of turns and curves, through +streets lined with shops full of Christmas things and thronged with +people hurrying along with their arms full of bundles; out again into +the open; by little houses half buried in snow, with a light shining +dimly through their upper windows; on through forests of Christmas +trees, hung with toys and not yet lighted, and presently in a wink +were again at Santa Claus's home, in a great hall. All along the sides +were cases filled with all sorts of toys, guns, uniforms, sleds, +skates, snow-shoes, fur gloves, fur coats, books, toy-dogs, ponies, +goats, cows, everything. + + [Illustration] + + + + + [Illustration] + + III + + +Tommy was just thinking how he would love to carry his mother a polar +bearskin for his father, and his father a sealskin coat for his +mother, when Santa Claus came up behind him and tweaked his ear. + +"Ah!" he said, "so you want something--something you can't get?" + +"Not for myself," said Tommy, shamefacedly. + +"So," said Santa Claus, with a look much like Tommy's father when he +was pleased. "I know that. They don't have them exactly about here. +The teddy-bears drove them out. You have to go away off to find them." +He waved his hand to show how far off it was. + +"I should like to hunt them, if I only had a gun!" said Tommy;--"and +one for Johnny, too," he added quickly. + +Santa Claus winked again. "Well," he said slowly, just as Tommy's father +always did when Tommy asked for something and he was considering--"well, +I'll think about it." He walked up and touched a spring, and the glass +door flew open. "Try these guns," he said; and Tommy tipped up and took +one out. It, however, seemed a little light to shoot polar bears with +and he put it back and took another. That, however, was rather heavy. + +"Try this," said Santa Claus, handing him one, and it was the very +thing. "Load right; aim right; and shoot right," said he, "and you'll +get your prize every time. And, above all, stand your ground." + +"Now, if I only had some dogs!" thought Tommy, looking around at a +case full of all sorts of animals; ponies and cows; and dogs and cats; +some big, some little, and some middle-sized. "I wish those were real +dogs." + +"Where's Sate?" asked Santa Claus. + +"Sate can't pull a sled," said Tommy. "He's too little. Besides, he +ain't an Eskimo dog--I mean he isn't," he corrected quickly, seeing +Santa Claus look at him. "But he's awful bad after cats." Just then, +to his horror, he saw Sate in the show-case with his eye on a big, +white cat. He could hardly keep from crying out; but he called to him +very quietly, "Come here, come here, Sate. Don't you hear me, sir? +Come here." + +He was just about to go up and seize him when Santa Claus said: "He's +all right. He's just getting acquainted." + +"My! how much he talks like Peake," thought Tommy. "I wonder if he is +his uncle." + +Just then Sate began to nose among some little brownish-gray dogs, and +so, Tommy called, "Here--come here--come along," and out walked not +only Sate, but six other dogs, and stood in a line just as though they +were hitched to a sled, the six finest Eskimo dogs Tommy had ever +seen. + +"Aren't they beauties!" said Santa Claus. "I never saw a finer lot; +big-boned, broad-backed, husky fellows. They'll scale an ice-mountain +like my reindeer. And if they ever get in sight of a bear!" He made a +gesture as much as to say, "Let him look out." + +"What are their names?" said Tommy, who always wanted to know every +one's name. + +"Buster and Muster and Fluster, and Joe and Rob and Mac." + +"Ain't one of them named Towser?" asked Tommy. "I thought one was +always named Towser." + +"No, that's a book-name," said Santa Claus so scornfully that Tommy +was sorry he had asked him, especially as he added, "Isn't, not +ain't." + +"But they haint any harness," said Tommy, using the word Peake always +used,--"I mean, hisn't any--no, I mean haven't any harness. I wish I +had some harness for them." + +"Pooh! wishing doesn't do anything by itself," said Santa Claus. + +"Oh! I tell you. I've a lot of string that came off some Christmas +things my mother got for some poor people. I put it in my pocket to +give it to Johnny to mend his goat-harness with, and I never thought +of it when I saw him last night." + +"So," said Santa Claus. "That's better. Let's see it." + +Tommy felt in his pocket, and at first he could not find it. "I've +lost it," he said sorrowfully. + +"Try again," said Santa Claus. + +Tommy felt again in a careless sort of way. + +"No, I've lost it," he said. "It must have dropped out." + +"You're always losing something," said Santa Claus. "Now, Johnny would +have used that. You are sure you had it?" + +Tommy nodded. "Sure; I put it right in this pocket." + +"Then you've got it now. Feel in your other pockets." + +"I've felt there two times," said Tommy. + +"Then feel again," said Santa Claus. And Tommy felt again, and sure +enough, there it was. He pulled it out, and as it came it turned to +harness--six sets of wonderful dog-harness, made of curious +leather-thongs, and on every breast-strap was the name of the dog. + +As Tommy made a dive for it and began to put the harness on the dogs, +Santa Claus said, "String on bundles bought for others sometimes comes +in quite handy." + +Even then Tommy did not know how to put the harness on the dogs. As +fast as he got it on one, Sate would begin to play with him and he +would get all tangled up in it. Tommy could have cried with shame, but +he remembered what his father had told him about, "Trying instead of +crying"; so he kept on, and the first thing he knew they were all +harnessed. Just then he heard a noise behind him and there was Johnny +with another team of dogs just like his, hitched to his box-sled, on +which they had come, and on it a great pile of things tied, and in his +hand a list of what he had--food of all kinds in little cans; bread and +butter, and even cake, like that he had given away; dried beef; +pemmican; coffee and tea, all put up in little cases; cooking utensils; +a frying-pan and a coffee-pot and a few other things--tin-cups and so +forth; knives and everything that he had read that boys had when they +went camping, matches and a flint-stone in a box with tinder, in case +the matches gave out or got wet; hatchets and saws and tools to make +ice-houses or to mend their sleds with, in fact, everything that +Tommy's father had ever told him men used when they went into the +woods. And on top of all, in cases, was the ammunition they would need. + +"Now, if we had a tent," said Johnny. But Santa Claus said, "You don't +need tents up there." + +"I know," said Tommy. "You sleep in bags made of skin or in houses +made of snow." + +Santa Claus gave Johnny a wink. "That boy is improving," he said. "He +knows some things;" and with that he took out of the case and gave +both Tommy and Johnny big heavy coats of whitish fur and two bags made +of skin. "And now," he said, "you will have to be off if you want to +get back here before I leave, for though the night is very long, I +must be getting away soon," and all of a sudden the door opened and +there was the North Star straight ahead, and at a whistle from Santa +Claus away went the dogs, one sled right behind the other, and Sate, +galloping for life and barking with joy, alongside. + +The last thing Tommy heard Santa Claus say was, "Load right, aim +right, and shoot right; and stand your ground." + +In a short time they were out of the light of the buildings and on a +great treeless waste of snow and ice, much rougher than anything Tommy +had ever seen; where it was almost dark and the ice seemed to turn up +on edge. They had to work their way along slowly between jagged +ice-peaks, and sometimes they came to places which it seemed they +could never get over, but by dint of pushing and hauling and pulling, +they always got over in the end. The first meal they took was only a +bite, because they did not want to waste time, and they were soon on +their sleds again, dashing along, and Tommy was glad, when, after some +hours of hard work, Johnny said he thought they had better turn in, as +in a few hours they ought to be where Santa Claus had told them they +could find polar bears, and they ought to be fresh when they struck +their tracks. They set to work, unhitched the dogs, untied the packs +and got out their camp-outfit, and having dug a great hole in the snow +behind an ice-peak, where the wind did not blow so hard, and having +gathered some dry wood, which seemed to have been caught in the ice as +if on purpose for them, they lit a fire, and getting out their +frying-pan they stuck two chops on sticks and toasted them, and had +the best supper Tommy had ever eaten. The bones they gave to the dogs. +Johnny suggested tying up the dogs, but Tommy was so sleepy, he said: +"Oh, no, they won't go away. Besides, suppose a bear should come while +we are asleep." They took their guns so as to be ready in case a polar +bear should come nosing around, and each one crawled into his bag and +was soon fast asleep, Sate having crawled into Tommy's bag with him +and snuggled up close to keep him warm. + +It seemed to Tommy only a minute before he heard Johnny calling, and +he crawled out to find him looking around in dismay. Every dog had +disappeared except Sate. + +"We are lost!" said Johnny. "We must try to get back or we shall +freeze to death." He climbed up on top of an ice-peak and looked +around in every direction; but not a dog was in sight. "We must hurry +up," he said, "and go back after them. Why didn't we tie them last +night! We must take something to eat with us." So they set to work and +got out of the bag all they could carry, and with their guns and +ammunition were about to start back. + +"We must hide the rest of the things in a cache," said Tommy, "so that +if we ever come back we may find them." + +"What's a cache?" said Johnny. + +Tommy was proud that he knew something Johnny did not know. He +explained that a "cache" was a hiding-place. + +So they put the things back in the bag and covered them up with snow, +and Tommy, taking up his gun and pack, gave a whistle to Sate, who was +nosing around. Suddenly the snow around began to move, and out from +under the snow appeared first the head of one dog and then of another, +until every one--Buster and Muster and Fluster and the rest--had come +up and stood shaking himself to get the snow out of his coat. Then +Tommy remembered that his father had told him that that was the way +the Eskimo dogs often kept themselves warm when they slept, by boring +down deep in the snow. Never were two boys more delighted. In a jiffy +they had uncovered the sled, eaten breakfast, fed the dogs and hitched +them up again, and were once more on their way. They had not gone far, +though it seemed to Tommy a long, long way, when the ice in the +distance seemed to Tommy to turn to great mountain-like icebergs. +"That's where they are," said Tommy. "They are always on icebergs in +the pictures." Feeling sure that they must be near them, they tied +their dogs to the biggest blocks of ice they could find, and even tied +Sate, and taking each his gun and a bag of extra ammunition, they +started forward on foot. As Tommy's ammunition was very heavy, he was +glad when Johnny offered to carry it for him. Even so, they had not +gone very far, though it seemed far enough to Tommy, when he proposed +turning back and getting something to eat. As they turned they lost +the North Star, and when they looked for it again they could not tell +which it was. Johnny thought it was one, Tommy was sure it was +another. So they tried first one and then the other, and finally gave +themselves up as lost. They went supperless to bed that night or +rather that time, and Tommy never wished himself in bed at home so +much, or said his prayers harder, or prayed for the poor more +earnestly. They were soon up again and were working along through the +ice-peaks, growing hungrier and hungrier, when, going over a rise of +ice, they saw not far off a little black dot on the snow which they +thought might be bear or seal. With gun in hand they crept along +slowly and watchfully, and soon they got close enough to see that +there was a little man, an Eskimo, armed with a spear and bow and +arrows and with four or five dogs and a rough little sled, something +like Johnny's sled, but with runners made of frozen salmon. At first +he appeared rather afraid of them, but they soon made signs to him +that they were friends and were lost and very hungry. With a grin +which showed his white teeth he pointed to his runners, and borrowing +Tommy's knife, he clipped a piece off of them for each of them and +handed it back with the knife; Tommy knew that he ought not to eat +with his knife, but he was so hungry that he thought it would be +overlooked. Having breakfasted on frozen runner, they were fortunate +enough to make the Eskimo understand that they wanted to find a polar +bear. He made signs to them to follow him and he would guide them +where they would find one. "Can you shoot?" he asked, making a sign +with his bow and arrow. + +"Can we shoot!" laughed both Tommy and Johnny. "Watch us. See that big +green piece of ice there?" They pointed at an ice-peak near by. "Well, +watch us!" And first Johnny and then Tommy blazed away at it, and the +way the icicles came clattering down satisfied them. They wished all +that trip that the ice-peak had been a bear. So they followed him, and +a great guide he was. He showed them how to avoid the rough places in +the ice-fields, and, in fact, seemed quite as much at home in that +waste of ice and snow as Johnny was back in town. + +He always kept near the coast, he said, as he could find both bear and +seal there. They had reached a very rough place, when, as they were +going along, he stopped suddenly and pointed far off across the ice. +Neither Tommy nor Johnny could see anything except ice and snow, try +as they might. But they understood from his excitement that somewhere +in the distance was a seal or possibly even a polar bear and, gun in +hand, with beating hearts, they followed him as he stole carefully +through the ice-peaks, working his way along, and every now and then +cautioning them to stoop so as not to be seen. + +So they crept along until they reached the foot of a high ridge of ice +piled up below a long ledge of black rock which seemed to rise out of +the frozen sea. Up this they worked their way, stooping low, the guide +in front, clutching his bow and arrow, Johnny next, clutching his gun, +and Tommy behind, clutching his, each treading in the other's tracks. +Suddenly, as he neared the top, the guide dropped flat on the snow. +Johnny followed his example and Tommy did the same. They knew that +they must be close to the bear and they held their breath; for the +guide, having examined his bow and arrows carefully, began to wriggle +along on his stomach. Johnny and Tommy wriggled along behind him, +clutching their guns. Just at the top of the ledge the guide quietly +slipped an arrow out of his quiver and held it in his hand, as he +slowly raised his head and peeped over. Johnny and Tommy, guns in +hand, crept up beside him to peep also. At that instant, however, +before Tommy could see anything, the guide sprang to his feet. "Whiz," +by Tommy's ear went an arrow at a great white object towering above +them at the entrance of what seemed a sort of cave, and two more +arrows followed it, whizzing by his ear so quickly that they were all +three sticking in deep before Tommy took in that the object was a +great white polar bear, with his head turned from them, in the act of +going in the cave. As the arrows struck him, he twisted himself and +bit savagely at them, breaking off all but one, which was lodged back +of his shoulder. As he reared up on his hind legs and tried to get at +this arrow, he seemed to Tommy as high as the great wardrobe at home. +Tommy, however, had no time to do much thinking, for in twisting +around the bear caught sight of them. As he turned toward them, the +guide with a yell that sounded like "Look out!" dodged behind, but +both Tommy and Johnny threw up their guns and pulled the trigger. What +was their horror to find that they both had forgotten to load their +guns after showing the guide how they could shoot. The next second, +with jaws wide open, the bear made a dash for them. Tommy's heart +leapt into his throat. He glanced around to see if he could run and +climb a tree, for he knew that grizzlies could not climb, and he hoped +that polar bears could not climb either, while Tommy prided himself on +climbing and had often climbed the apple-tree in the pasture at home; +but there was not a tree or a shrub in sight, and all he saw was the +little guide running for life and disappearing behind an ice-peak. + +"Run, Johnny!" cried Tommy, and, "Run, Tommy!" cried Johnny at the +same moment. But they had no time to run, for the next second the bear +was upon them, his eyes glaring, his great teeth gleaming, his huge +jaws wide open, from which came a growl that shook the ice under their +feet. As the bear sprang for them Johnny was more directly in his way, +but, happily, his foot slipped from under him and he fell flat on his +back just as the bear lit, or he would have been crushed instantly. +Even as it was, he was stunned and lay quite still under the bear, +which for the moment seemed to be dazed. Either he could not tell what +had become of Johnny, or else he could not make up his mind whether to +eat Johnny up at once or to leave him and catch Tommy first and then +eat them both together. He seemed to decide on the latter, for, +standing up, he fixed his eyes on Tommy and took a step across +Johnny's prostrate body, with his mouth open wider than before, his +eyes glaring more fiercely, and with a roar and a growl that made the +ice-peaks shed a shower of icicles. Then it was that Tommy seemed to +have become a different boy. In fact, no sooner had Johnny gone down +than Tommy forgot all about himself and his own safety, and thought +only of Johnny and how he could save him. And, oh, how sorry he was +that he had let Johnny carry all the ammunition, even though it was +heavy! For his gun was empty and Johnny had every cartridge. Tommy was +never so scared in all his life. He tried to cry out, but his throat +was parched, so he began to say his prayers, and remembering what +Santa Claus had said about boys who asked only for themselves, he +tried to pray for Johnny. + +[Illustration: What was their horror to find that they both had +forgotten to load their guns.] + +At this moment happened what appeared almost a miracle. By Tommy +dashed a little hairy ball and flew at the bear like a tiger; and +there was Sate, a part of his rope still about his neck, clinging to +the bear for life. The bear deliberately stopped and looked around as +if he were too surprised to move; but Sate's teeth were in him, and +then the efforts of the bear to catch him were really funny. He +snapped and snarled and snarled and snapped; but Sate was artful +enough to dodge him, and the bear's huge paws simply beat the air and +knocked up the snow. Do what he might, he could not touch Sate. +Finally the bear did what bears always do when bees settle on them +when they are robbing their hives--he began to roll over and over, and +the more he rolled the more he tied himself up in the rope around +Sate. As he rolled away from Johnny, Tommy dashed forward and picked +up Johnny's gun, coolly loaded it, loading it right, too, and, +springing forward, raised the gun to his shoulder. The bear, however, +rolled so rapidly that Tommy was afraid he might shoot Sate, and +before he could fire, the bear, with Sate still clinging to him, +rolled inside the mouth of the cave. Tommy was in despair. At this +moment, however, he heard a sound, and there was Johnny just getting +on his feet. He had never been so glad to see any one. + +"Where is the bear?" asked Johnny, looking around, still a little +dazed. Tommy pointed to the cave. + +"In there, with Sate tied to him." + +"We must save him," said Johnny. + +Carefully dividing the ammunition now, both boys loaded their guns, +and hurrying down the icy slope, carefully approached the mouth of the +cave, guns in hand, in case the bear should appear. + +Inside it was so dark that they could at first see nothing, but they +could hear the sound of the struggle going on between Sate and the +bear. Suddenly Sate changed his note and gave a little cry as of pain. +At the sound of his distress Tommy forgot himself. + +"Follow me!" he cried. "He is choking!" and not waiting even to look +behind to see whether Johnny was with him, he dashed forward into the +cave, gun in hand, thinking only to save Sate. Stumbling and slipping, +he kept on, and turning a corner there right in front of him were the +two eyes of the bear, glaring in the darkness like coals of fire. +Pushing boldly up and aiming straight between the two eyes, Tommy +pulled the trigger. With a growl which mingled with the sound of the +gun, the bear made a spring for him and fell right at his feet, rolled +up in a great ball. Happily for Sate, he lit just on top of the ball. +Tommy whipped out his knife and cut the cord from about Sate's throat, +and had him in his arms when Johnny came up. + +The next thing was to skin the bear, and this the boys expected to +find as hard work as ever even Johnny had done; but, fortunately, the +bear had been so surprised at Tommy's courage and skill in aiming that +when the bullet hit him he had almost jumped out of his skin. So, +after they had worked a little while, the skin came off quite easily. +What surprised Johnny was that it was all tanned, but Tommy had always +rather thought that bears wore their skin tanned on the inside and +lined, too. The next thing was to have a dinner of bear-meat, for, as +Tommy well remembered, all bear-hunters ate bear-steaks. They were +about to go down to the shore to hunt along for driftwood, when, their +eyes becoming accustomed to the darkness, they found a pile of wood in +the corner of the cave, which satisfied them that at some time in the +past this cave had been used by robbers or pirates, who probably had +been driven away by this great bear, or possibly might even have been +eaten up by him. + +At first they had some little difficulty in making a fire, as their +matches, warranted water-proof, had all got damp when Tommy fell into +the water--an incident I forgot to mention; but after trying and +trying, the tinder caught from the flint and they quickly had a fine +fire crackling in a corner of the cave, and here they cooked +bear-steak and had the finest dinner they had had since they came into +the Arctic Regions. They were just thinking of going after the dogs +and the sleds, when up came the dogs dragging the sleds behind them, +and without a word, pitched in to make a hearty meal of bear-meat +themselves. It seemed as if they had got a whiff of the fresh steak +and pulled the sleds loose from the ice points to which they were +fastened. They were not, however, allowed to eat in any peace until +they had all recognized that Sate was the hero of this bear fight, for +he gave himself as many airs as though he had not only got the bear, +but had shot and skinned it. + +It was at this moment that the Eskimo guide came back, jabbering with +delight, and with his white teeth shining, just as if he had been as +brave as Sate. At first, Tommy and Johnny were inclined to be very +cold to him and pointed their fingers at him as a coward, but when he +said he had only one arrow left and had wanted that to get a sealskin +coat for Tommy's mother, and, as he had the sealskin coat, they could +not contradict him, but graciously gave him, in exchange for the coat, +the bear-meat which the dogs had not eaten. + +Having packed everything on the sled carefully, with the sealskin coat +on top of the pack and the bear's fur on top of that, and having bid +their Eskimo friend good-by, they turned their backs on the North Pole +and struck out for home. + +They had hardly started, however, when the sound of sleigh-bells +reached them, coming from far over the snow, and before they could +tell where it was, who should appear, sailing along over the +ice-peaks, but Santa Claus himself, in his own sleigh, all packed with +Christmas things, his eight reindeer shining in the moonlight and his +bells jingling merrily. Such a shout as he gave when he found that +they had actually got the bear and had the robe to show for it! It did +them good; and both Tommy and Johnny vied with each other in telling +what the other had done. Santa Claus was so pleased that he made them +both get in his sleigh to tell him about it. He let Sate get in too, +and snuggle down right at their feet. Johnny's box-sled he hitched on +behind. The dogs were turned loose. At first Tommy feared they might +get lost, but Santa Claus said they would soon find their way home. + +"In fact," he said with a wink, "you have not been so far away as you +think. Now tell me all about it," he said. So Tommy began to tell him, +beginning at the very beginning when Johnny took him on his sled. But +he had only got as far as the sofa, when he fell asleep, and he never +knew how he got back home. When he waked up he was in bed. + + * * * * * + +He never could recall exactly what happened. Afterward he recalled +Santa Claus saying to him, "You must show me where Johnny lives, for +I'm afraid I forgot him last Christmas." Then he remembered that once +he heard Santa Claus calling to him in a whisper, "Tommy Trot, Tommy +Trot," and though he was very sleepy he raised himself up to find +Santa Claus standing up in the sled in Johnny's backyard, with Johnny +fast asleep in his arms; and that Santa Claus said to him, "I want to +put Johnny in bed without waking him up, and I want you to follow me, +and put these things which I have piled up here on the sled you made +for him, in his stocking by the fire." He remembered that at a whistle +to the deer they sprang with a bound to the roof, the sled sailing +behind them; but how he got down he never could recall, and he never +knew how he got back home. + +[Illustration: Santa Claus said to him, "I want to put Johnny in bed +without waking him up."] + +When he waked next morning there was the polar bearskin which he and +Johnny had brought back with them, not to mention the sealskin coat, +and though Johnny, when he next saw him, was too much excited at first +by his new sled and the fine fresh cow which his mother had found in +her cow-house that morning, to talk about anything else, yet, when he +and his mother came over after breakfast to see Tommy's father and +thank him for something, they said that Santa Claus had paid them a +visit such as he never had paid before, and they brought with them +Johnny's goats, which they insisted on giving Tommy as a Christmas +present. So Tommy Trot knew that Santa Claus had got his letter. + + [Illustration] + + +---------------------------------------------------------------+ + |Transcriber's Note: | + | | + |The page numbers in the list of Illustrations have been | + |changed to match their position in this ebook. | + +---------------------------------------------------------------+ + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Tommy Trots Visit to Santa Claus +by Thomas Nelson Page + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TOMMY TROTS VISIT TO SANTA CLAUS *** + +***** This file should be named 25896.txt or 25896.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/5/8/9/25896/ + +Produced by David Edwards, Ronnie Sahlberg, Joseph Cooper, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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