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Speaker 1: Missus Santa Claus by Caroline S. Bailey. It was Christmas Eve.

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Old Santa Claus was just ready to start out upon

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his long journey over the snowy tree tops and roofs

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to find the waiting chimneys and the little empty stockings.

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Such a busy day as it had been, with the

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brownies finishing the packing, and Missus Santa Claus sewing buttons

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on the last doll's dress and tying the last hair

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ribbon and smoothing the last curl. But everything was ready.

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The sleigh was packed from top to bottom, so full

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that it seemed as if Old Santa Claus could never

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squeeze in himself. There were tops and drums and jack

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in the boxes, and steam engines, and hundreds of dolls,

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and barrels of chocolate drops and peppermint canes were hanging

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out from the back. The reindeer were harnessed and prancing,

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Dasher and Dancer, and Donner and Vixen and the rest.

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The sleigh bells were ringing gaily, and Old Santa Claus

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jumped in and took the reins. Good Bye, mother. He

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called to Missus Santa Claus, who stood in the door,

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to watch the sleigh start. Anything I can bring you

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from the city. Dear, I think I need a new

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pair of spectacles, said Missus Santa Claus. My eyes are

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growing dim with so much sewing. If the stores are

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open when you finish tonight, just bring me a stronger

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pair of glasses. I will good bye, shouted Santa Claus,

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with a dash and a jingle of bells. The reindeer

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jumped to the top of the trees and started, and

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Missus Santa Claus went in to sit in her rocking

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chair by the fire and doze. The workshop was very still.

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Christmas Eve, you know, is the only time of the

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whole year when Santa Claus's workmen may rest. So the

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little brownies who paint the sleds and nail the doll

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houses and test the steamboats were curled up in heaps

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on all the benches, fast asleep and snoring. The candy

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kettles were polished and hung in a row upon the

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kitchen wall. Missus Santa Claus sat and rocked by the

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fire and thought of all the dolls she had dressed.

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There were four hundred with silk dresses, she said to herself,

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and two hundred with blue. There were five hundred baby dolls,

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and I never finished dressing them until to day. I

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wonder if Santa packed them all. I must go and see.

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So Missus Santa Claus lighted a candle and went out

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to the sewing room and peered about. In every corner.

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There were piles of silk and velvet and satin and

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ribbon all over the floor. But oh, there sat three dolls,

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a baby doll, a doll in pink, and a doll

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in blue. Santa Claus had forgotten them. What shall I do?

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What shall I do? Cried Missus Santa Claus, looking out

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of the window to see if Santa were anywhere in sight.

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But he was not. We counted them all, and there

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were just enough to go around. Three little girls will

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have no dolls on Christmas morning. I shall have to

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go with them myself. Out in the barn, there was

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just one reindeer standing in his stall. It was Blitzen,

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who had a lame foot, so he could not take

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the long journey with thee. He was contentedly munching hay.

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But Missus Santa Claus tucked the dolls under her arm,

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put on her little red shawl, tied her cap strings tighter,

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and hurried out to the barn. Come Blitzen, she said,

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as she saddled him and jumped on his back. We

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must go as fast as ever we can after Santa Claus.

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He has left three dolls behind. So Blitzen dropped his

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hay and they started over the woods and the fields

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and the fences. They dashed so fast that the wind

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was left far behind. They looked very funny, indeed, for

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Missus Santa Claus had forgotten to take off her apron,

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and her cap was all awry. But on they hurried,

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and when they came to the towns, Blitzen stopped at

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every roof that Missus Santa Claus might look down the chimney.

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But Santa Claus had always been there first, and the

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stockings were filled, and the dolls were waiting. We counted

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them all. Missus Santa Claus kept saying to herself, some

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one will need a doll, And sure enough she came

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to a very wee chimney of a very wee house,

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and there was a stocking hung, but there was only

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an apple in it, nothing else. So Missus Santa Claus

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dropped the beautiful doll that was dressed in pink silk

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into the stocking and started on once more. Presently they

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came to another house, and when Missus Santa Claus looked

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down the chimney, she saw no stocking at all hanging

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by the fireplace, and there was no fire even. There

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was nothing in the room but a table and a

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broken chair and a bed where a little girl so

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thin and pale, lay sleeping. And Missus Santa Claus dropped

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the doll in the blue silk dress right down into

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the little girl's arms, and hurried on again. When they

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had come to the very end of the town, Missus

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Santa Claus saw a little girl standing out in the street.

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She had a bundle of papers to sell, and no

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one had seen her because she was so small, and

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she was waiting out in the cold and the snow.

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Missus Santa Claus dropped the baby doll down to the

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little girl's lap, and then she turned Blitzen toward home again.

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It was almost Christmas morning when they reached the barn,

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and oh, they were very tired. When Santa Claus came

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back with his empty sleigh and the new spectacles, he

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found Missus Santa Claus fast asleep in her rocking chair

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by the fire. Poor mother, he said, she's been sewing

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too much. And Missus Santa Claus woke up, but she

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never told about the three dolls and of Missus Santa

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Claus by Caroline S. Bailey