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Speaker 1: How Santa Claus came by William O. Stoddard now don

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said Rad Burnell dolefully. Do you believe any kind of

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a snow storm could stop Santa Claus from coming? Well, yes,

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that's it. I heard father tell mother he couldn't get

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here in time, and I know he meant something about

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Christmas by the way he looked at Pettish and Molly

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was Berry there. She was sound asleep in the cradle,

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And mother said, Berry won't care, but it'll be at

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this point for the rest of em It's an awful

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snow storm, Rad, But I guess Santa Claus will come

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for all of that. Just a little later, mister Burnell

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said to his wife, I'm sorry we didn't get our

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things in the village, Maria, but it's too late. Now.

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Don't say anything to the children. It'll be bad enough

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when it comes. Nobody else heard him, but Missus Burnell

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looked as if she wanted to cry. That was one

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of the whitest nights anybody in the world ever saw,

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for the snow had thrown the thickest kind of a

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white blanket over everything. Some of the roads were drifted

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level from fence to fence, and the railroads were having

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a tremendous time of it. Anything so black as a

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locomotive could hardly feel at home pushing its way along

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through so white a country, or into so white a

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village as Middleville was that Christmas Eve. It was a

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dreadfully long night, and Pettish woke up three times and

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tried to make herself believe it was morning. The last

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time she heard the great clock in the academy steeple

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on the village green, pounding away at its task of

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telling what time it was. I'll count, said Pettish, nine

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twelve seven, fourteen fifteen six. I guess it's most time

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to get up, must be it's Christmas now. Just then

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she heard a noise in the next room, and she

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listened with all her ears. First it was a rustle,

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and then the loudest kind of a whisper, loud enough

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to have been heard in daytime. Rad Rad, it's just

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struck five. Let's take a scoop downstairs and see about it.

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We can hurry right back again. They're pulling on their stockings,

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said Pettish. I'll get up and pull on mine, but

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I won't let them see me. She tried very hard

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to get up without waking Molly, but it was of

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no use, for Molly's sleep had been begun at the

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right time and was fairly over now, considering that it

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was Christmas morning. Oh, Pettish, what are you going to do?

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Sh sh, Molly? The boys are going downstairs to look,

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and I'm going too. Lie still. But Molly was two

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years older than Pettish, and she wouldn't lie still. She

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was out on the floor in a twinkling and she

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made Pettish wrap herself all up in a blanket, and

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she pretty nearly buried her own chubby shape and are comfortable.

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That was about what Rad and Don had done already,

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and they were now carefully creeping down stairs in the dark.

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The door of the front parlor was nearest the foot

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of the stairs, and the boys left it open after

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them when they went in, but Molly and Pettish closed

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it very softly and carefully the moment they were safe

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in the dim, gloomy parlor. The boys were just beyond

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the folding doors at that moment and did not see

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that they were followed. Berry was sound asleep in her crib,

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within reach of her mother, or she would have heard

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her say just then, Oh John, it's a dreadful disappointment.

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What will those poor children do poor Pettish, said mister Burnell.

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We can explain it to the boys and they can wait,

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and to Molly, but it'll be bad enough for any

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of em. But Pettish would break her little heart if

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she finds that Santa Claus hasn't come. It'll be almost

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as much of a disappointment to Aunt Sally and Frank.

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I hope they'll bring mid with them when they come,

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of course they will. Now that had been a very long, white,

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beautiful dark night, and a great many queer things had

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happened in it. They are sure to in any night

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before Christmas. But there had been a wonderfully deep snow

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storm away on toward morning. Just when the Academy clock

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was trying to make sound asleep, people hear that it

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was really four, a tired out and frosty looking railway

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train came, smoking and coughing up to the platform at

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the Village railway station. It did not stop long, but

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some people got out of one of the sleeping cars,

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and some baggage was tumbled out of the baggage car,

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and a sleepy man with a lantern, said yes, sir,

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carriage your in a minute, sir, all right, we don't

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want any carriage, My man, take our checks and have

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our trunks brought over to mister Burnett's before seven o'clock.

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We'll walk right there. Now, come, Sallie, Come along Mid Frank, Husband,

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you'll drop some of those things. No, I won't, Sallie.

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Mid My dear boy, look out for that box. It's

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only pasteboard. I'll be careful, mother. I ain't a wait yet.

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But it takes all three of us to Santa Claus

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this pile. Hope it isn't far. The cold, frosty air

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was fast getting Mid wide awake, and they did look,

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all three of them, as if they were have done

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better with a sleigh and a good team of reindeer.

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The distance was short, but Aunt Sallie talked pretty nearly

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all the way. We must do it, Frank, she said,

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as they drew near the gate, I'm sure they've given

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us up. We can get in. There never was any

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bolt on the kitchen window over the pump. Middleton can

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climb right in and come and open the side door

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for us. Oh, but won't that be fun? Exclaimed Mid

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as he hurried silently forward. Sh there, Sallie, whispered Uncle Frank.

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As he and his portly, merry faced wife lugged their bundles.

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After Mid, it was less than half a minute before

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they were in the kitchen. They promptly shut the door

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between the dining room that was the sitting room too,

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and the back parlor. And then how they did work.

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Plenty of wood and shavings and kindlings were dying in

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front of the great Franklin stove in the dining room,

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and there was quickly a blazing fire there and in

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the kitchen too, and Mid insisted on lighting every lamp

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and candle he could lay his hands on. Then the

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bundles came open, and their contents began to shine all

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around the chimney and over the mantel, and even on

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some of the chairs. It's too bad we haven't any

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of their stockings, began Aunt Sally. But she exclaimed the

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next instant, Oh, Frank, here's Maria's work basket, all full

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of stockings. I know. Then those are dons. There's a

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pair of rads, Molly's pettish, Berri's the dear little kitten.

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We've got em, mother, let's set the table. That's it.

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You help him do it? Father, won't we give em

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a surprise? It was wonderful how those three did work

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and not make any noise about it, and how they

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did change the looks of that dining room and kitchen

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before five o'clock. Aunt Sallie even put on the tea

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kettle and made some coffee. And it was evident that,

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for once Santa Claus was disposed to be very much

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at home. If they had not been drinking their coffee,

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perhaps they might have heard a voice not many minutes

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after five o'clock whispering anxiously to somebody in the back parlor.

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I say, there's a light coming through the keyhole. There's

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a rattle too in there. Burglars pooh, no, it's Christmas.

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Oh boys, is Santa claud was really in there? Has

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he got here? Is that? You pettish? And Molly too?

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Keep still. I'm just going to open the door a

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little mite of a crack, but you can all peek in.

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Aunt Sannie's ears must have been good ones, for carefully

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has done opened that door? And faint, as was the

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squeak it made, she sprang suddenly toward it, is that you. Maria. Hush,

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don't make a sound, not a loud noise for anything.

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We won't. Aunt Sallie, hush. Even pettysh did just as

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she was told for once, for she was a little

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scared when the great blaze of light came shining through

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the door. As Aunt Sallie pushed it wide open, it

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was shut again the moment they were all in the room,

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And then it was all Aunt Sallie and Uncle Frank

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could do to keep up any kind of silence in

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that merry assembly. They could not have done it at

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all if Aunt Sallie had not told them all it's

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a great secret. You must help us give Papa and

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Mamma a big surprise. Now, let's get breakfast for them.

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Biddy went away yesterday morning, said Molly, but I know

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where the eggs are. Whatever She and Pettish could not find,

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Don and Rad could, and Aunt Sallie was the best

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kind of a cook. It was nearly six o'clock when

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Missus Burnell said to her husband, I'm glad Berry waked up.

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She's all dressed now, and I can wrap her up warm.

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So am I, my dear. I'll go right down with you.

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Those poor children. I haven't the heart to look at them.

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Let's hurry down. So they did, and Berry went down

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in her mother's arms. But they little dreamed what was coming.

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A great shout welcomed them as they opened the door

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of the dining room. Wish you merry Christmas, oh, Sallie, Frank,

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I am so glad. But how did you get in?

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Breakfast's ready? Christmas has come. Nobody could have described that

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next half hour to have saved his life, and Aunt

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Sallie said she had never been so happy in all hers.

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Molly said, Pettish, won't you go upstairs and bring down

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all their clothes? Yes, children said their mother. You must

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get dressed. Yes, And mother said Pettish. There was only

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two pairs of my stockings in the basket, and they're

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both full. If molly'll bring the pair I had on,

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there's more than enough to fill em. So there was.

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For Aunt Sallie had not only bought and brought everything

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mister and missus Burnell had written to her about, but

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she had heaped on a huge assortment of presents on

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her own account, and Pettish had at least her share.

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While Uncle Frank had looked out for Molly, and nobody

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had forgotten Berry or any of the boys. It was

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quite the usual time when they got ready to eat

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at last. But there was nothing of what Rad and

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Pettish called a dispoint in any face at that reckfas

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Santa Claus had come. End of How Santa Claus Came

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by William O. Stoddard