ears since I
saw you last--yes, you were eight years old the last time I slipped
down the chimney of the old homestead and filled your stocking. Do you
remember it?"

"I remember it well," answered Joel. "I had made up my mind to lie
awake and see Santa Claus; I had heard tell of you, but I 'd never seen
you, and Brother Otis and I concluded we 'd lie awake and watch for you
to come."

Santa Claus shook his head reproachfully. "That was very wrong," said
he, "for I 'm so scarey that if I 'd known you boys were awake I 'd
never have come down the chimney at all, and then you 'd have had no
presents."

"But Otis could n't keep awake," explained Joel. "We talked about
everythin' we could think of, till father called out to us that if we
did n't stop talking he 'd have to send one of us up into the attic to
sleep with the hired man. So in less than five minutes Otis was sound
asleep and no pinching could wake him up. But _I_ was bound to see
Santa Claus and I don't believe anything would 've put me to sleep. I
heard the big clock in the sitting-room strike eleven, and I had begun
wonderin' if you never were going to come, when all of a sudden I heard
the tinkle of the bells around your reindeers' necks. Then I heard the
reindeers prancin' on the roof and the sound of your sleigh-runners
cuttin' through the crust and slippin' over the shingles. I was kind
o' scared and I covered my head up with the sheet and quilts--only I
left a little hole so I could peek out and see what was goin' on. As
soon as I saw you I got over bein' scared--for you were jolly and
smilin' like, and you chuckled as you went around to each stockin' and
filled it up."

"Yes, I can remember the night," said Santa Claus. "I brought you a
sled, did n't I?"

"Yes, and you brought Otis one, too," replied Joel. "Mine was red and
had 'Yankee Doodle' painted in black letters on the side; Otis' was
black and had 'Snow Queen' in gilt letters."

"I remember those sleds distinctly," said Santa Claus, "for I made them
specially for you boys."

"You set the sleds up against the wall," continued Joel, "and then you
filled the stockin's."

"There were six of 'em, as I recollect?" said Santa Claus.

"Let me see," queried Joel. "There was mine, and Otis', and Elvira's,
and Thankful's, and Susan Prickett's--Susan was our help, you know.
No, there were only five, and, as I remember, they were the biggest we
could beg or borrer of Aunt Dorcas, who