te,
"You shall have my candy wabbit;"
But the door was fastened tight.
So he stood, abashed and silent,
In the centre of the floor,
With defeated look, alternate
Bent on me and on the door.

Then, as by some sudden impulse,
Quickly ran he to the fire,
And while eagerly his bright eyes
Watched the flames grow high and higher,
In a brave, clear key he shouted,
Like some lordly little elf,
"Santa Kaus, come down the chimney,
Make my mother 'have herself."

"I'll be a good girl, Bennie,"
Said I, feeling the reproof;
And straightway recalled poor Harney,
Mewing on the galley roof.
Soon the anger was forgotten,
Laughter chased away the frown,
And they gambolled 'neath the live oaks,
Till the dusky night came down.

In my dim, fire-lighted chamber
Harney purred beneath my chair,
And my play-worn boy beside me
Knelt to say his evening prayer:
"God bess fader, God bess moder,
God bess sister," then a pause,
And the sweet young lips devoutly
Murmured "God bess Santa Kaus."

He is sleeping: brown and silken
Lie the lashes, long and meek,
Like caressing, clinging shadows,
On his plump and peachy cheek;
And I bend above him, weeping,
Thankful tears; O undefiled;
For a woman's crown of glory,
For the blessing of a child.

Annie C. Ketchum

[Page 77--Santa Claus Land]

[Illustration: Santa Claus filling the Stockings.]

Old Santa Claus

Old Santa Claus sat alone in his den,
With his leg crossed over his knee;
While a comical look peeped out at his eyes,
For a funny old fellow was he.

His queer little cap was tumbled and torn,
And his wig it was all awry;
But he sat and mused the whole day long,
While the hours went flying by.

He had been busy as busy can be,
In filling his pack with toys;
He had gathered his nuts and baked his pies,
To give to the girls and boys.

There were dolls for the girls, and whips for the boys,
With wheelbarrows, horses and drays,
And bureaus and trunks for Dolly's new clothes;
All these in his pack he displays.

Of candy too, both twisted and striped,
He had furnished a plentiful store,
While raisins and figs, and prunes and grapes,
Hung up on a peg by the door.

"I am almost ready," quoth he, quoth he,
"And Christmas is almost here;
But one thing more--I mus