the floor and Johnny could
see the owners hop into a snow-white bed.

Then Johnny saw the man walk to the lamp and turn the light down low,
and leave the great big room.

Johnny Cricket jumped out of the crack into the fireplace and ran out
into the great big room so that he might see what the man had pounded.
The light from the lamp was too dim for him to make out the objects
hanging from the mantel above the fireplace. All he could see were four
long black things, so Johnny Cricket climbed up the bricks at the side
of the fireplace until he came to the mantel shelf, then he ran along
the shelf and looked over. The black things were stockings.

Johnny began to wish that he had stopped to put on his stockings, for he
was in his bare feet. He had removed his little red topped boots when
he decided to climb up the side of the fireplace and now his feet were
cold.

So Johnny started to climb over the mantel shelf and down the side of
the fireplace when there came a puff of wind down the chimney which made
the stockings swing away out into the room, and snowflakes fluttered
clear across the room.

There was a tiny tinkle from a bell and, just as Johnny hopped behind
the clock, he saw a boot stick out of the fireplace.

Then Johnny Cricket's little bug heart went pitty-pat, and sounded as if
it would run a race with the ticking of the clock.

From his hiding place, Johnny Cricket heard one or two chuckles, and
something rattle. Johnny crept along the edge of the clock and holding
the two feelers over his back looked from his hiding place....

At first all he could see were two hands filling the stockings with
rattly things, but when the hands went down below the mantel for more
rattly things, Johnny Cricket saw a big round smiling face all fringed
with snow-white whiskers.

Johnny drew back into the shadow of the clock, and stayed there until
the rattling had ceased and all had grown quiet, then he slipped from
behind the clock and climbed down the side of the fireplace as fast as
he could. Johnny Cricket was too cold to stop and put on his little red
boots, but scrambled through the crack in the fireplace and hopped into
bed. In the morning Mamma Cricket had a hard time getting Johnny Cricket
out of bed. He yawned and stretched, put on one stocking, rubbed his
eyes, yawned, put on another stocking and yawned again. Johnny was still
very sleepy and could hardly keep his eyes open as he reached for his
little red-