Our American St. Nicholas
is a jovial little fellow, with a very red nose, white hair, white beard, short pipe, fur-trimmed clothes, and a little round belly—which shakes when he laughs, like a bowl full of jelly. Every youngster also knows that he comes in a little sleigh, drawn by eight tiny reindeer; but in spite of this universal knowledge among the children of America of Santa Claus’ personal characteristics, the long-legged saint of Europe still fills our illustrated papers, each year as heretofore, and badly upholstered giants are made to stand for the saint in all the shop-windows, and frighten the children out of their seven senses. It is a fact that many of the little ones take these big ungainly giants for the ones which Jack the Giant-killer is supposed to have slain.
Fig. 257.—Ready for Christmas.
All American children love their little American Christmas saint, whose individuality was born with the verses beginning
“It was the night before Christmas, and all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse,” etc.
Any boy who has a box of tools, and is at all clever at carpentry, may make a framework similar to the one shown in the preceding illustrations, but when it comes to preparing the