Scowling, she watched her husband fill
The silken foot and leg
With bonbons, fruit, and toys until
It almost broke its peg.
"My!" whispered Santa, "here's a crop.
This little boy is wise;
He knows I fill 'em to the top,
No matter what the size."
But Mrs. Claus misunderstood,
Like every jealous wife;
She would make bad things out of good,
To feed her inward strife.
Snapped she unto herself: "The minx
Sha'n't have a single thing!
I'll take 'em home again, methinks,
Nor leave a stick or string!"
So said, so done; and all that night
She followed Santa's wake,
And as he stuffed the stockings tight,
She every one did take,
Stowing them all unseen away,
In order grimly neat,
Within the dark box of the sleigh,
All underneath the seat.
And when gray dawn broke, and all
The bells began to peal,
And tiny forms down many a hall
And stairway 'gan to steal,
In vain each chimney-piece they sought—
Those weeping girls and boys—
For Christmas morn had come and brought
No candy and no toys.
Charles Henry Lüders.
SANTA CLAUS TO LITTLE ETHEL.
(IN ANSWER TO HER LETTER, GIVING HIM A LIST OF HER CHRISTMAS WANTS.)
My dear little Ethel,
I fear that the breath'll
Be out of our bodies before we get through;
Day in and day out
We are rushing about,
And you haven't a notion how much there's to do.