“Salvation Armies, they make Santa Clauses. They’re not real—only anybody dressed up. Most likely your cousin’s Santa Claus was like that,” Rose retorted. “The Salvation Army Santa Clauses they always stand by the street corners to catch Christmas dinner pennies in their pails.”
“No. ’Twasn’t that kind of a Santa Claus! He’s real!”
“Well, you won’t find him in no directory,” Rose argued. “You just go an’ look. All real folks’ names is in it an’ you won’t find Santa Claus. There ain’t any!”
With this parting thrust, Rose squeezed through a sudden opening in the line and escaped into the reading room beyond.
Lili waited for her book to be discharged, then she raised a questioning little hand toward the lady at the library desk.
“Please,” she asked, “where is the directory book?”
“Downstairs,” the librarian answered. And downstairs Lili went.
The directory book was really very, very big indeed. It was almost a pity that it couldn’t be a story book, for one could never have done with a story book that size. There’d always be something new to read in it. When the fat volume was opened on its desk, Lili studied it at random trying to make out what it all meant. She decided to begin at the very beginning, so she commenced with A, turned on to B, and ran her forefinger down page after page. It took a great deal of time and patience. The text was very small and Lili was afraid she might overlook it. Down page after page it travelled till it came to Claus—Oh, there it was: Claus, Adolph, carpenter! No. That couldn’t be Santa Claus—the whole name wasn’t right. And beside that, he wasn’t a carpenter, Lili felt sure.
How many people there were by the name of Claus! Well, with patience, one might find the right one! “Then I shall tell Rose that there is a Santa Claus for sure,” thought Lili. On down the list she went.
There was an S. T. Claus. That was the nearest to it. Who knows what that S. T. might mean in the way of abbreviation? The address was not far from the library. Lili decided to go down the avenue and find out if it were where the real Santa Claus lived.