“I want two new Teddy bears, the biggest you have, Santa Claus,” the pencil said. “I want one that is pure white like snow and another that is furry and brown. Both should have a squeak and if you have any that will growl, I’d like that kind, too.
“I want a white doll carriage lined with pink satin. They have them at Bunty’s Department Store, for I saw them once and they cost twenty-five dollars. I want a big doll to go in it. I want a whole wardrobe of clothes for it, a new doll cradle, and it must have a pink silk dress, too. I want a doll that will open and shut its eyes—one with real hair. It must talk, too.
“You can bring me, beside this, a boy doll with a sled and all the different kinds of clothes that a little boy ought to wear. I want a real toy automobile with a horn and a lamp—not the kind that is like a tricycle, because I already have one like that—I mean the real kind that runs with gasoline. They cost a hundred and twenty-five dollars, maybe a little more, but I don’t think you mind what they cost.
“I want a doll house that is nicer than the one you gave me before. It ought to be big enough for me to go into myself and I would like to have it built up in the garden like a real house. You can put it down by the greenhouses because it will be too big to bring into our house or carry down the chimney, I know. And then too I want—”
Mary Louise’s blue eyes considered the ceiling for a space of time: “I want a ring like mother’s—one with a blue stone in it,” she added. While she was trying to think of something else to ask for, the door of the library opened and in walked Mary Louise’s big daddy. He glanced for a minute at Mary Louise and he took up the telephone.
Mary Louise’s daddy was busy there several minutes. He watched Mary Louise nibbling the end of her pencil and he looked over her shoulder at the letter. As he did so, a smile crossed his face. “Writing to Santa Claus, Mary Louise?” he asked when he put down the receiver.
“I was wondering what to ask for next,” Mary Louise informed him. “I think I’ll ask for another pony. Nibbles is very nice, of course, but I’d rather like one that will trot faster. I think I’d like a white pony with a white kid harness and a white basket-cart.”
“You’re asking for a great many things, aren’t you?” daddy suggested. “Maybe it might be well to close the letter now. I’ll take it with me and mail it on the way down town—better address the envelope.”
“I might think of something more,” remonstrated Mary Louise. But she folded the six sheets of pad paper and put them into the envelope that daddy held out. Then she addressed it to Mr. Santa Claus, Santa Claus Land, Santa Claus Country, North Pole, exactly as nurse had told her.
Daddy put it into his overcoat pocket as Mary Louise had seen him put letters that he posted for mother. Then as the library door closed, she plumped herself down upon the thick black fur rug in front of the fire to look at a picture book.