He had a broad face and a little round belly
That shook, when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly,
He was chubby and plump—a right jolly old elf—
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself.
Year by year the funny men of the pencil and the pen do their best to add to his eccentricities yet always they retain a measure of respect for the dear old gentleman.
French children gazing up the chimney for gifts.
Old French print.
One comic artist sends him to Wall Street among the brokers and the bankers, yet he preserves his dignity even among those shrewd and clever men, and is ready to teach them more than they can hope to teach him.
Other artists make him turn to account the latest inventions of our inventors and scientists. Even if one picture does show him coming to grief on an automobile, another catches him in the very act of utilizing a flying machine.
Again we are shown another side of the matter. We are brought face to face with the unbelief of the child who is ripening into boyhood or girlhood.