People's Pilot, Volume 5, Number 27-25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 January 1896 — Page 32 Advertisements Column 2 [ADVERTISEMENT]

par/qer Stebbips as Sapta Qaus. By WILL OABLETOH. [Copyright, 1885, by American Press Association.) We went to Pegtown visiting, my good old wife an’ me, An’ thought that we wonld bathe ourselves in Chris’mas joy an’ gleet For Sarah Ann, a buxom dame, an’ daughter, too, of mine, Resides there with her older half an’ children eight or nine; An’ so we gathered gifts enough to make ’em all content An’ took the train an’ landed there the very day we went. The children warmly greeted us an’ crowded round With four a-perchin’ on my knees an’ young uns still /fySwfafergPw An’ asked about my spectacles, an’ how I growed A IlY An * my papa my teeth before I got so big, M [Y4e An ’ how m y whiskers come to bleach an’ other ques--11/1 I rCWTA tions prone nljf ma^e a realize that younger days hav« •***• An’ if I ever looked it up how fur I was around, An’ when I run if it would shake the whole ad- - jacent ground. An’ if the your-correct-weight box didn’t think I was a lot, An’ if I wouldn’t have to put two pennies in the slot, With other questions well designed to give a hint to me That I was not a first class sylph so far as they could see. An’ when I told ’em fairy tales they wouldn’t beAn’ said the Sin'bad sailor things could never have An’ all the pleasant little lies that used to cheer my They set upon without delay as destitute of truth.* An’ when of Christmas mysteries in solemn tones I J-r H) They laughed an’ said that Santa Claus was all “a $ (GjSsBaJT bloomin’fake. ” & Vpf 14 L So Christmas eve I slyly told my daughter vjfli 9 Sarah Ann; “I’ll show the tots a little sight to laugh at if they can. You rake the fireplace clear o’ fire, not tollin’ them the cause, An’ I'll come down the chimney way dressed up as Santa Claus. It isn’t very fur to climb—the weather’s pretty mild, An’ I would do three times as much to interest a child.”

•••iciaiaiiiaivsMaauaaiaaiia aaiaiaaaaiaaaaaaaaaaaiaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaiaaaaaaaaaainaiaaaaaaaaaaaaai lataaaaiaaaaaaaaaaiaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaiaaaaaaaaaiaaaaaaai * weut au’ clad in hairy garb, with whiskers long \ An’ other things to paralyze the inexperienced sight, / -^ u ’ * Solne sleigh bells bright an’ new a-hangin’ An’ pockets full o’ Christmas things to add unto my J the strongest ladder rope that I could fiud I entered in the chimney top an’ clambered slowly tL My goodness sakes! Who ever heard of such untimely luck? The chimney narrowed all to once, an’ suddenly I stuck . An’ hung there like a roastin’ hen a-waitin’ to be brown, For spite of all my effortin’ I couldn’t get up or down. An’ then the chil’ren heard the noise an’ run distressin’ fleet An’ looked an’ yelled: “It’s Qran’pa Steb. We know him by his feet”. An’ then their mother had to tell what I had tried to do, _ Whereat their little fancies sprung the subject to Th *y asked me if I’d traveled far, if chimneys inAn’ where my span of reindeers was, an’ if they’d til like some oats, „ An’ told me, with a childish greed for Christmas If I would throw the presents down, I needn’t »«n»e An’ there I hung for quite awhile, with fury in my heart, Until they brought a mason in, who took the bricks apart; An’ though they made the children stop, an’ sent ’em off to bed, I knowed what they was tbinkin’ of an’ what they prob’ly said, An’ when the mornin’ did appear an’ breakfast time occurred, They set around the table there forbid to say a word; A-suflerin’ so to laugh at me, afraid that I’d be tAn’ longin’ for their presents, too —I knowed it well An’ then a tear come in my eye, an’ like a fond old I went an’ dug the presents out an’ give ’em all to An’ then I says, “If Santa Clans is what you call ‘a These pr’tty things he brought fur you is real an’ no An’ then they up an’ danced around an’ kissed me, one by one, An’ hugged me harder than the blamed old chimney just had tjone, An’ with a thousand looks of love incumbered me with thanks An’ made me like ’em more an’ more in spite of all their pranks. An’ one, the prettiest of the whole, who always took my part, She smiles an’ says : “It’s Gran’pa Steb. We know him by his heart!” imMMMMMmMniiwnnmiHimmnMmii •'■«M,i>„ a „n lniiaiai « lßaiiaia „ naf Jiiiinnminiiminnit