it had been a long and trying day to jimmieboy, as december 24th usually is to children of his age, who have great expectations, and are more or less impatient to have them fulfilled. he had been positively cross at supper-time because his father had said that santa claus had written to say that a much-desired velocipede could not be got down through the chimney, and that he thought jimmieboy would have to wait until the chimneys had been enlarged, or his papa had built a new house with more commodious flues.
"i think it's just too bad," said jimmieboy, as he climbed into bed an hour later. "just because those chimneys are small, i can't have a philocipede, and i've been gooder than ever for two weeks, just to get it."
then, as his nurse extinguished the lamp and went into the adjoining room to sew, jimmieboy[pg 12] threw himself back upon his pillow and shed a tear. the tear crept slowly down over his cheek, and was about to disappear between his lips and go back again to where it had started from, when a voice was heard over by the fire-place.
"can you get it down?" it said.
jimmieboy sat up and peered over toward the spot whence the voice came, but could see nothing.
"no. the hind wheels won't go through the chimney-pot, and even if they would, it wouldn't do any good. the front wheel is twice as big as the hind ones," said another voice, this one apparently belonging to some one on the roof. "can't you get it in through the front door?"
"what do you take me for—an expressman?" cried the voice at the fire-place. "i can't leave things that way. it wouldn't be the proper thing. can't you get a smaller size through?"
"yes; but will it fit the boy?" said the voice on the roof.
"lower your lantern down here and we'll see. he's asleep over here in a brass bedstead," replied the other.
and then jimmieboy saw a great red lantern appear in the fire-place, and by its light he noticed a short, ruddy-faced, merry-eyed old[pg 13] gentleman, with a snowy beard and a smile, tip-toeing across the room toward him. to his delight he recognized him at once as santa claus; but he didn't know whether santa claus would like to have him see him or not, so he closed his eyes as tightly as he could, and pretended to be asleep.
"humph!" ejaculated santa claus, as he leaned over jimmieboy's bed, and tried to get his measure by a glance. "he's almost a man—must be five years old by this time. pretty big for a small velocipede; still, i don't know." here he scratched his beard and sang:
"if he's too large for it, i think,
'twill be too small for him,
unless he can be got to shrink
two inches on each limb."
then he walked back to the fire-place and called out, "i've measured."
"well, what's the result?" queried the voice on the roof.
"'nothing,' as the boy said when he was asked what two plus one minus three amounted to. i can't decide. it will or it won't, and that's all there is about it."
"can't we try it on him?" asked the voice up the chimney.
[pg 14]
"no," returned santa claus. "that wouldn't prove anything; but we might try him on it. shall i send him up?"
"yes," came the voice from above, much to jimmieboy's delight, for he was quite curious to see what was going on up on the roof, and who it was that owned the other voice.
in a moment jimmieboy found himself in santa claus's arms, cuddled up to the warm fur coat the dear old gentleman wore, in which position he was carried up through the chimney flue to the roof. then jimmieboy peeped out between his half-opened eyelids, and saw, much to his surprise, that instead of there being only one santa claus, there were two of them.
"oh dear!" he said in astonishment; "i didn't know there were two of you."
both the santas jumped as if some one had let off a cannon cracker under their very noses.
"well, i declare!" said the one that had carried jimmieboy up through the chimney. "we're discovered. here i've been in this business whole centuries, and i've never been discovered before."
"that's so," assented the other. "we know now how america must have felt when columbus came sailing in. what'll we do about it?"
"we'll have to take him into partnership, i[pg 15] guess," rejoined the first. "it'll never do in this world not to. would you like to be one of our concern, jimmieboy?"
"oh, indeed i would," said jimmieboy.
"well, i say we let him help us this time anyhow," said the roof santa claus. "you're so fat, i'm afraid you can't get down some of these small chimneys, and jimmieboy is just about the right size."
"good scheme," said the other; "but he isn't dressed for it, you know."
"he can get a nice black soot down in the factory chimney," said the roof santa claus, with a wink.
"that's so; and as the factory fires are always going, it will be a nice warm soot. what do you say, jimmieboy?" said the other.
"it's lovely," replied the boy. "but how did there come to be two of you?"
"there had to be," said the first santa claus jimmieboy had seen. "the world is growing so fast that my work has nearly doubled in the last twenty years, so i had to get an assistant, and he did so well, i took him into partnership. he's my brother."
"and is his name santa claus, too?" asked jimmieboy.
[pg 16]
"oh no, indeed. his name is marmaduke. we call him marmy for short, and i can tell you what it is, jimmieboy,
"he is as fine a fellow
as ever you did spy;
he's quite as sweet and mellow,
though not so fat as i."
"and that's a recommendation that any man has a right to be proud of," said marmy claus, patting himself on the back to show how proud he felt. "but, santa, we must be off. it would not do for the new firm of santa, marmy, and jimmie claus to begin business by being late. we've got to leave toys in eighteen flat-houses, forty-two hotels, and an orphan asylum yet."
"that's a fact," said santa, jumping into the sleigh and grasping the reins. "just help jimmieboy in here, marmy, and we'll be off. we can leave his things here on our way back."
then, before he knew how it happened, jimmieboy found himself wrapped up warmly in a great fur coat, with a seal-skin cap on his head, and the dearest, warmest ear-tabs over his ears, sitting in the middle of the sleigh between the two huge, jolly-faced, members of the claus family. the long lash of the whip snapped in the frosty air, at the sound of which the reindeer[pg 17] sprang forward and dragged the toy-laden cutter off on its aerial flight.
at the start santa drove, and marmy prepared the toys for the first little boy they were to visit, handing jimmieboy a lot of sugar-plums, to keep him from getting hungry, before he began.
"this is a poor sick little fellow we are going to see first," he said. "he wanted a set of choo-choo cars, but we can't give them to him because the only set we have is for you, jimmieboy. your application came in before his did. i hope he won't be disappointed, though i am afraid he[pg 18] will be. a fish-pond isn't half so much fun as a set of choo-choo cars."
"that's so," said jimmieboy. "but, mr. marmy, perhaps, if it's going to make him feel real bad not to get them—maybe—perhaps you might let him have the cars. i don't want them too much." this wasn't quite true, but jimmieboy, somehow or other, didn't like to think of the little sick boy waking up on christmas day and not finding what he wanted. "you know, i have one engine and a coal car left of my old set, and i guess maybe, perhaps, i can make them do," he added.
marmy gave the little fellow an affectionate squeeze, and said: "well, if you really feel that way, maybe we had better leave the cars there. eh, santa?"
"maybe, perhaps," said santa.
and it so happened; and although he could not tell exactly why, jimmieboy felt happier after leaving the cars at the little sick boy's house than he ever thought he could be.
"now, jimmieboy," said santa, as marmy took the reins and they drove off again, "while marmy and i are attending to the hotels and flat-houses, we want you to take that brown bag and go down the chimney of the orphan asylum, and leave[pg 19] one toy for each little child there. there are about a hundred little orphans to be provided for."
"what's orphans?" asked jimmieboy.
"orphans? why, they are poor little boys and girls without any papas and mammas, and they all have to live together in one big house. you'll see 'em fast asleep in their little white cots when you get down the chimney, and you must be very careful not to wake them up."
"i'll try not to," said jimmieboy, softly, a lump growing up in his throat as he thought of the poor children who had no parents. "and i'll make sure they all get something, too."
"that's right," said marmy. "and here's where they live. you take the bag now, and we'll let you down easy, and when we get through, we'll come back for you."
so jimmieboy shouldered the bag full of toys, and was lowered through the chimney into the room where the orphans were sleeping. he was surprised to find how light the bag was, and he was almost afraid there would not be enough toys to go around; but there were, as he found out in a moment. there were more than enough by at least a dozen of the most beautiful toys he had ever seen—just the very things he would most have liked to have himself.
[pg 20]
"i just guess i'll give 'em one of these things apiece, and keep the extra ones, and maybe perhaps they'll be for me," he said.
so he arranged the toys quietly under the stockings that hung at the foot of the little white beds, stuffing the stockings themselves with candies and apples and raisins and other delicious things to eat, and then sat down by the fire-place to await the return of santa claus and santa's brother marmy. as he sat there he looked around the dimly lighted room, and saw the[pg 21] poor thin white faces of the little sleeping orphans, and his heart stirred with pity for their sad condition. then he looked at the bag again, and saw the extra dozen toys that were so pleasing to him, and he wondered if it would make the orphans happier next morning if they should wake and find them there, too. at first he wasn't sure but that the orphans had enough; and then he thought of his own hamper full of dolls, and dogs, and tin soldiers, and cars, and blocks, at home, and he tried to imagine how much fun he could get out of a single toy, and he couldn't quite bring himself to believe that he could get much.
"one toy is great fun for an hour," he said to himself, "but for a year, dear me! i guess i won't keep them, after all. i'll just put them in the middle of the room, so that they'll find them in the morning, and maybe perhaps—— hello!" he added, as he took the extra toys out of the bag; "they were for me, after all. they've got my name on 'em. oh, dear! isn't it love—— i don't know, though. seems to me i'd better leave them here, even if they are for me. i can get along without them because i have a papa to play with, and he's more fun than any toy i ever had; and mamma's better'n any doll baby[pg 22] or choo-choo car i ever saw. yes, i will leave them."
and the little fellow was true to his purpose. he emptied the bag to the very last toy, and then, hearing the tinkling bells of santa's sleigh on the roof again, he ran to the chimney, and was hauled up by his two new friends to the roof.
"why, you've left everything except the bag!" cried marmy, as jimmieboy climbed into the sleigh.
"yes," said jimmieboy, with a little sigh; "everything."
"but the bag had all your things in it, and we haven't a toy or a sugar-plum left for you," said santa.
"never mind," said jimmieboy. "i don't care much. i've had this ride with you, and—al—together i'm—pret—ty well—satis—fi——"
here the little assistant to the claus brothers, lulled by the jingling of the bells, fell asleep.
it was morning when he waked again—christmas morning—and as he opened his eyes he found himself back in his little crib, pondering over the mysterious experiences of the night. his heart was strangely light and happy even for him, especially when he thought of the little[pg 23] orphan children, and tried to imagine their happiness on waking and finding the extra toys—his toys—in addition to their own; and as he thought about it, his eyes wandered to the chimney-place, and an unexpected sight met his gaze, for there stood the much-wished-for velocipede, and grouped around it on the floor were a beautiful set of choo-choo cars exactly like those he had left with the sick boy, and a duplicate of every one of the extra toys he had left at the asylum for the orphans.
"they must have been playing a joke on me," he cried, in delighted tones, as he sprang out of bed and rushed over to where the toys lay. "i do believe they left them here while i was in the asylum. the—dear—old—things!"
and then jimmieboy was able to measure the delight of the orphan children and the little sufferer by comparing it with his own; and when he went to bed that night, he whispered in his mamma's ear that he didn't know for sure, but he thought that if the orphans only had a papa and a mamma like his, they would certainly be the happiest little children in all the world.
