The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 25, 1898, Page 31

DECEMBER 25, 1898. - 81 GIRLS EDITED BY DAVID H WARKER THE BOGUS . SANTA CLAUS. 72 school Ther n Ve day had ¢ 1 as if it had taken place s ox sled \as about i about. four 3 s wide : whi 1gh to bear up a load ad eap” to . fastened to draw hauled was very thick a 1d be doubled ba sled h from the e back. We had been sliding in the for-some time at the or noon had been a very fine tim But ther and ventur daring leader not lack was Ned Tinker. As T w the schoolhouse hill after a over the hard snow s going up long slide I heard a triumph- ant shout, 1 looki I saw Ned and several of the large boys drawing las Newell sled from besic t lightning,” oard now for the st ride upon the Hurra e rls gathered uaded them large boys an Ned and he * “Good boy, s lookin’ on be great sport in the tup to the bot- upon the ox sled a little afraid that this periment, but when Ned asked me to go I was foolish enough to accept the invitation. I did not see how the sled was to be steered, but Ned said that he had often done the trick, successfi teering with the neap, and that, t upon “meeting- house ¥ which was twice as steep and 10ng as the school house hill. The neap was turned back upon the sled s piled on, to the n at le: . shouted Ned; and we boys and g number of two ¢ ‘Let her go, “here, one get off and push a bit to get us started. Hurrah, we are off now! Beecho! Beecho! Jiminy but this is ar The st part of the hill we got along very well. e road was straigh a Ned, who was cool he was brave, no difficulty to keep the middle ac... But farther down another i the road upon which ng along at breakneck n g the nly came into view sied which was piled up high 1 wood, and drawn by oxen ver had any experie can not understand how they are, ho yelled Ned, that would have done all factory whistle. At he turned our sled so ht have passed the other ly if only the oxen had But the animals_were un- geable. They halted d.-ectly in of the road so that we had OUNG Y. illy THis year ole Sax Bumpus said, said he— Claus Ile ketch. I never get a from me til he promises to fetch ; things from his countree. sleep: now is the time his window high to climb. no possible chance to escape a collision. We turned white foreseeing that there would be broken b s for some of us directly and we were sorry that we had taken up the chance to slide upon a concern which could not be stopped— any more than a runaway locomotive could be stopped before it had run its entire course. % jump for your lives.” s Ned's voice. Some of the big leaped into the deep snow banks e the road and escaped serijous in. although they were badly shaken The boys rclled off. 1 had my bone broken. Kitty Linus had left arm broken. When we regained our feet and hob- bled down the road to where our sled ad come into collision with the other x sled we saw a pitiful object. Ned upon a blanket upon the snow, and still. He was not dead, but as s less. The owner of the other sled paid Ned a high compliment. ‘Little rascal,” he said, ‘“he could have dropped off like the rest of you; only he hung on and tried to steer so that the sled should not kill my poo oxen, He is a trump, sure enough.” That was the fact. Ned had been swift enough to lead us into danger, but he had tried, at the risk of his own rid doing harm to the cattle e obstinacy had led to our disaster. ver coasted on the ox sled after amous and perilous ride. MARY BAIN. ——- DEAR CHRISTMAS. BY LEON HUNT, OAKLAND. HRISTMAS is here now; C' The chiidren are glad. 'will find us all cheering; None now will be sad. For joy is our birthright, nd even if we Don't get many presents ill happy we'll be. I fancy old Santa Claus yesterday, ding h gh with beautiful toys; There seems to be a frown on his brow As he tries to remember the girls and the boys. P EEEL Father—I hope little brother agai to_chew with. Sobhing Daughter—Next time I'll chew him all up. you will never bite your your teeth were made o & Yy _igp( r‘y;’ AP age=g | TEADY, feilows, here th y come.” The speaker was the captain of the boys of the Eighth grade in a New England school, who had been elected that morning because of his pluck and also because he was a swift and sure throwe now had fallen two days earlier. The boys had made a great snow fort, over the top of which they could just look. Within the fort they had piled snow balls, “enough to stand a siege,” Harry Malcolm, their captain, had said. The Ninth grade boys had promptly chal- lenged Harry Malcolm’s foilowers to a battle, the challenge had been prompt- ly accepted and all the boys in the two grades were enlisted in one or the other of the two armies. Albert Wal- ton commanded the Ninth grade army. At the command of Harry Malcolm, th boys in the fort picked out the hardest and roundest snowballs that they could find—each boy having a pile of missiles directly In front of him—and made ready to defend the fort. Albert Wal- ton at the same instant shouted, “At them, bo with a will!” Forward rushed his army with a ringing cheer. Hardly had Albert’'s command been given when army was within range of the fort. They rushed at three sides at once, the front, back and the corner, where the opening for the door had been made. Harry saw that the main attack was to be made at the entrance, and at once called for a for- lorn hope of twelve boys to go outside to fight back the greatly superior num- ber of the enemy at that point. He had no lack of volunteers. Indeed, all the boys wanted to go to the place where the battle would rage the hot- test. Harry led the forlorn hope leav- ing the command of the interior of the fort to Charlie Leech. Albert had at least fifty boys back of him and they poured in volley after vol- ley against Harry's forlorn hope party. Harry's markmanship was about per- fect. He singled out the biggest boys among his enemies and hardly one did he miss. The rule of the fight was that any boy, except the captains, who was hit twice was to be considered as dead and consequently out of the fight. The leaders were to stay until the end of the fight, no matter how many times they should be hi The only lmit to their endurance was to be found in their pluck. How the battle did rage at the en- trance to the fort for five exciting min- utes. Harry's forlorn hope being so greatly outnumbered were killed off in short order, but new volunteers were ready to take their places. 3 saw his home, he saw the road; H He ached with bruises—shivered, wet. A banty chicken at him crowed, And that put Billy in a pet. “Tle find Ole Santy, if you please,” He snid, and stumbled o'er a hive of ees. > Harry sent a lieutenant into the fort to see how the battle was going there. The report was that the forces in the fort were easily holding their own and that they had killed off a large num- ber of the enemy, while the high walls of the fort had proved to be a suffi- cient protection to the garrison to make their Ic much smaller than were > of the invaders. obably,” so thought Harry, “the waiting until they can get us tired out and then they will make a grand rush upon all the parts of the fort at once.” He was about to call his forlorn hope slowly within the fart, when a well aimed snowball, fired by Harry, struck Albert squarely on top of the head and with such force that he took the opportunity to make a feint of withdrawing from the fight for a minute. Carrying out his plan, the bo who stood near him when he was hit, said in tones of alarm, “Back! back! the The whole in rance of the fort general is in trouble.” vading force at th drew back. H s followers, with whom all had been going too well, rushed from the fort in great fo 5 olling, “We have them upon the run, charge! A Albert’s army seemed to be forced farther and farther ba More and more of Harry's army left the interior of the fort and the battle was con- fined entirely to the ground just out- side of the fort, where both armies were en~aged fierce that iy snow- balls flew in every direction and the dead men were numerous. But now Albert’s strategy was dem- onstrated. While the fort was almost HEN Biily spread his par-a-shoot W And boldly launched himself on ed he fell quite rap-id-lee water barrel there. The par-a-shoot collapsed—you bet! And Billy’s clothes got sopping wet. entirely deserted by those in the inte- rior, a band of Albert’s scouts, crawl- ing up to the wall of the fort upon the side farthest removed from the main battle, reached the fort without being detected. With their jackknives and some sharp sticks they succeeded in tunneling through the wall. - Once within the fort they managed to de- stroy all the ammunition there was in the fort, although, being vigorously fought, they were all killed to a man. How suddenly then Albert recovered from his wound. Placing himself at the head of his reserves, who were now seen to be the best throwers in all the school, he gave the command for =2n advance at double quick. Harry had in the meantime learned of the dam- age that had been done by his enemies in the fort, and, seeing the mistake into which his followers had been clev- erly tricked, he commanded an instant retreat'to the fort. Too late. The enemy were already swarming into the fort from the rear through the tunnels they had made. At the same time the advance upon the front in overwhelming force was too atrong to be resisted long successfully. Soon the garrison was between two fires and the boys were killed off at a rapid rate. At last only Harry was left to fight for his side. For a time he stood bravely against the combined fire of a crowd of boys. His nose was bleed- ing; one eye was closed. Upon his face and body rained a pitiless shower of swiftly thrown snowballs, Albert magnanimously army to retreat. “The victory,” said the principal of the school, he having been called upon to decide as an umpire, “is with the Ninth grade, commanded by Albert, who has displayed military strategy of a high crder. The bravest boy in the school is Harry.” D H W, called his HE boys had cut th kating pond into cak unning benders,” as they called their sport. The game was to skate across the cakes of ice as they floated and avoid falling into the icy water. This was dangerous enough, but the more dangerous it was—the more the cakes of ice bobbed around under the.weight of the skaters and the narrower escapes the lads had from getting a wetting—the more they liked it. There was a perfect little witch of a girl who was an ‘expert upon her skates and who pridea that she was able to run as fast, to climb as tall trees, to swim as far, and to cut as many fancy figures upon the ice upon her skates as any boy of us all. That was the truth, and, as she was the best-natured and prettiest girl who came upon the skating pond she was easily the prime favorite of the skating s ice on the and were et. While the sport of “running benders” was at its height Mary Ducy came skim:aing along the surface of the ice with the ease and speed of a swallow. “Room for one more.” We heard the words and stood aside. Like a flash she dashed upon the sway- ing cakes of ice. Like a flash she lost her footing and fell. Almost before we could realize what had happened she had slipped into the icy water from one of the cakes of ice and the .ice closed over the place where she gone down. In the ciowd gathered around “benders” was Mary's father. He an invalid. “Save my daughter,” he shrieked. “One hundred dollars to the brave boy who will make the attempt.” Tom Gleason, “Surly Tom" we had called him, was the one to respond. He had come to the spot, holding a long pole in his hands. Without paus- ing an .instant he threw _this pole across “the benders,” so that it rested upon solid ice at either end. Holding to this he leaped boldly inte the icy water. The cakes of ice separated un- der his weight. A few bubbles of air came up and we were horror stricken, thinking that this indicated that Mary had been drowned. - ' shouted Tom; had the was ‘throw a ne who had arrived with a rope just in the nick of time threw it to the venturesame boy. He reached down and seized a dark object, which was about to go down again. It was Mary Ducey. Holding on with the en- OW what a plight for this small boy. Santa he hunted, but not found Steers, water, bees—him all annoy— But still he thought he heard the sound Of Santa's sleighbells—so a ride On Dobbin he will try beside. ergy of despair, Tom managed to get the rope around her form while he held her head above water. He had no lack of assistance now. HERE ARE THE NAMES OF SIX METALS AS PICTURED BY THE BALTIMORE @MERICAN. had - Boards were brought and placed upon the quaking ice cakes and the girl and Tom were drawn out. Mary was well from the shock in a few days. Tom took the $100 from her father and we found out later that he had given it to a poor family that he had discovered. ROBERT L. GRISCOM. at Gracle's home. Gracle did not like Cleo after a while. She said that she liked her other doll, Magle, the best, so she kept giving Cleo to her sisters all the time. She would not give her to any one outside of the family, because she wanted her where she could play with her once in a while. ITH a puff and a pull and a choo! ehoo! choo! And a ding of the bell and a ong. And a hiss and a siss and a whistle so shrill, And the train is moving along. In his little blue coat and warm mittens, too, And a cap on his curly brown head, With his ticket held fast and eyes shining bright, This is what young Tommy said: “Let me off, Mr. Trainman, at Claus town, For 'tis Santa I'm going to see; Fer, you see, 'twas last year that I wrote him a line, But he never wrote back to me. Santa ““I told him I lived on a mountain so high, Where the pine trees rcw so near, And I told him about all the snow cov- ered trails, Which was best for his sted And I wrote him about baby And of cunning brother Jack, And I wrote ‘if you please when I asked for the toys, But he never answered back. nl deer. sister, too, > SAN JOSE CALIFORNIA S e e INIIRANYY Ivizaewy R T =T\ And when poor Jacky cried and mother stockings hung there, The baby’'s, and Jack's, and mine, . With never a toy nor a sugar plum sweet, Of Santa there was not a sign. “And when poor Jacky erfed and mother looked sad, I said, ‘Never mind, Jacky, dear, Santa Claus was so busy, I guess, he forgot; I don’t let him forget next year.’ “So, I'm coming this time, Mr. Trainman, to get The things he forgot last year; Then he don’t have to go up the steep snowy trafl With his sled and tired reindeer.” And the traln moved along with @& clickety-click, And the wheels turned faster stlil, And ianbn in plain sight was Santa Claus own, : And the whistle blew loud and shrill. And then, hand in hand, the trainman and Tom On old Santa went to call, And no happier boy than Tom could be found ‘When he got his presents all. BY ETHEL WINKLER, STOCKTON. NE bright summer day I was run- ning and playing among some shaggy oaks with tall hanging branches, covered with green leaves. I saw birds gaily si and hopping to and fro from limb to limb. Suddenly I saw three little birds fluttering underneath the tall oak: 1 ran very swiftly to catch them. I seemed quite contented in their home. T hung the cage on the new porch, so that the papa and This they Scon they had bird could feed them. many times a day. HIS was in South San Fran-cis Where Billy has passed all his da There to and fro the cattle go, - nd some of them have cur’ Billy was next chased by a That made him run like any grown so that they could sit upon their perch. They would cpen their queer lit- tle mouths and stretch their necks whenever any one came near them. ‘When they had grown large enough to fly 1 decided to let two of them fly away. I opened the cage door and took them out. Their mother and father came and coaxed and begged them in their bird language to g¢ away to a pleas- anter home, but they perched upon the top of the cage and would not leave their little brother, who was in cap- tivity. Finally, they did fly away, but for many nights they would return to their cage, where they would sleep till day- break. At- last they came no more. But my lone little Dicky bird was not forgctten. His papa and mamma came every day just as if nothing had hap- pened. When the leaves began to fall they failed to come. So Dicky was left alone. He grew to be a perfect little pet. I would take him from the cage and let him fly about the room. He would hop about the room hunting lit- tle crumbs and bits ¢f bread. I would hold out my finger, when he would open his mouth and flip his wings, as if he thought he could fight me. He would pick at my fingers and seem to be glad when he thought he had whipped me. This he would do also when I ap- proached his cage. We all learned to love him very dearly. One day as he was singing in his cage and enjoving the sunshine a kingbird came that way and caught Dick with his ugly beak. I came to his rescue. Dicky bird was no more. This made us all feel very sad, even if he was a brown linnet. I never see a bird when I do not think of my lost pet. —_— . — STORY OF CLEO. By LUCIA A. STRAWN, LEO was a doll. She was made in China and then put on board a big ship and sent to San Fran- cisco, and then put on board the train . and sent to Woodland, where she saw many little girls and a great many locked at her. At last a woman came in and looked at her and then paid for her and took her to a lit- tle girl named Gracie, who played with her and broke one foot off. In a few days Gracie and her mamma went to the train with Cleo and got om, and then after a ccuple of days they were MY PET BROWNEY. By BLANCHE HIGGISON, IONE, CAL Y pet Browney is a very cute little dog. He can sit up and shake hands and do lots of other things. One day I went visiting and I put a saddle on Browney and my doll rode on his back. My friend also saddled her dog Beauty. We took our lunch baskets and went over on the creek back of the mill. After we ived there a number of other little girls joined us. We all played in the sand and then ate our lunch and the doggies had their share of it, too, and then in the evening we saddled our dogs and came home. We had a fine time. Browney will let me do almost any- thing I want to with him. He will let me hitch hir up to a little cart, but he will not let any one pull his tail. b MAN IN THE MOON. By MABEL VOISINET. HE moon man looked down one bright winter's night, And saw St. Nicholas making hig ight; He saw that his bag was loaded 2 with toys With a perfect assortment, for good girls and boys; But when St. Nicholas was homeward bound, The man in the méon found; He had hidden behind a big black cloud, And was merrily laughing, but not very oud; nowhere to be For he thought that Santa, deep in the Snow, Might fail to find the best way to go; But ia;\l'ta's great reindeers required no ght, For tuey learn all the byways before it is night. BUNNY BLACK NOSE. ITTLE ISABEL RUTHERFORD cf 2314 Parker street, Berkeley, who attends the Dwight way public schoo!, and who is 8 vears old, sends in the following story about her rabbit. which is called “Bunny Black Nose": I have a cunning little bunny. My father made me a wire cage for it. He is gray, with a black nose and paws, and that is why we call him Bunny Black Nose. Sometimes he will dig holes -and get out into our chicken yard. Then I have to catch him. Papa let him loose in the chicken yard one LACK A DAY! Was e'er such luck? The horse would only go one way. Bill dared not tempt the brute to buck, But _let him take the homeward way. Shed tears—give not poor Billy secorn; Santa was there while he was gone! Sunday; the chicken-house door was open and he got out. I could not find him. Then I told mamma, and she came out tc see if she could find him. Mamma found him eating papa's raspberries. Mamma caught him and put him in his pen. My rabbit can put his front feet upon the wire and beg, he can sit down and he likes to run. 2 B Mother—Joe, why do you suppose that old hen persists in laying in the coal bin? Joe—Why, mother, I think she has seen the sign, “Now is the time to lay in your eoal.”—Golden -Days.