Shepherd Knapp

“ My dear Children all over the world, I, who write you this letter, am your old friend Santa Claus, and how shall I tell you the sad news, for tonight is the night when I ought to get into my reindeer sleigh and go about filling your precious stockings with Christmas gifts, and I cannot do it because I am sick. My back aches like a tooth ache, and every joint in my whole body is so stiff that I can hardly move. Old Father Time, who pretends to be something of a doctor, says the trouble is that I am growing old—the idea of it! ”

“ I'd like to be a little boy now and then, just for a short time, to see once more how it would feel to run and shout and play and eat and laugh, the way I used to. But then I think I'd pretty soon want to be myself again, old as I am, because there are some grand things about old age that I think I'd miss if I had to be a little boy for good and all. ”

“ Now the curtain opens, and you see the Roof of a House, just as Mother Goose promised. Keep your eyes open to see what will happen next, for here comes JACK FROST, who is dressed all in white. He walks with a quick and nimble step, and this is what he says:
Would you believe from the look of things, that to-morrow is Christmas? There is not a flake of snow anywhere. This roof is as clear as it is in summer. These pine trees, whose boughs hang over the roof, are all green. The chimney has not even an icicle on it. I hear people saying that we have no old-fashioned winters any more. ”

“ Come, Nurse Mary, says JACK, you must take your medicine.
Do you suppose it is very bitter? asks NURSE MARY.
I think it is, says JACK, looking into the bottle and smelling it. It looks bitter and it smells bitter.
But you mustn't mind that, Nurse Mary, says POLLY; because it will make you well.
All right, says NURSE MARY. Pour it out.
Then Polly holds the spoon, and Jack carefully pours the medicine into it. Nurse Mary opens her mouth, swallows the dose, and makes a wry face, shuddering. ”

“ Now, I want you to take these nuts and stick them into the plum pudding, which they are all going to eat tomorrow for their Christmas dinner. You must stick them in all around in different places, so that each of the older people will be sure to get one; and it won't do the children a bit of harm if they get some, too. In fact they are so young that this kind of magic won't have any effect on them at all. But with all the older folks, as soon as the nuts have been eaten, the magic will begin to work; and what do you suppose will be the first thing they will all want to do? ”

“ Almost at once snow begins to fall from the sky, slowly at first, then more and more. Jack Frost looks up at it and nods his head approvingly. When it is snowing very hard, in come on tip-toe, very softly, the Snow Fairies, dressed in snowy white, with white hoods and muffs. Some of them quietly spread snow on the boughs of the trees, taking it out of their muffs; others hang flakes on the Chimney, in such a way as to make eyebrows, mustache, and beard for the face. ”

“ I don't wonder, says FATHER. When there is so much to be done, some things simply have to be left. Perhaps there will be time tomorrow morning. I'm leaving some things for tomorrow myself. For instance, I promised Mary I'd sweep out the kitchen here, after I'd brought in the wood; and it needs it, sure enough, for I see I've tracked in a lot of dirt. But I'm going to beg off for tonight. I'll do it first thing in the morning. I only hope that Santa Claus won't notice it, and think we're an untidy household. ”

“ When the curtain opens you can see nothing at all at first, for the room is all dark, just as Mother left it, you remember, when she went out and took the light with her. But after a moment you can hear something—the sleighbells far away. Nearer and nearer they come; then there is a stamping sound on the roof; then a sort of scrambling sound in the place where you know the chimney is; and then Santa Claus, who by this time is crouching down in the fire-place, turns the light of his lantern into the room. He steps out carrying his pack, and then down the chimney come Jack and Polly. ”

“ The brownies, cries WALTER. See! In the wood box.
I don't see anything, says FATHER, except that someone has left the lid of the wood box open.
Oh, and the fairies, cries GERTRUDE, pointing toward the clothes basket. There they are. I see them.
MOTHER turns around to look, and then says to Gertrude. There's nothing there, my dear.
Oh, but there is, GERTRUDE declares. They are in the basket.
Everybody stands up. Gertrude and Walter come around from behind the table, and look at the fairies and brownies, but they don't go very close to them, because they are just a little bit scared. ”

“ They will all want to get down on their hands and knees, Grandfather and Grandmother and all, and crawl under the table. Won't that be funny? They all clap their hands and dance up and down. That's what the magic hazel nuts will make them do, says SANTA CLAUS. And when they have crawled under the table—you see, it's a table that has a Christmas dinner on it, and that makes a difference, of course—well, when they have crawled under the table, then—. ”

“ Good-bye, cries MRS. SANTA CLAUS as they go out at the door.
Good-bye, good-bye, they ALL call back.
Then there is more stamping of hoofs outside, and a great jingling of sleighbells, which grow fainter and fainter, as they drive away. ”

“ Each captive is offered a choice between "plum pudding" (that is Gertrude's side) and "ice cream" (that is Walter's side) . At the very moment when the tug-of-war is about to begin, the outside door opens, and in comes Santa Claus. At once, they all leave their games, and gather around him.
Oh, Santa Claus, cries WALTER, have you come to play with us?
How can I play with you? answers SANTA CLAUS. I'm far too big, and far, far too old. One of the fairies has gone to the table, and gotten a plate of plum pudding, which she now offers to Santa Claus. What's this? he asks. Plum pudding? ”

“ If candies or gifts are to be distributed to children in the audience, as when this play is used as the Christmas entertainment of a Sunday School, Mother Goose may come out again, as soon as the curtain closes after the second scene, and speak as follows:
Well, my dear children, my little Play for you is finished, and I hope you liked it. There is just one thing left to be said. Those little boys and girls whom you saw asleep in their beds found that Santa Claus had not only put into their stockings presents for THEM, but also left something for YOU ”

“ So POLLY reads: "Dear Santa Claus, I am so glad that tomorrow is Christmas. We have all hung up our stockings, and I think I would like best to have a doll in short dresses. I love you very much. Your little friend, Polly. P.S.—I think Mother would like a ball of white knitting cotton." I had to put that in a postscript, Mother, because I forgot, too.
And now FATHER, who has been listening all this time, says: Where will you put the letters?—on the mantel-piece or in the stockings?
Oh, on the mantel-piece, answers JACK. We always put them on the mantel-piece. ”

“ Each of his eyes is exactly the shape and size of one brick. So is his nose. And his mouth is as long as two bricks side by side. They all turn a very bright red, when they appear, as though light were shining through them. ”

“ One is that you think old Mother Goose is a good friend of yours, and loves you all very much. And you're quite right about that, for I declare, I love every one of you as much as I love—plum pudding. And the second reason why you are all smiling, I guess, is because you think I am going to show you a Christmas Play. And you're right about that, too. I have a play all ready for you, there behind the curtain, and the name of it is "The Christmas Dinner." ”

“ The other person is a woman, you will see, and she must be Mrs. Santa Claus. There are two other figures that look a good deal like people, but they are only big toys that Santa Claus and his wife have been making, a soldier on one side, and a doll on the other. ”

“ For tomorrow is Christmas, and don't you remember, that one of the ways in which Christmas is different from all the other days in the year, is the way in which the food is helped out at the Christmas dinner? On other days the oldest people are helped first, and the youngest ones have to wait: but at Christmas dinner, the first one to be helped to each thing is the very youngest one of all, and then comes the next youngest, and so on all the way round, and the oldest one has to wait till the very last. ”

“ The children and Grandmother, standing in front, allow but an imperfect view of the fire-place, so that the illusion is easy to produce. The fireplace, however, may be a real one, if that is more convenient. In that case the flashlight must be operated by one of the children, kneeling in front of the fire-place; and when Santa Claus enters the room must be absolutely dark, so that he will first be seen when he turns on his flashlight, as he crouches before the fire-place, having apparently just come down the chimney. ”

“ In these three boxes are three electric lights which can be turned on and off independently by the boy inside the chimney. Dry batteries have been used when an electric current was not available. The light shining through the cambric makes the face. Turning off, and on again, the light behind one of the eyes makes the chimney wink, etc. Small hooks or nails, sticking out above the eyes, under the nose, and under the mouth, should be provided to hold the snow which the fairies hang on to represent eyebrows, mustache and beard. ”

“ And what have you been doing with yourselves? he asks them. Playing? They all nod. And working? he asks. They nod again. Then the brownies draw him over to the their side, and show him how clean the floor is. Good! says SANTA CLAUS. Then the brownies let go his hand, and the fairies draw him over to their side, and show him the caps they have made. Fine! says SANTA CLAUS. Then the fairies let go his other hand, and he goes on talking. How are Gertrude and Walter? Have they been good? They all nod. As for the older people, he says, I don't need to ask you about them. Do you want to know why? ”

“ He and Mother are both fast asleep, and they haven't an idea but that Jack and Polly are fast asleep in their beds too. But you and I know that they are in the reindeer sleigh with Santa Claus. And all the time they are coming nearer and nearer. Listen for the sleighbells, for now it is going to begin. ”

“ The fire-place must be an imitation one as the transformation in the last scene requires this means of exit and entrance, from under the table. A very effective fire for the first scene can be produced by means of an electric fan pointed upward and strips of bright red and yellow paper fastened to the back of a log set on the andirons: and it can, of course, be made to die down at will. ”

“ The little girl and boy are writing letters—can you guess to whom they are writing?—and the mother is knitting, and the father is reading his newspaper; as you will see in a moment for yourselves. So be very quiet, for now it is going to begin. ”

“ It is not necessary to use real beds. Boards on low horses or boxes will make excellent substitutes, and a strip of cloth will conceal their structure. An advantage of this plan is that they need not be as long as regulation beds. Four children to a bed means packing them like sardines, but it can be done, and it always amuses the audience. ”

“ It certainly is getting cold, says SANTA CLAUS to himself. For he does not see Jack Frost and the Snow Fairies, who are hidden behind the Chimney. He goes on talking: And what a lot of snow there is about here. It is really like the Christmas eves we used to have fifty years ago. My pack seems to be coming undone. He stoops to fix it. I should hate to have it burst open, while I was going down the Chimney.
Now the Snow Fairies have come out from behind the Chimney, and are stealing up behind him on tip-toe. When they are quite close, they throw great handfuls of snow at him. ”

“ Then he goes on. You see it's easier to make toys big, but I couldn't carry them that way, for the sleigh wouldn't hold them, and besides they wouldn't go into the stockings. So after they are made, I put them into the machine, and shrink them. Open the doors, Polly, and we will shrink these two.
So Polly opens the doors, and at a signal from Santa Claus the doll and the soldier walk in; but they move in a funny stiff way, because they haven't any joints at their knees or elbows.
Then SANTA CLAUS shuts the doors. Jack, say he, you may turn the crank, if you want. So Jack turns the crank. ”

“ Off Walter starts around the room, the others following, first Gertrude, then the brownies and the fairies, then the others, with Santa Claus bringing up the rear. They go over the wood box, onto a chair and down again, and at last Walter dives under the table, in the opposite direction to that in which the magic change was made. The children, the brownies, and the fairies go through without any change, of course, but the other five all come out in their original form. They stand up straightening their clothes, Mother and Grandmother setting their hair to rights. ”

“ There should be two doors on opposite sides of the stage, and a practicable window at the back, through which in the last scene a view of houses or landscape is visible, and the Waits at the close.
As the fire-place is at the side, it is easy to arrange steps by which the elf and the children appear to climb up and down the chimney. A box or small step ladder, just out of sight on the side toward the front, will serve the purpose.
The Carol of the Friendly Beasts may be sung to the following tune:
[Click to hear a MIDI of this tune.] ”

“ He opens the other eye, and his nose and mouth appear. He speaks more briskly: It feels as though there were something hot in there. Do you suppose those stupid people in the house down below have forgotten all about Santa Claus, and are lighting the fire on the hearth? I believe they are. I wish you'd just climb up on my shoulder, and shout down to them to stop. Do: there's a good fellow.
JACK FROST climbs up, puts his head over the chimney, then draws back coughing. Fire? ”