Patten Beard

“ Some magic must have been at work, for right there upon the sandy beach sat a pink gingham dress much like Betty’s own! It turned as Betty’s white shoes crunched the coarse gravel. “Hello,” she greeted. “I was just wishing I had a girl to talk to and then you came!”
Betty laughed. “I was just wishing, myself,” she smiled. “I’m staying with Mrs. Roberts. Do you live next door?”
The pink hair-ribbon bobbed. “I’m staying with my aunt,” it said. “I just came from the West. I don’t know a soul my own age here and it’s stupid. Now that you’ve come, let’s have some fun together. My name’s Lydia. ”

“ There is no use to start a quarrel. There is no money to buy valentines at all, either for Louisa’s teacher or for Marguerite Santos.”
But if the subject of valentines subsided once in a while, it was sure to start again on the next day when Maria, Louisa and Angelina passed homeward by the wonderful windows of the ten cent store. There was never time to stop. Only a hasty glimpse did Louisa and Angelina snatch. Oh, the joy of going into the store to see the piles of candy on the candy counter! Oh, the happiness of gazing at bright colored ribbons and wonderful toys! ”

“ The Telephone Santa Claus The shops were full of Christmas toys. There were Christmas greens and fir trees everywhere. Big ribbon-trimmed holly wreaths began to appear in front windows and everybody in the streets carried Christmas bundles. At this time, too, Mary Louise, who lived in the large and beautiful house with mother and daddy, and who was the only little girl they had, began to plan what she should ask Santa Claus to bring her.
Can anybody ever have too many toys? Mary Louise had a whole toy closet full. ”

“ Oh, dear! Oh, dear! How the time did fly! Before Mary Louise knew it, Christmas Eve was there! There had been all the fun of fixing the tree and daddy and mother had helped. Mary Louise hoped Santa Claus wouldn’t disappoint her! She hoped that he surely would come! She was very much relieved when James came in and said that he had just been asked to deliver a message that came from Santa Claus over the telephone. It was a telegram and it said:
Will be at your Christmas party Christmas Eve eight o’clock. ”

“ So downstairs went Marjorie. She stopped half way as Mother opened the mysterious door and passed in with the May basket. She saw nothing. She heard nothing. Now, wasn’t that just dreadful! Marjorie’s curiosity was much bigger than ever but she went down to help darling little sister, Dotty, cut paper dolls out of the fashion sheet.
But while she cut for Dotty, she kept wondering and wondering and wondering. She decided that she’d write a note upon some paper and slip it under the door and say on the paper:
Who are you, mysterious stranger? ”

“ Some of the girls giggled.
“Take out your English books for grammar, oral,” commanded Miss Allen. “Betty Peters, you may conjugate the verb ‘to love.’”
So Betty began: “Present tense, indicative mood: I love; thou lovest; he loves; we love; you love,” and then with her eyes upon Mary and Laura she ended, “they love.”
Everybody in the class laughed for there was Laura with her arm around Mary and both of them were laughing and crying, too.
“Buttinski did it,” smiled Miss Allen. “I hope nobody else in this class will have a quarrel. ”

“ Never before had Santa Claus called Mary Louise up by telephone! Never had she spoken to him except for a few brief minutes at a Christmas party celebration.
“You are,” returned the voice. “Well, I’m glad you are at home, Mary Louise. There’s something very special that I want to talk about. It’s almost time for me to receive your usual Christmas letter. I suppose there are a great many things that you will want. Have you been a good little girl this year?” ”

“ Louisa and Angelina believed in their bird-flower and they wondered, too, if all spring flowers came from little birds. At night when their father came home, they asked him. At first he laughed and did not understand. Maria explained.
[Pg 86] “They are children,” she smiled, “and they think a bird is like a bulb or seed. They cannot understand the difference. They watched the little brown bird all winter, and Louisa gave it crusts that she ought to have eaten. And they found it by the roadside where the rude children up the hill had killed it. ”

“ And Mary Elizabeth’s tree had always been a tree that people came in to look at and admire. It was not like any other tree. It was always a surprise, somehow. Money was needed to buy things to make it wonderful. Money was needed to make it a bright surprise as usual!
At school, Mary Elizabeth found herself puzzling over this problem as vacation time drew near. It was harder for her than any arithmetic problem, for it could not be solved at all. Twice she saved five cents by walking home and that bought candles. But the problem remained as usual. It was how to get more money. ”

“ All of a sudden, Solita shouted, “I’ve won!” She made her way with difficulty through the tangle, holding her hat, piled high. The tin pail hung upon her arm and dropped berries at every step.
“Let’s see?” Sue questioned. “I don’t believe it; you come here an’ we’ll compare.”
So the two floundered around in the high growth of weeds and made for the first clear space that there seemed to be. They met at the stone doorstep of the old house and put their load of berries down there upon its broad, flat tableland. ”

“ You know, of course, Mary Louise, that there are ever so many little children that do not get Christmas presents, especially in war time.”
“Are there?” inquired Mary Louise. “I suppose it’s the children who have been naughty.”
[Pg 21] “Oh, no.”
“What is it, then?”
“It’s not because I forget them or because they are naughty,” explained Santa Claus’ voice. “It’s because too many goodies go to the rich little children. Then the poor little children who would like toys—they have nothing.” ”

“ Lili insisted, “I ain’t either but I think there is a Santa Claus all right. He don’t know us, maybe, but he’s awfully good to some children. My cousin that goes to Sunday School gets a doll, and a box of candy, and an orange from him every Christmas. He has a long white beard an’ he’s ever so jolly!”
“Salvation Armies, they make Santa Clauses. They’re not real—only anybody dressed up. Most likely your cousin’s Santa Claus was like that,” Rose retorted. “The Salvation Army Santa Clauses they always stand by the street corners to catch Christmas dinner pennies in their pails.” ”

“ The doctor’s little girl thrust up the sash of Billy Williams’ window. “I’m awfully hard up,” she pursued, “or I’d have bought some sunflower seed to bring with me. You ought to have sunflower seed to sprinkle on your bird-shelf, for it brings the chickadees and the purple finches and ever so many other kinds of birds. The woodpeckers come for the suet and if you have peanuts, beautiful big blue jays will come and carry them off. Could I have twenty cents to buy sunflower seed, do you suppose? It costs ten cents a pound at the druggist’s.” ”

“ How fast the nineteen dollars and fifty-three cents did go—just buying the tree and the fixings, and the sled and the overcoat and mittens, and skates, and carts, and baseball bats! It was a tragic moment when Mary Louise suddenly discovered that Benny had been neglected and didn’t have as many gifts as the others. She consulted daddy, as there were no boys’ toys among her playthings and nothing seemed right. Daddy said—well, he said she might work and earn the money to buy Benny a present.
Never in her life had Mary Louise worked to earn money! “How can I earn money?” ”

“ Nobody had ever seen anything like it upon an attic floor. Mother laughed. She was used to Mark’s imaginings. She said she didn’t connect it with a little harmless mouse gnawing at a hole.
At the mention of a mouse gnawing, Mark became almost dramatic. “It was no mouse!” he declared. “Don’t I know what a mouse sounds like!”
Hallowe’en came, but even the fun of dressing up like witches lost the usual flavor. Mark, Marjorie and Richard were worked up to a pitch of excitement over the circle on the attic floor. They talked of nothing else. Mark had read up on astrology in the encyclopedia. ”

“ Miss Allen took Mary’s book to give to a visitor who came into history class, but Laura wouldn’t pass half of hers over to Mary. When Miss Allen saw that she said, “Laura!” in a sharp voice. So Laura put the book upon the desk between them and it stayed there. Nobody turned its pages.
At lunch hour, Mary avoided Betty Peters. Laura disappeared and Sallie Overton found her eating her lunch off on the studio stairs—away from everything. Mary ate hers alone in the cold garden. It must have been that Miss Allen realized how silly they were behaving, for she tried to set matters right. ”

“ One day when the paperers were busy, Mark went into a store-closet that adjoined the room and somehow he did find a place that was hollow. It was back of a board shelf in the closet and, when opened, was quite a hiding place. There was nothing in it. Marjorie insisted that it was where the gas pipes had been before electricity was installed. But Mark called it triumphantly the secret panel. He talked a great deal about it and showed it to the neighbor’s children, Eleanore and Mabel and Richard. He even persuaded Mother to hide some silver in the place for safe keeping. ”

“ It was dreadful to wait—at least dreadful for little Mamie Bates who was thinking about daddy’s promise and the pony. One always made more mistakes than one knew of, somehow, yet she had tried ever so hard. ”

“ Mother laughed. “Why, Dot,” she explained. “You put the things into the pockets as surprises because you give the Surprise Book away to somebody that you love very much. Every pocket holds a surprise when it is sealed fast. You write on each pocket the exact time when it is to be opened and the one you love very much must open the pockets and find the surprises only when the time falls due. Do you see?”
Dotty beamed. “I see,” she chuckled. “I’m going to make a Surprise Book right away. What can I put into it for Marjorie to find?” ”

“ At any rate, Daddy and Mother and Mark and Dotty made fun of the failing and Marjorie, when she stopped to think twice—which wasn’t so very often—tried hard to overcome unnecessary curiosity. Sometimes it is a fine thing to be curious and again, it’s bad. ”

“ The receiver was hung up at the other end of the line and Mary Louise stood bewildered before the library table where she had just written her long Christmas list. She stood there thinking it all over from beginning to end. She, she had been asked to help Santa Claus! It was a great distinction! Poor overworked Santa Claus had appealed to her as a very rich little girl who already had everything—and she mightn’t get the pink doll at all! ”

“ In the morning, Mark put the matting over the very precious circle and the two went downstairs hinting at wonderful secrets of things they had found and strange noises they had heard. Marjorie said it seemed to her that she had heard a queer noise too—up overhead. She said it sounded like Mark tapping for secret panels. Then everybody laughed because of the memory of how Mark was shut up tight in the harness-closet once upon a time, a victim of his love of mystery and [Pg 165] adventure. Then Richard said he thought Mark had heard a mouse.
“Mouse! Does a mouse rattle?” inquired Mark. ”

“ Betty Peters always helped Mary. She used to enjoy the fun.
But one day, it ceased to be fun. Laura always was a little jealous of Betty Peters. She used to wait at the door of the German [Pg 65] room with Mary’s lunch-box because she herself had a study-hour just before recess and she could be there as soon as Mary’s class was dismissed. Then Mary would always call out to Betty Peters a long list of German words that meant nothing and Betty Peters would reply. On the memorable Friday when this stopped being amusing, Laura was there waiting when the two came out. ”

“ September was almost school time again. There seemed to be a long, hard thing in the September pocket that was not the story pocket. Marjorie said it felt as if it were a stick of candy. She had wanted to open the surprise long before September 13th, the date set, had come. But at last it was September 13th and she tore open the seals that held that leaf of the Surprise Book’s pocket tight. There was—why, a pencil! Why hadn’t she ever guessed that! It was a pencil painted pink and it had a rubber at its end. It had a pretty card tied to it that said, “Use this when you go to school tomorrow.” ”

“ Billy was still watching him when the doctor came for his morning visit.
“If I were you, Billy Williams, I’d start a bird window,” the doctor suggested. “My little girl knows all about bird windows and she’s made several at home. The birds come every day. That foot looks as if it were doing well—suppose I ask my little girl to come in and make you a bird window?”
Billy said he’d like it jim dandy. It really was awfully lonesome. Nothing ever passed in the street. If there were birds to watch, it would be fun. ”

“ I ought to have a lot of people to help me. How can one person do it all! Sometimes I don’t find the right children and I use up the things that grow in the Santa Claus Land and then I have nothing left after the long, long lists are made up for the very particular little rich children.”
“Oh, dear!”
“Yes, that’s why. Do you want to give up some of your things this year so that they can go to the poor children?”
[Pg 22] Mary Louise reflected. “Which?” she asked. “Do you mean the doll or the pony or the automobile or the new doll house?” ”

“ It used to seem strange that so big a man as Santa Claus could squeeze down our chimney and by and by I suspected it was all a play and you told me [Pg 197] that it was just a funny, jolly way to make the very little children enjoy the fun of Christmas surprises. You told me then that I might help toward Christmas myself by trimming the tree. That was to be my part: each year I was to do it all myself and every year I tried to make it some new and lovely kind of a surprise. I always have loved to fix the tree. ”