Life — December 5, 1912 — page 38: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Tab LIFE Sanctum Talks OOD morning, Lire! Christmas!” “Good morning !—Why, hello, Santa Claus! When did you drop down “Oh, I've been here all the time, only you didn’t see me—I'm always hanging aroun “Yes, Santa, that’s the trouble with you; you're an expensive person to maintain. We think you only come at Christmas, but you begin——” “Yes; I begin about the first of October and last until the first of June, ‘But look here, Lire—" “Well, Santa?” “I have been hearing some cruel news about myself and I want you to right with the public.” That's a hard job, Santa; I cannot always set myself right with the pub- lic. What's the charge?” “Well, they say that I cater only to rich people—that I’m a snob.” “That seems reasonable.” “Oh, they are insinuating all sorts of things about me. I heard only the other day that some woman had taken my place and I was no longer the mas- ter of my own occupation.” “Yes, I've heard that.” “It's a base slander. I may be hen- pecked, but——" “T understand, Santa.” “And they say that the quality-of my toys has been steadily deteriorat- ing. There was a time when a sled Merry would last for several years; but now it’s apt to fall to pieces inside of two “Ye at I have been putting out duplicates of myself so that any old department store can use me for com- mercial purposes—rot to sp of the Volunteers of America.” “You seem to be making a pretty good case out of yourself, Santa.” “Look here, Lire! You don’t un- derstand me. In the first pla la mit it. erything I have said is true, but that isn’t the point.” “Well, what is the point?” “Lire, are you a philosopher?” “Heavens, no! I am guilty of al- most anything but that.” “Well, then, good-bye; I was going to explain, but I won't now. “Oh, you might just as well as long as you are here. Tell me what you think about yourself.” “Well, here’s the point, Lire; be- lieve it or not as you will. These things are true. I have been commer- cialized; I have been discriminating in favor of the rich, but the fact is that T am what anybody makes me.” “ How's that?” “Simply that I am what you think Iam. If you happen to be sour, then I am a hypocrite and a sham; but if you happen to have sympathy and fancy and imagination and longings, then you can make me just what you want me to be—do you see, Lire?” “Well, Santa Claus, I don’t know whether 2 see or not, but I will take your word for it, and I will put in a reading notice telling all the unbeliev- ers that there is something real about you after all—something undying and sentimental and true for those who wish to believe in you. Is that about right?” “That's about right, Lire. obliged.” “Don't missus. Much mention it. Love to the Good-bye.” Wa bn BH f £- AD Se ty The Stocking SING of Pieter Dundervelt In quaint New Amsterdam dwelt who And loved a maid in beauty’s bloom That wight Annette von Schlagen- boom, Like all true lovers, more or less, Our Piet inclined to bashfulness, And when he should have pressed his suit Was silent, speechless, dumb and mute. ‘Twas drawing that night of nights When good § near int holas delights To ride with gifts for old and young, When backward Pieter found his tongue. “Oh, will you deign, Annette,” said he, “To take a Yuletide gift from me?” Annette, without a thought of ill, Replied, in Dutch, “ Of course I will!” Saint Nicholas with reindeer sleigh Had made his rounds and gone his way, And fair Annette, while others slept, On tiptoe down the stairway crept Before the dawn, her only thought To see what gifts the Saint had brought. And there a marvel met her eyes! A stocking, not of common size, But six feet long and even more Now hung where hers had hung be- fore, Beneath the kitchen mantelshelf, And snug within was Piet himself! The situation seemed absurd; Annette, however, kept her word; That is, to make the tale complete, She took her gift and married Piet. A. G. comicbooks Meo