He finally consented, and I commenced my task, fully equipped with warm
clothes that were generously donated to me by my fellow laborers. The
first time the pay-car stopped and the paymaster handed me my envelope I
repaid Foreman McDonald every cent I owed him, and although this settled
my financial indebtedness to him, the debt I owe him to this day for his
timely help can never be repaid with mere coin.

One other time the pay-car stopped, and then the glad holidays of
Christmas approached, and when the happy Yule-tide was just a week away,
Foreman McDonald procured for each laborer a return pass to St. Paul. We
went and made our Christmas purchases and returned after an absence of
three days, each of us staggering under the weight of a heavily-laden
sack which we carried slung over our backs, from the train into the bunk
house.

Every spare minute until Christmas Eve there was a mysterious activity
within the crowded space of the small bunk house. We were not only busy
sorting over the purchases we had made in the big cities, which included
a suitable present for each one of our foreman's family down to baby
Helen, and one for each of the laborers, but we were kept busy keeping
the youngsters from prying into the secrets which we did not wish to be
revealed to them until Christmas Eve.

One of us had smuggled in a small Christmas tree, while another one had
purchased the long whiskers that always go with a genuine "Santa Claus",
so dear to the hearts of the children.

At last the natal feast of the Savior arrived, and to the complete
surprise and delight of the McDonald family, we marched over to the
foreman's home, led by old "Santa Claus", who in all his glory of a fur