CHAPTER II

THE LITTLE ESKIMO


Following Santa Claus, his little men hurried into the North Pole shop.
They were dancing and capering about, for they felt very lively after
their rest, and they were ready to start again making toys, or finishing
those half completed.

"Oh! Oh! Oh! Such a lot of trouble!" cried Santa Claus, but even this
trouble could not keep the laughter out of his jolly voice. "Snow! Snow!
Snow all over everything!" went on Saint Nicholas. "Who left the windows
open so that all the flakes blew in?" he asked.

"I--I guess I did, Santa Claus," replied one of the little men who wore
a red cap. "I wanted some fresh air, for I was working over the paint
pots, putting blue eyes in wax dolls, and the paint smell almost choked
me. So I opened some windows."

"I guess no great harm is done," said Santa Claus, looking about. "It is
so cold the snow hasn't melted, and it is only melted snow that spoils
toys. But I don't see how the snow got all over the floor, as well as on
the benches," he added.

Ah, if Santa Claus had only seen the toys at play, throwing snowballs
all about, and washing the faces of one another, he would have known how