follow any refusal to do the bidding of St. Nick. Therefore when the
appointed time arrived, Edwin was ready and seated in his chair even before
the remainder of the family had retired. Then, while his cousins were
thinking of the happiness the morrow held in store for them, and the
children in other homes were dreaming of the sweet stories to which they
had listened concerning the Christ-child and God's great love in sending
his only Son as a Christmas gift to all the world, Edwin heard a sound in
the yard as of heavy tramping. Then the lashing of a whip upon the
window-pane and house caused him to spring from his chair and seek for a
corner in which to hide. Presently he again heard the lashing upon another
window-pane, followed by a fierce blow upon the kitchen-door, which had
been purposely left ajar, and he saw the door fly open and beheld an object
so completely hideous that he was more frightened than he had been upon any
previous occasion.

There, clad in a pair of old trousers that were partly covered by a short
petticoat, and wearing a bright red blouse elaborately trimmed with white
cotton batting in imitation of white fur, a sunbonnet of faded blue, and a
false face in the form of a mule's head, stood the object posing himself as
St. Nicholas.

One glance at the frightful creature with the long whip in his hand would
have been sufficient to strike terror through the heart of a more
enlightened mind, and Edwin, with the remembrance of the suffering of
previous years still fresh in his mind, was under a mental strain that was
fearful indeed.

The strange form, pretending not to notice Edwin, laid down his whip and
began loosening the large pack of toys that were upon his shoulders. As the
sack was laid down in front of the old fireplace, a rubber ball rolled out