The Story of a Plush Bear | Page 4

as a strange creature
looked in. It seemed to be a boy, but he was covered with skins and fur,
almost like an animal. Only his face could be seen. His hands, as he
rested them on the sill of the window, were covered with big, fur
mittens.
"Oh, ho! Nobody is here! I can take one of the toys!" said the
fur-dressed Eskimo boy, for such he was. "Now is my chance! I'll take
that big bear!"
The Eskimo boy, one of a strange, unknown race that live at the North
Pole, was just climbing in through the open window, when suddenly, at
the far end of the shop, a voice cried:
"Oh, my goodness! Look what has happened! Some one left the
windows open and a lot of snow has blown in! Quick, my merry men!
Close the windows and start work to finish the toys! I hope none is
spoiled!"
And with that Santa Claus himself hurried into the shop.
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 it happened. But even Santa Claus was not allowed to see the toys
come to life and play.
"Get brooms, sweep up the snow, and close the windows," called Saint
Nicholas. "Get the shop ready to work in again, for we are going to be
very busy. The Earth children want many toys this year, and we have
not made nearly enough. Clean out the snow!"
With brooms, shovels, and brushes, the merry little men fell to work,
and soon the shop of Santa Claus was as it should be, and as it had been
before the storm. The windows, made of sheets of ice, were pulled
down, and soon there was the hum of songs all through the shop, for
the men of Santa Claus sang as they worked.
One of the men, as he pulled down the window near his bench, where
he was making a lot of little animals for a Noah's Ark, looked out
through the pane of ice glass.
"What do you see?" asked the workman next him.
"Oh, one of those odd Eskimo children, all dressed in fur, was right
under this window," answered the other little man. "He must have been
here when the windows were open. Maybe he wanted to see us making
toys. Well, he won't see any better toy than the Plush Bear I just

finished," said the little man proudly.
"No, indeed!" agreed the second little man. "But does Santa Claus
know about these little Eskimo children coming around his workshop?"
he asked.
"Oh, they never bother us," was the answer. "Now we mustn't talk any
more, for we have many toys to make for the Earth children."
So the little men became very busy--too busy to talk, though the Plush
Bear heard them singing as they made toy after toy. The Plush Bear and
the other playthings could hear what was said, though they could take
no part in the talk while Santa Claus, or any of his men, were in the
shop. And Santa Claus was there now, seeing that each one of his tiny
elves made as many toys as possible.
"Well, we certainly had a good time for a while!" thought the Plush
Bear to himself. "What fun that snowball fight was! I'd like another. I
didn't feel a bit cold!"
And no wonder. His coat of silk plush was as warm as the fur coat of a
real bear. The Plush toy was looking straight at the Polar Bear and the
big, white fellow seemed