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The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, December 03, 1905, The Journal Junior, Image 53

Image and text provided by Minnesota Historical Society; Saint Paul, MN

Persistent link: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045366/1905-12-03/ed-1/seq-53/

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FROM SANTA CLAUS LAND
A Message to The Journal Junior by "Wireless," Telling
of Busy Days Spent In Preparing Toys for Christmas
Joys in Janxordom.
'PHE perfection of wireless telegraphy has enabled The
Journal Junior to furnish to itB readers the first
dispatch ever received direct from the home of Santa
Glaus, The Journal Junior's special correspondent, after
a long and perilous journey, succeeded in reaching the
magic land where no human being has ever penetrated,
and will remain until Christmas, when he will return
with Santa Clans in his sled, pulled by the swift reindeer.
He was warmly welcomed by Santa Glaus, who gave him
permission to tell the readers of The Journal Junior about
his work, upon condition that he keep secret the location
of Santa Clans' home. The dispatch, just received, fol
lows:
Home of Santa Clans, Nov. 25.By Wireless Telegraph
to The Journal Junior.Christmas this year will be un
usually joyous. Never before has Santa Clans made sueh
elaborate preparations for his yearly visit. Even at this
early date, with Christmas three weeks distant, Santa
Clans' workshop and storehouse is the busiest place to be
found anywhere, and the jolly old saint and his assistants
are working night and day. Already a huge store of
dolls, jumping jacks, picture-books, drums, trumpets,
swords, soldier-caps, rocking horses, soldiers, tea-sets,
balls, railroad trains, sleds, skates and all kinds of toys
has been made and stored away. There are big dells and
little dolls dolls that open and shut their eyes and say
"mamma" and "papa" dolls with big outfits of clothes
and dolls without any clothes at^all. None of them has
been named yet, and the happy little girls who get them
ean call them anything they want to. A new toy on
which Santa Clans himself is working hard this year is
the toy automobile, in every color and size. Electric cars,
just like the kind that people ride in in Minneapolis,
engines and railroad trains of all kinds, airships and
scenic railways, are being made for Minneapolis boys
and girls. Then there are lots of new toys that Santa
Claus does not want his children to know about till
Christmas.
The reindeer are eager to get started on theiT trip.
They are all feeling fine, and are hoping that there will
be plenty*of snow at Christmas time, so that they ean
pull their heavy aled easily. They like to go to Minne
apolis and can hardly wait for Christmas.
Santa Claus is going to be very strict this year about
bad boys and girls. He does not like to leave anybody
out, and it makes him feel badly -when any little boy or
girl is naughty, but he will not visit children who have
not been good. Boys and girls who do not mind their
fathers and mothers those who tell stories, will not go to
bed when it is time, or who cry or are cross or selfish
will not find anything in their stockings. It is no use
to try to fool Santa Claushe knows every time a little
boy or girl is naughty.
Santa Claus is also very particular about being seen.
Any Junior who tries to see him when Santa Claus is
filling his stocking will be left out. Even if a Junior
should wake up in the night and hear the reindeer out
on the roof or hear the old man at work on the stockings,
he must shut his eyes tightly and pull the bed-clothes
up .over his head, so as not to catch a glimpse of him.
Any Junior who.wants to please Santa Claus can do
something for him if he wants to. He can leave a nice
piece of cake or something like that on the table near
the stockings, for the old man gets hungry in his long
travels in the cold winter night, and if the children leave
him something nice to eat he knows they love him. That
is a good way to be sure that there is a Santa Claus, too,
for the cake will surely be gone in the morning when
Juniors wake up. A little dish of oats might be left,
also, for the reindeer, for they get hungry too, and they
like oats better than anything else.
There is nothing that makes Santa Claus feel so badly
as to have a Junior think there is no Santa Claus.
Sometimes naughty children, who think they know more
than the grown-ups, tell other boys and girls that there
isn't any Santa Claus. Juniors must not listen to them
OT they will not be visited by Santa Claus.
The Meaning Complex.
Charles Streckler and a fnend were driving along
a country road on the Canadian shore of Lake Ontario
when this sign, nailed to a gatepost, attracted their at
tention: LAM.
SHEAP.
"Now, what does that fellow meant" mused by
Streckler. "Is his name Lamb, and has he got sheep
for sale, or is his name Sheap, and has he got lamb for
sale?" Hailing a native, Mr. Streckler repeated the
question. The native grinned and drawled: 'Tis a
leetle bit complex, come to look at it, ain't it? Parmer
Towle there ain't much on spelling, but he's powerful
strong on trading. What he's trying to let people know
by that Bign is that he has lamb for sale and that hell
sell it cheap."
PIE CALLS ON HEM
One night to Peter's bed came Pie,
And screeched: "You ate me on tfie sly!
Tho I was big enough for fOUT,
Ton bolted me and looked for more
And fearing that you would be caught,
You did not ehew me as you ought.
Mince pies must not be treated so,
However good may be the dough.
And therefore 111 sit on your ehest
And not give yen a moment's rest.
I'll make you dream that you are dead,
With a big gravestone at your head.
My teeth will grind, my eyes will glare,
Until of mince pies you beware.''
And Peter, when he woke, said: "Myl
I never more will steal mince pie."
I
THE JOURNAL JUNIOR, MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, SUNDAY MORNING, DECEMBER 3, 1905.
Chapter I.
N the pioneer days of Wisconsin a family named
Wilkins removed from Ohio to that state and
settled within a mile of the village of Midvale.
The family consisted of father, mother and
two boys. The latter were aged 14 and 12
respectively, and their names were Joseph and Daniel.
These names were shortened to Joe and Dan.
Mr. Wilkins took up land right in the unbroken
forest, as plenty of other men were doing at the time,
and after building a log house he began pioneer life.
It would be hard for the boys and girls of today to
understand the life of the pioneers of seventy or eighty
years ago.
There was little money, and that little was hard
to get. Carpenters and bricklayers, when they could
find work at all, got no better wages than a dollar a day.
The people wore the coarsest clothing and lived on the
plainest fare, and it was all hard work with them.
While Joe and Dan were only young boys, they were
of much aid to their father in helping to clear up the
land. They cut down the smaller trees, piled up the
limbs and brush for burning, and when an acre or so had
been cleared they helped to plant it to corn and turnips.
That was the food of most pioneer familiescorn
meal and turnips, with such wild meat as could be killed
in the forest around.
After the first crop
had been harvested
and winter was com
ing on, an old hunter
stopped at the Wil
kins cabin one day.
He was going to a
town fifty miles away
to spend the winter.
When he had par
taken of a meal with
the family and
smoked a pipe, he
said to Mr. Wilkins:
"Your boys will be
of some help to you
this winter in clear
ing up your land, but
I think they can do
better than that. I
have thirty steel
traps which I wish to
leave with you for
two or three months.
I may not come back
before spring.
"If you can feed
and lodge me for two
or three days I will
tell the bovs all
about trapping. You
have a river here at
your door, and they
should be able to
catch many mink and
muskrats. There are
also coons, possums,
wolves and foxes to
be trapped in the forest. The furs will always find a
buyer, and in this way you will profit far more than if
you kept the boys at work with their axes."
It was plain to Mr. Wilkins that this was so, and
the old trapper remained for a week. During this time
he was out with the boys, every day. He taught them
how to set and bait a trap for every kind of animal
taken in traps.
When thru with the river he showed them how to
construct deadfalls for the capture of wolves and foxes,
and they had secured quite a number of skins before he
took his departure.
$10
IN
CASH
PRIZES
FOR
JUNIORS
Original Stories and
Poems Wanted
for the
Christmas Number.
irnxC
N f#"
A big bear dropped to the ground with a growl and made off.
N
One Dollar Each-for Accepted Drawings, Stories and Poems
"$t~
That was a good winter for the family and tm
exciting one for the boys. They kept their traps out
along the river, and their deadfalls the woods, and
not a day passed that they did not catch something.
Among the game were three' wolves, a bear and
four foxes, to say nothing of more than^a hundred
muskrats and five or six minks.
These furs sold for ten times more than the boys
could have earned any other way, and with the money
Mr. Wilkins was able to hire men to help him in his
chopping.
It was late in the winter before the old trapper
came back. When he had heard what the boys had
done he said:
"That is very good, and it shows that you are smart
boys. The trapping season is now about over, and
during the summer you will work on the land again.
I am going to tell you, however, how you can make
enough money next fall to buy your own traps for
the winter.
"Beginning in June, whenever your father can spare
you for half a day, you want to become bee hunters.
Here and there in the woods are wild swarms of bees.
They take possession of dead trees, and I have known
them to store up several hundred pounds of honey.
Haven't .you ever noticed bees flying about when you
have been at workt"
Both boys answered that they had, and the old man
continued:
"You must get your eye on one particular bee, and
when he rises from a flower you must watch his flight.
He will go straight to the tree where the swarm is. It
may be a mile or two away. If you lose him, then watch
another. You may have to watch half a dozen, but you
will surely come to the tree in time."
"But how are we to get the honey?" asked Joe.
"You must locate and mark your tree. Then some
night your father will cut it down for you. Bees
cannot see in the
night, but you will
have some dry
grass and limbs
ready to make
torches, and thus
kill them off with
the smoke. Any
honey that you
find will always
Bell for a good
price. If you find
a bee tree at any
time in the sum
mer, you must,
wait until about
the tenth of Sep
tember to cut it.
Then the bees will
have gathered
their full store."
When spring
came and Joe and
Dan resumed their
work in the forest
they were con
stantly on the
watch for the
bees. As the
warm weather
drew on, the in
sects buzzed about
in plenty, and be
fore July came in
the boys had
located three bee
trees. All of them
were within a mile
of the cabin.
In locating the third one they discovered that some
one else was also in that line of business. As they ap
proached the tree a big black bear that had climbed up to
investigate dropped to the ground with a growl and
made off.
They had been told by the hunter that bears were as
fond of honey as human beings, and that they must look
out that bruin did not get ahead of them.
In my next chapter you will find the boy bee-hunters
having some rather startling adventures.
(To be Continued.)
DECORATIVE HEAD FOE THE PAGEThe drawing itself must be
13 inhs wide by 2 inches deep. It must be drawn in India ink on bristol
board, 15 inches long by 5 inches wide, and must contain an appropriate
Christmas sentiment lettered in as part of the design.
DECORATIVE MARGIN DRAWDTG-To run np and down the page.
The drawing itself must be 20 inches high by 2% inches wide. It mustbe
drawn upon bristol board, 22 inches long by 5 inches wide. The subject
must be appropriate for Christmas.
uujCk
RECTAL DECOBATIVE HEADThe drawing must be 22% inches
long by 1 men wide. It mnst be drawn in India ink on bristol board 25
inches long by 3 inches wide. The subject must be appropriate for
Christmas.
In all these drawings the lines should be even and black. Avoid dose
shading. All pictures must be strictly original and each should be signed
with the grade, school, name and address of the artist, and marked "Christ-
mas Number."
CHRISTMAS STORIES AND POEMSThe stories mnst be
original, not more than 1,000. words in length, nor less than 500.
Original verse of all kinds, grave and gay, is available, but the poems
should not exceed thirty-two lines in length.
These fiction stories and poems most be written on one side only of the
paper, and each should be signed with the grade, school, name and address
of the writer and marked "Christmas Number." Drawings, stories,
and poems must not be rolled, A Junior may contribute as many stories,
poems or drawings as he wishes, but only one prize win be awarded to a
single competitor.
Drawings, stories and poems must be the hands of the editor f
JChe Journal Junior. I
v''in
Not Late? Than Monday Evening, December 11.
strictly

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