Ten minutes later a passing taxi was hailed by a shivering gentleman carrying an iron pot full of pennies and nickels and an occasional quarter in one hand, and a turkey-red coat, trimmed with white cotton cloth, thrown over his arm. Strange to say, considering the inclemency of the night, he wore neither a hat nor an overcoat."Where to, sir?" queried the chauffeur."The police-station," said Hetherington. "I don't know where it is, but the one in this precinct is the one I want.""Ye'll have to pay by the hour to-night, sir," said the chauffeur. "The station ain't a half-mile away, sir, but Heaven knows how long it'll take us to get there.""Charge what you please," retorted Hetherington. "I'll buy your darned old machine if it's necessary, only get a move on."The chauffeur, with some misgivings as to the mental integrity of his fare, started on their perilous journey, and three-quarters of an hour later drew up in front of the police-station, where Hetherington, having been compelled in self-defense to resume the habiliments of Santa Claus under penalty of freezing, alighted."Just wait, will you?" he said, as he alighted from the cab."I'll go in with you," said the chauffeur, acting with due caution. He had begun to fear that there was a fair chance of his having trouble getting his fare out of a very evident lunatic.Utterly forgetful of his appearance in his festal array, Hetherington bustled into the station, and shortly found himself standing before the sergeant behind the desk."Well, Santa Claus," said the official, with an amused glance at the intruder, "what can I do for you to-night? There ain't many rooms with a bath left."
Evergreen Christmas Readings
A.A. Milne, Santa Claus, Adelaide Anne Procter, Algernon Blackwood, Alice Duer Miller, Alice Hale Burnett, Amy Ella Blanchard, Andy Adams, Anne Hollingsworth Wharton, Annie Eliot Trumbull, Annie Roe Carr, Anonymous, Anton Chekhov, Arthur Conan Doyle, Banjo Paterson, Beatrix Potter, Berthold Auerbach, Bret Harte, Brothers Grimm, Grimm Brothers, C.H. Mead, Cecil Frances Alexander, Charles Dickens, Charles Edward Carryl, Christopher North, Clement Clarke Moore, Cornelia Redmond, Don Marquis, Dylan Thomas, Edward Payson Roe, Eleanor Hallowell Abbott, Elia W. Peattie, Elizabeth Anderson, Elizabeth Margaret Chandler, Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Ellis Parker Butler, Ernest Vincent Wright, Eugene Field, Evaleen Stein, Florence L. Barclay, Francis Pharcellus Church, Frank Stockton, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, G.K. Chesterton, George A. Baker, George Augustus Sala, George Robert Sims, H.W. Collingwood, H.P. Lovecraft, Hans Christian Andersen, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Henry van Dyke, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Hesba Stretton, Hezekiah Butterworth, Jacob August Riis, James Whitcomb Riley, John Bowring, John Greenleaf Whittier, John Kendrick Bangs, John Masefield, John Milton, John Strange Winter, José María de Pereda, Julia Schayer, Juliana Horatia Ewing, Kate Douglas Wiggin, Katharine Lee Bates, Kenneth Grahame, L. Frank Baum, Lyman Frank Baum, Laura Lee Hope, Leo Tolstoy, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, Lewis Carroll, Lope de Vega, Louisa May Alcott, Lucy Maud Montgomery, L.M. Montgomery, M.E.S, Margaret E. Sangster, Margery Williams, Mark Twain, Martha Finley, Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, Mary Louisa Molesworth, Meredith Nicholson, Montague Rhodes James, Mother Goose, W. H. Corning, Nahum Tate, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Newton Booth Tarkington, O.Henry, Olive Thorne Miller, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Peter Christen Asbjornsen, Ralph Henry Barbour, Richmal Crompton, Robert Browning, Robert Burns, Robert Ervin Howard, Robert Frost, Robert Ingersoll, Robert Louis Stevenson, R.L. Stevenson, Rose Terry Cooke, Rudyard Kipling, S. Weir Mitchell, Saki, Sara Teasdale, Stephen Leacock, Theodore Parker, Thomas Chatterton, Thomas Hardy, Thomas Hill, Thomas Nelson Page, Viktor Rydberg, Washington Irving, Willa Cather, William Dean Howells, William Henry Davies, William J. Locke, William Makepeace Thackeray, William Shakespeare, Zona Gale
