lonesome and miserable; the chimes making merry Christmas music outside
disturbed rather than soothed him, the jingle of the sleigh-bells
fretted him, and the shrill whistling of the wind around the corners of
the house and up and down the chimney seemed to grate harshly on his
ears.

"Humph," said Joel, wearily, "Christmas is nothin' to me; there _was_ a
time when it meant a great deal, but that was long ago--fifty years is
a long stretch to look back over. There is nothin' in Christmas now,
nothin' for _me_ at least; it is so long since Santa Claus remembered
me that I venture to say he has forgotten that there ever was such a
person as Joel Baker in all the world. It used to be different; Santa
Claus _used_ to think a great deal of me when I was a boy. Ah!
Christmas nowadays ain't what it was in the good old time--no, not what
it used to be."

As Joel was absorbed in his distressing thoughts he became aware very
suddenly that somebody was entering or trying to enter the room. First
came a draft of cold air, then a scraping, grating sound, then a
strange shuffling, and then,--yes, then, all at once, Joel saw a pair
of fat legs and a still fatter body dangle down the chimney, followed
presently by a long white beard, above which appeared a jolly red nose
and two bright twinkling eyes, while over the head and forehead was
drawn a fur cap, white with snowflakes.

"Ha, ha," chuckled the fat, jolly stranger, emerging from the chimney
and standing well to one side of the hearthstone; "ha, ha, they don't
have the big, wide chimneys they used to build, but they can't keep
Santa Claus out--no, they can't keep Santa Claus out! Ha, ha, ha.
Though the chimney were no bigger than a gas pipe, Santa Claus would
slide down it!"

It didn't require a second glance to assure Joel that the new-comer was
indeed Santa Claus. Joel knew the good old saint--oh, yes--and he had
seen him once before, and, although that was when Joel was a little
boy, he had never forgotten how Santa Claus looked.

Nor had Santa Claus forgotten Joel, although Joel thought he had; for
now Santa Claus looked kindly at Joel and smiled and said: "Merry
Christmas to you, Joel!"

"Thank you, old Santa Claus," replied Joel, "but I don't believe it's
going to be a very merry Christmas. It's been so long since I 've had
a merry Christmas that I don't believe I 'd know how to act if I had
one."

"Let's see," said Santa Claus, "it must be going on fifty y