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!