down swirled the snow, its white flakes blown by the cold december wind. from the north it came, this wind; and a bird—not a robin, for they had long ago flown south—a bird went in the barn, and hid his head under his wing, poor thing!
it was cold in the woods around uncle wiggily's hollow stump bungalow, and the rabbit gentleman brought in stick after stick of wood for nurse jane fuzzy wuzzy to pile on the blazing fire that roared up the chimney.
uncle wiggily, having filled the wood box, took his cap, and his fur-lined coat down from the rack.
"dear me, wiggy! you aren't going out on a day like this, are you?" asked nurse jane.
"yes," answered the bunny gentleman, "i am, if you please, nurse jane. i promised grandfather goosey gander i'd go down town shopping with him. he wants to look through the five and ten cent stores to see what they have for christmas."
"oh, well, if it's about christmas, that's different," said the muskrat lady. "but wrap yourself up well, for it is storming hard. i don't want you to take cold."
"nor do i want a cold," said uncle wiggily. "my pink nose gets very red when i sneeze. i'll be careful, nurse jane."
out into the snowy, blowy woods went uncle wiggily. he passed the burrow-house where sammie and susie littletail, [pg 71] the rabbit children, lived. susie was at the window and waved her paw to the bunny gentleman.
"only three more days until christmas! aren't you glad, uncle wiggily?" called susie.
"indeed i am," answered mr. longears. "very glad!"
johnnie and billie bushytail, the squirrels, looked from the window of their house. johnnie held up a string of nuts that he was getting ready to put on the christmas tree.
"billie and i are going to help santa claus!" chattered johnnie.
"good!" laughed uncle wiggily. "santa claus needs help!"
the bunny hopped along through the snow until he reached the kennel of jackie and peetie bow wow, the puppy dog boys.
"we're popping corn!" barked jackie. "getting ready for christmas! that's why we can't be out!"
"stay in the house and keep warm!" called uncle wiggily.
he hopped on a little farther until he met mr. gander, and the rabbit gentleman and the goose grandpa made their way through the five and ten, the three and four and the sixteen and seventeen cent stores. each place was piled full of christmas presents for animal boys and girls, and animal fathers and mothers were shopping about, to tell santa claus what to bring to the different houses, you know.
uncle wiggily saw some things he knew nurse jane would like, and grandpa goosey bought some presents that had come directly from the workshop of santa claus.
[pg 72]
then along came mr. whitewash, the polar bear gentleman.
"ho! ho!" roared mr. whitewash, in his jolly voice. "come to my ice cave, gentlemen, and have a cup of hot, melted icicles!"
"i'd like to, but i can't," said uncle wiggily. "nurse jane wanted me to get her some spools of thread. i'll buy them and go back to my bungalow."
"then i'll go with you, mr. whitewash," quacked grandpa goosey, and he waddled off with the bear gentleman, while uncle wiggily, having bought the thread, hopped toward his bungalow.
the bunny uncle had not gone very far before he heard some children talking behind a bush around which the snow was piled in a high drift. uncle wiggily could hide behind this drift and hear what was said.
"is santa claus coming to your house?" asked one boy of another.
"i don't guess so," was the answer. "my father said our chimney was so full of black soot that santa claus couldn't get down. he'd look like a charcoal man if he did, i guess."
"it's the same way at our house," sighed the first boy. "our chimney is all stopped up. i guess there'll be no christmas presents this year."
"my! that's too bad!" thought uncle wiggily to himself. "there ought to be a christmas for everyone, and a little thing like a soot-filled chimney ought not to stand in the way. all the animal children whom i know are going to get presents. i wish i could help these boys. and they probably have sisters, also, who will get nothing for christmas. too bad!"
uncle wiggily peered over the top of the snowbank. he [pg 73] saw the boys, but they did not notice the rabbit, and mr. longears knew where the boys lived. their homes were in houses near the brick one, where dwelt the lad who was once lost in the woods. uncle wiggily unwound a ball of red yarn, if you will kindly remember, and by following this the kite boy found his house.
"i wish i could help those boys who are not going to have any christmas," said the bunny gentleman to himself, as he hopped on with nurse jane's spools of thread.
and just then, in the air overhead, he heard the sounds of:
"caw! caw! caw!"
"crows!" exclaimed uncle wiggily. "my friends the black crows! they stay here all winter. black crows—black—black—why, a chimney is black inside, just as a crow is black outside! i'm beginning to think of something! yes, that's what i am!"
the rabbit's pink nose began twinkling very fast. it always did when he was thinking, and now it was sparkling almost like a star on a frosty night.
"ha! i have it!" exclaimed uncle wiggily. "a crow can become no blacker inside a sooty chimney than outside! if santa claus can't go down a black chimney, why a crow can! i'll have these crows pretend to be st. nicholas!"
no sooner thought of than done! uncle wiggily put his paws to his lips and sent out a shrill whistle, just as a policeman does when he wants the automobiles to stop turning somersaults.
"caw! caw! caw!" croaked the black crows high in the white, snowy air. "uncle wiggily is calling us," said the head crow. "caw! caw!"
[pg 74]
down they flew, perching on the bare limbs of trees in the wood not far from the bunny's hollow stump bungalow.
"how do you do, crows!" greeted the rabbit. "i called you because i want you to take a few christmas presents to some boys who, otherwise, will not get any. their chimneys are choked with black soot!"
"black soot will not bother us," said the largest crow of all. "we don't mind going down the blackest chimney in the world!"
"i thought you wouldn't," said uncle wiggily. "that's why i called you. now, of course, i know that the kind of presents that santa claus will bring to the animal children will not all be such as real boys and girls would like. but still there are some which may do."
"i can get willow whistles, made by grandpa lightfoot, the old squirrel gentleman. i can get wooden puzzles gnawed from the aspen tree by grandpa whackum, the beaver. grandpa goosey gander and i will gather the round, brown balls from the sycamore tree, and the boys can use them for marbles."
"those will be very nice presents, indeed," cawed a middle-sized crow. "the boys ought to like them."
"and will you take the things down the black chimneys?" asked uncle wiggily. "i'll give you some of nurse jane's thread so you may easily carry the whistles, puzzles, wooden marbles and other presents."
"we'll take them down the chimneys!" cawed the crows. "it matters not to us how much black soot there is! it will not show on our black wings."
so among his friends uncle wiggily gathered up bundles [pg 75] of woodland presents. and in the dusk of christmas eve the black crows fluttered silently in from the forest, gathered up in their claws the presents which the bunny had tied with thread, and away they flapped, not only to the houses of the two boys, but also to the homes of some girls, about whom uncle wiggily had heard. their chimneys, too, it seemed, were choked with soot.
but the crows could be made no blacker, not even if you dusted them with charcoal, so they did not in the least mind fluttering down the sooty chimneys. and so softly did they make their way, that not a boy or girl heard them! as silently and as quietly as santa claus himself went the crows!
all during christmas eve they fluttered down the chimneys at the homes of poor boys and girls, helping st. nicholas, until all the presents that uncle wiggily had gathered from his friends had been put in place.
then, throughout woodland, in the homes of sammie and susie littletail the rabbits, of johnnie and billie bushytail the squirrels, jackie and peetie bow wow the dogs, curly and floppy twistytail the piggie boys—in all the homes of woodland great changes took place. firefly lights began to glow on christmas trees. mysterious bundles seemed to come from nowhere, and took their places under the trees, in stockings and on chairs or mantels.
and then night came, and all was still, and quiet and dark—as dark as the black crows or the soot in the chimneys.
but in the morning, when the stars had faded, and the moon was pale, the glorious sun came up and made the snow sparkle like ten million billion diamonds.
[pg 76]
"merry christmas, uncle wiggily!" called nurse jane. "see what santa claus brought me."
"merry christmas, nurse jane!" answered the bunny. "and what a fine lot of presents st. nicholas left for me! see them!"
"oh, isn't he a great old chap!" laughed nurse jane, as she smelled a bottle of perfume.
and all over the land voices could be heard saying:
"merry christmas! merry christmas!"
near the hearth in the homes of some boys and girls who had not gone to bed with happy thoughts of the morrow, were some delightful presents. how they opened their eyes and stared—these boys and girls who had expected no christmas.
"why! why!" exclaimed one of the two lads whom uncle wiggily had heard talking near the snowbank. "how in the world did santa claus get down our black chimney?"
but, of course, they knew nothing of uncle wiggily and the crows. and please don't you tell them.
so all over, in the land of boys and girls, as well as in the snow forest of the animal folk, there echoed the happy calls of:
"merry christmas! merry christmas!" once again there was joy in the land.
and if the sunflower doesn't shine in the face of the clock, and make its hands go whizzing around backward, i shall take pleasure, next, in telling you about uncle wiggily's fourth of july.
