Read "A Captured Santa Claus" by Thomas Nelson Page online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
All that day the tongues of the two little ones at Holly Hill had been / chattering unceasingly of the expected visit of Santa Claus that night. / Mrs. Stafford had tried to explain to Charlie and Evelyn that it would / be impossible for Santa Claus to bring them their presents this year; / but she was met with the undeniable and unanswerable statement that / their father had promised them. Before going to bed they had hung / their stockings on the mantelpiece right in front of the chimney, so / that Santa Claus would be sure to see them.
The mother had broken down over Evelyn's prayer, "not to forget my / papa, and not to forget my dolly," and "to take care of my papa and of / Santa Claus and not to let the Yankees hurt 'em," and her tears fell / silently after the little ones were asleep, as she put the finishing / touches to the tiny gray uniform for Charlie. She was thinking not / only of the children's disappointment, but of the absence of him on / whose promise they had so securely relied. He had been away now for a / year, and she had had no word of him for many weeks. Where was he? / Was he dead or alive? Mrs. Stafford sank on her knees by the bedside.