ONCE upon a time St. Nicholas
came down into the world to take a
peep at the old place and see how
things looked in the spring-time.
On he stepped along the road to the
town where he used to live, for he
had a notion to find out whether
things were going on nowadays as
they one time did. By-and-by he
came to a cross-road, and who
should he see sitting there but Jll-
Luck himself. Ill-Luck’s face was
as. grey as ashes, and his hair as
white as snow—for he is as old as
Grandfather Adam—and two great
wings grew out of his shoulders—
for he flies fast and comes quickly
to those whom he visits, does Ill-~
Luck.

Now, St. Nicholas had a pocketful
of hazel-nuts, which he kept crack-

ing and eating as he trudged along the road, and just
then he came upon one with a worm-hole in it. When

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