So they played that, and told stories and sang songs until it was almost morning, and time for Santa Claus and his men to open the shop again.  Then the toys became quiet, as usual.

That day Saint Nicholas walked up and down among the benches and spoke to his workmen.

“I will go to Earth to-morrow,” said Santa Claus.  “Get ready all the toys you can, and I will fill my sleigh.  I will load it to-night.”

And the toys who heard this were very much excited, wondering who would be taken and who would be left.

“I’ll take this Plush Bear!” said Santa Claus that evening, as he began selecting the toys he wanted for his sack to take to Earth.  “And I’ll take the Wax Doll, the Flannel Pig, and the Elephant.  I want a lot of other dolls, plenty of drums, some Jumping Jacks, some Jacks in the Box, some toy soldiers, some toy engines, trains of cars, toy guns and enough more to fill my sack to running over.  It is so near Christmas that I need all the toys I can pile into my sleigh.”

The Plush Bear was lifted off the bench by one of the workmen and put in a box, after being wrapped in tissue paper.

“I hope they don’t smother me!” thought the Bear, but he need not have been afraid.  His last glimpse was of the Wax Doll.  She, too, was well wrapped and placed in a box so her complexion would not be spoiled.

“I did hope I’d have a chance to bid farewell to the toys that are left,” thought the Plush Bear, as he was placed in the sleigh of Santa Claus.  “But some of them are coming with me, that’s a comfort.  We shall not have room to move around, though, and hardly a chance to talk on our trip to the Earth.  However, I suppose it cannot be helped.  This is part of our adventures in life.”

A little later there was a merry jingle of bells, and Santa Claus could be heard calling: 

“Hi, Prancer!  Steady there, Dashaway!  Wait a minute, Comet!”

“Those are the reindeer,” whispered the Wax Doll, through the side of her box to the Plush Bear in his box.

“I supposed so,” was the answer.  “I hope I am not made seasick on this voyage through the air.”

“Seasick!  The idea!  The sleigh of Santa Claus is not a boat!” squealed the Flannel Pig.

Then the sack of toys was lifted up and put in the sleigh.  The reindeer shook their heads, making the bells jingle more merrily than ever.  There came a jolly laugh from Santa Claus, and then he cried: 

“Away we go!  Over the ice!  Over the snow!  Down to the Earth below!”

And a moment later the Plush Bear and the other toys found themselves being swiftly carried through the cold air.  But they were snug and warm in the sleigh of Santa Claus.

Of all the things that happened to the Plush Bear and the other toys on their trip from the shop of Santa Claus to Earth I have not room to tell you here.  Enough to say that, unlike the Nodding Donkey, they suffered no accident.  None of them was tossed out into a drift of snow.  Then, finally, the big sack of toys was left at one of the many big buildings on Earth, whence they were to be divided among the toy shops.