In his short story “Santa Claus and Little Billee,” John Kendrick Bangs demonstrates the importance of having a figure like Santa Claus. Though he seems whimsical and even childish, Santa encourages the magic of the season and instills hope and trust in people.
Little Billee’s mother takes him along as she navigates the busy streets during Christmastime. This shopping trip is Little Billee’s first experience with the bustling city and its overwhelming clutter.
Billee’s mother leaves him in the toy shop and tells him to stay put until she returns. Despite his mother’s instructions, he gets caught up in the crowd and quickly finds himself outside.
The poor boy soon realizes he is lost. He begins wandering up and down, wondering how he will find his mother again. As he fights back tears, he suddenly sees the most welcome sight of all: Santa Claus. Santa is “strangely decorated with two queer-looking boards, with big red letters on them, hung over his back and chest,” but he still wears the same suit and has the “same kindly, gray-bearded face.”
Billee runs up to him and immediately takes his hand, for he is certain that Santa would, of course, recognize him and be able to help him home. Billee greets Santa, and Santa greets Billee, asking where he came from. The boy confesses, “My mama left me a little while ago while she went off about something, and I guess I got losted.”
Billee tells Santa that now he is found, and Santa agrees. But, when Santa asks the boy where he lives, Billee begins laughing, for he is convinced that Santa already knows where he lives. Santa laughs back, “Can’t fool you, can I? It would be funny if, after keeping an eye on you all these years since you was a babby, I didn’t know where you lived, eh?”
A Symbol of Hope
With such a charge at hand, Santa must determine who this little boy is and where he came from. First, he asks Little Billee if he knows where he lives, but Billee merely says that he lives in “the big gray stone house with the iron fence in front of it, near the park.”
Santa then asks the boy about his father and family. Gradually, by cleverly turning his inquiries into a quiz game, he discovers that Billee’s father is a Mr. Thomas Harrison, who runs a bank. Having secured a name, Santa leads his little friend along the street until he finds a telephone booth.
Santa flips through the phone book until he finds the desired entry. He then wires the worried parents the gladsome tidings, “I have found your boy wandering in the street. He is safe, and I will bring him home right away.”
Through this story, Bangs shows the magic of the season and how a single figure can instill hope and trust in humanity. The character Kris Kringle in the 1994 film “Miracle on 34th Street,” lovably played by Richard Attenborough, sums up Bangs’ story perfectly when he says, “I’m not just a whimsical figure who wears a charming suit and affects a jolly demeanor. … I’m a symbol of the human ability to suppress the selfish and hateful tendencies that rule the major part of our lives.”
As we welcome Christmas, let’s open our hearts to the wonder, peace, kindness, gratitude, and overall joy that Santa symbolizes. Let’s toss off those tendencies that keep us from the true joy of the season and embrace everyone around us with a grateful heart.
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