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His father was killed — he was hit by a train — when the future newspaper man was just 7 months old. The stranger bought him a pair.


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So when he became a man of influence in Toronto, he promoted humanitarian causes and championed social reform in the pages of the The Toronto Daily Star, as it was then called. In , a letter arrived at the paper asking how it might be possible to help a poor family and implored the paper to bridge the gap between the haves and have-nots in a city that had extremes of both.

To encourage support, the paper wrote: That was the birth of the Santa Claus Fund which years later is still rallying big-hearted readers such as the Quinns to help those little folks. Quinn, who had a long career as a sales administrator in the engineering division of the Bata Shoe Company in Batawa, has four children, six grandchildren and five great grandchildren and she cherishes Christmas because of the family get-togethers. Nothing hurts you more than seeing your own children go without.

If you have been touched by the Santa Claus Fund or have a story to tell, please email santaclausfund thestar. Click here to donate now. Paul Hunter is a reporter and feature writer based in Toronto. Follow him on Twitter: Copyright owned or licensed by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. To order copies of Toronto Star articles, please go to: Initiatives Santa Claus Fund. By Paul Hunter Feature Writer.

Millie Quinn has vivid childhood memories of wartime Christmases when gifts were scarce. Those were rare in the s. They were looking for Santa because they knew Santa would never find them. The Cloudmist Swamp stretches for around 50 kilometers along the bottom of the range. It is said that the swamp is formed from the melted snow that gathers up in the area.

If the second highness attempted to cross during summer or fall, it would take him at least two or three months. But during winter, most of Cloudmist Swamp is frozen, allowing the troops to travel into the deeper parts of the mountain range without restraint. After that, they only have to make their way over Greatsnow Mountain to arrive at Bodolger," explained Lorist. No wonder he's hailed as one of the greatest military strategists of the new generation.

To think that he actually grasped an opportunity that hidden, his fame is completely deserved! Lorist sighed and said, "It's a shame that his losses are not small. Only of the 30 thousand troops survived the journey. It seems that he didn't make sufficient preparations. Lorist could already infer that the second highness had only mobilized his so-called elite troops, but didn't have enough knowledge of the troubles of winter.

Had he been better prepared, he wouldn't have had to attack the city with so few soldiers. Lorist's guess was actually correct. Only around soldiers died from the hike across the mountain range. But more than 20 thousand of them perished due to the extreme cold.

Less than , able to resist the cold with battleforce, survived. It was still more than enough to defeat the unprepared troops defending the city. Had he done so, he would have lost more than thousand troops easily. Considering this, his choice was the wiser, despite the losses he suffered," argued one of the military officials of the Peterson Merchant Guild. Does first prince stand a chance to make a victorious comeback? Unless some sort of miracle happens, the first prince will not be able to escape defeat," commented Lorist. The second highness only managed to conquer Frederika thanks to the element of surprise.

The soldiers he has at hand now is far too little. If the first prince manages to form an army a few ten thousand strong, the second highness might just lose," said the very same military official, still taking the other side of Lorist's argument. How would the First Prince be able to gather more troops, now that Frederika has already fallen? Who would bother to aid him now that he's on the run, powerless and poor? And who would be willing to fight to their deaths for him just to retake a city that isn't their home? His righteous cause is reason enough!

The first prince is nothing but a traitor, one of those who raised the flag of rebellion and caused the empire to split. While he was definitely worth reckoning with when he had troops, the loss of Frederika means that he no longer has any riches left with which to form an army. Who, then, would bother with a beggar like him?

It's already incredibly merciful not to outright kill him on and present his head to the second highness. Traitor or not, he's still a king. But the title will do him no good.

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The nobles will help him superficially at most. Even if he did get a couple of soldiers, there's no way he'll be able to take the city back, which is his own fault given how heavily he fortified the city's walls. Also, all the valuable resources and equipment are kept within the city. After conquering Frederika, he will definitely use his spoils to recruit more troops. Even though he only has around right now, his force will definitely grow three to four times in less than a fortnight. When the first prince arrives at the capital, he'll realize that the second highness already has tens of thousands of troops waiting for him.

Lorist thought deeply for a while before he continued, "If the First Prince is smart, he will begin gathering as many troops and resources as he can and retreat to the Majik province for now. If he does so, he can draw out the conflict at the very least and wait for opportunities to turn the tide. Right now, the second highness only has soldiers with him and can't do much apart from defending the capital. Pursuing the first prince is out of the question. Even if he does manage to gather more troops, he'll deal with the 70 thousand soldiers defending Kanbona first.

Fortunately for him, the first prince had moved the family members of officers to Frederika as hostages. He can use them as bargaining chips to force surrender. With that, the second highness won't need to break a sweat to destroy the Redlis kingdom and to eliminate all nobles that refuse to yield. Majik's terrain will make sure the second highness' troops are stalled for a period of time. There is no doubt, however, what will happen after the second highness' main force arrives in a month or two.

Once he obtains final victory over the prince he can just send an ambassador there. There's no need to mobilize his troops. As for the 70 thousand troops stationed in Kanbona, they're sandwiched between the second highness' main force and Frederika. Their supply chain is completely cut off. They have no choice but to surrender. The fates of Kanbona and Bodolger were indeed set in stone. What came next were the Anderwoff and Majik provinces. Anderwoff was the main military center for the Redlis kingdom's nobles. The joint forces of around 30 noble houses were nothing to scoff at.

Together, they had the same standing as the first prince himself. They had always been at odds with him, much to his misfortune. When he asked for aid, he received only mockery. If Anderwoff's nobles thought they could treat the second highness the same way, they were in great trouble, however. The second highness, with his army of more than thousand soldiers, definitely didn't mind letting his men win some military contributions by fighting the soldiers of the noble houses.

Majik was close to the Handra and Farkel duchies. It had served as the springboard for the first prince's invasion into the four central duchies.

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It had been reduced to a collection of ruins by the latter's counterattack. Even after five years, it had yet to be repopulated. It's most probable for the second highness to use the troops he's gathered to attack the four central duchies and force them to relinquish their independence. After that, he will likely bring his troops through the four duchies and gather them at the Melein duchy before starting an invasion of the Iblia kingdom. If the Union doesn't want the Lormo duchy to rejoin the empire, the year conflict between the Union and the empire will restart again. However, the second highness would have reunited much of the territory of the former empire.

He'll likely declare himself Emperor after he takes back the Lormo duchy.

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The vice-president looked rather pale, Lorist's guesses were well within the realm of possibility. He half-bowed to Lorist and said, "Lord Count, I thank you for your kind hospitality over the last couple of days, but I believe the time has come for us to leave.

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We will handle the deal between you and the guild, so please rest assured. Lorist stood up and said, "You're welcome to visit anytime you like. As our friends, you will receive the warmest welcome House Norton can give. Also, this here is my letter to the president. I'll have to trouble you to hand it to him on my behalf. Support Ryogawa and his work Tales of the Reincarnated Lord.