Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1885-12-20
RANBLER'S NOTE BOOK
Merry Christmas in Springfield The No
BILE Gih of Hon. John W. Bookwalter
to the School Children of Springfield.
a Eamble Through Spring fielt's Palaces oi
Trade -t.littering stores and Rushing
Crs,wis-The Springfield Indus
trial Exposition Spring field
Merchants on the Christ
mas Trade.

In one of the masterpieces of great
Italian artist the Virgin i represented
standing on the crescent of the silver moon,
bearing the Infant Christ in her arms and
with look of ineifahlr pity aud soft love
in her eyes The back ground Of the pie
ture i made up III the smiling faces nt
countless cheruh> all looking down on the
mother and child with heavenly smiles.
through the tieec. clouds floating in the
azure.
As | gazed at the 1000 smiling innocent
eNpectant faces OF the vast audience Of
children gathered in the Grand Opera House
last Tuesday. by the generosity of Hon.
John W Bookwalter To Ser the annual
free show" at that house, the
sentiment which tillrd my mind was
exactly that inspired by gazing nj
the picture Here WAS ''Sea OF faces
indeed. with three great waves, enc Milling
the parquette. another the balcony. ami a
third the gallery. And then the noise:
every child seemed 10 imagine that the &C
casiun would be incomplete unless hr indl
yiduallS threw open the tiny throttle valve
of his voice, and made all the sound pos
>ibie. The rcsul, was understandable, and
the combined chirrnplng Of this 3, 200 strong
army. sounded like the carToling of some
great forest OF birds, or like the endless
dashing Of the waves of some boundle~>
! treble sea.
Just before the rising Of the curtain.
deep hush fell on the army Of little people,
! and the Young eyes grew big with rXperta-
ton. As the curtain rolled up and disclosed
village SCENE, with the villagers dancing
around the May pole. the rapturous ''Oh's"
and Abs" that filled the air was some
| thing wonderful. When the clown made
his first appearance, he was alm"~t emhar-
rasSrd by the warmth Of his reception.
| From that time on he r1umd il impossible
Ia make the slightest move or grlmace.
without producing draf"ning shouts Of
shrll delight from hi, audience. The
grand climax. however, Wa, produced when
the elephant sidled in. and sat down on a
bench. From the time the trunk "f tn"
great beast ap,+arrd in the side
wings, until his last trick had
been performed the 5000 little people
kept up one long frantic yell of delight ON
high {. Reader. if you have never heard
). 900 children all under ten years of age,
shout in chorus the sound produced can not
be descrihrd tn YOU: Their. Is nothing like il
on this earth.
Billy Burke. the veteran clown said: Il
have faced a thousand circus audiences.
hut never had such an audience ~ this. "
The constant delight of the children
proved that pantomime i the only species
of entertainment which they understand
and thoroughly enjoy. and Mr.. B""kwaltrr
i to be congratulated an the wise chuic" of
an attraction for the children. A drama is
entirely above their comprehension; but
they can all understand IIumpty pumpty y
miehaps with the policemen.
Several citizens obtained permission /"
enter. and look at the audience Of children.
though no adults were allowed i'll the au-
dlenc- lady said Ia me. as she gaZcd al
the vast human bed Of T"Srbui>, with tcaT-
i'll her eye>: Il have Ia laugh, and yet |
cannot help crying, As well. when | look al
this vast tfrong of happy children. Many
OF them are witnessing play for the first
time: many only see one once a year. by
the generosity of Mr.. Bookwalter: many
come from homes "f squalid misery. and
want and wretchednesS. what happy break
such thing will make in their taStcleSS eN-
5tence. TO them it is a brief glance into a
heavenly world of light and color and
beauty. and will prove bright mile stone
along the dreary paths of their Young lives.
No other means could be devised for CON
ferring As much pleasure AT once on the
children OF Springfield.
As each child left the opera house il was
presented with a beautiful colured Christ
mas card edged with silk fringe in different
colors, and bearing the date and compli-
ments of Mr.. BoOkwaltrr to the children of
Springfield. the whole making a beautiful
souvenir These Were received with rap
| turous exclamations by the Youngsters.
Dickens beautifully describes a character
who cnulG never be- happy at Christmas un-
less he mad" somebody else happy. On
this principle Mr BookWalter ought 10 be
the happiest of men. To confer 1000 hours
Of happiness on the children OF city-3, 900