Wichita eagle., 1886-12-25

their festivities It was evident upon enter
ing the church that new departure was on
hand. Above and across the rostrum waf
the motto, st is more blessed to give than
to receive, and at the sides were smaller ban
pers containing the mottos, "The Lord low
eth a cheerful give" and she that giveth tc
the poor lendeth to the Lord" Upon the
rostrum where the writer expected to see a
beautiful and heavily ladened Christmas
tree, there was a large square building which
occupied nearly the entire platform. AT
first the reporter was at a loss to know what
there was in the occasion to mako glad the
| hearts of the little ones, but as the exercises
proceeded he felt that it was all right; for
Brother Stanley and the children seemed to
be in their element. The first part Of the
program consisted of appropriate recitations
and songs by individuals and classes. The
children all did nobly, and as they came
upon the stage and sang their
Christmas songs, accompanied by the
gingle of merry Christmas bells, y
Their little faces showed that they were
happy in what was about to be done for the
many poor children in the city who were
not so fortunate as themselves The motto
"Feed My Lambs" was beautifully spelled
out in song by class of little girls, each one
turning the appropriate letter. They closed
their song in an appropriate prayer in song,
which was beautifully done.
After these exercises Superintendent Stan
ley announced that the building on the plat
form was Santa Claus stone house, and that
he would come out to see them, not to give
them presents as he had always done before,
but to receive the things they had been pleas
ed to bring for the poor children that he had
had no presents for. 1t was jolly time
when lie made his appearance with four OF
his boys to help him receive these gifts to
his store house from which to distribute
them to the poor, The children all turned
have taken him aud his four helpers a long
time to have taken all the various packages
into his store house. After this had been
done the building was torn away that the
people might see the magnificent donations.
1t would be useless to attempt to mention
these gifts whose dOners were nearly all I'M
known There were over seventy sacks of
flour, among other things OF
which the reporter learned that
Mr.. William Matthewson gave forty
sacks. There was brought in and placed in
front OF the store-house a donation by Mr..
c. E. Jones' class of large dressed hog,
bearing the motto, ''We go it whole hog Or
nonen The contributions were all volun-
tary, and though not cent was asked for,
Mr.. Stanley received from the children and
others, eighteen dollars in cash and orders
for coal to the amount of twenty-five dol
lars. A committee has charge of the dona-
tons and will attend to distributing them to
the needy.
The occasion was a grand success, and all
seemed to feel that it was truly more
blessed to give than to receive"
EMPORIA AVENUE NJ. E. CHURCH.
At this church there were assembled fully
q hundred and fifty bright-faced pupils of
the Sunday school besides large number of
the members of the congregation and friends
Of tho church.
Although at this church there was no spec
at effort at decoration, most entertaining
musical and literary program had been ar
ranged which was exceIlently rendered, and
which We give in full: