The Jersey City news., 1899-12-23
oeletu Topics.


Christmas mays be divided into three
parts. anticipation. realization and af1ef
efrec4s. The anticipation has taken place
during The nast week, when everypoay
has been busy with preparations puonc
ana nrivatp. and vet during that time tne
energetic Woman,s Club had booked lssss-A
far 5our meetings on four different Gays
not to speak Of the Free hlnasls q - =
tertainment Of yesSer ,..,s, as
But in this case the Woman 2 llap 80 &
were bigger than It's BRAN. = p1S'-l'-Se
more tnan it could do, and the pfos.sall1'am
had to be cut in half lnoush . l.el''ys'
OF women from the Lllelse' e-s L'e'',.s
ment visited the Ramniers On sselissssus'' ~
last when DR.. Herr lectured on Buoo-
hisin.
vrifh christmas ever in view, however
tbs club women profited BY the TWO nse'T
ines they did hold, thar Of the Home De- l'
1,sr7ns,lt on Monday, and that oil 1he
EDUCATIONAL Department on InuIsois ;
Dotn of whieh partook Of the e'AElS 'll'''s
spirit
This was especially true OF ing ilo..'N
4,snart1nent. where there were Two p.'ps :.
one on Home Decorations for taliolsH,
bx Miss Kinds, and one on IS Il us
II reach children the Myth ol 0alle4
clause by Mrs. Willard FISK. ille ''i'7
Ts-1a yaanv valuable suggestions as 70 the
ssearations of a home at Christmas tles'
aT,A ne latter as Its name would imply
deayf with the Santa Claus problem.
-
spealsine Of Observation-Disclosures are SO
,,,,,cb part Of Christmas and Christmas
i 90 much a part of child life that prae-
t;caI7v speaking there would be no cnrasl-
s.,s Toifl,out the child, and where woula
tbs child be without Christmas O1 an
+I,a mythical things in a childs lie those
connected with Christmas are dearest, ana
,vbere would the fun be without santa
+. .c,laus? Is it right to teach children Inc
,,,,4t of Santa Claus? For centuries upon
ea,,4nr,es the children have had tneir
santa CLAUS. and now at the close OF the
,fneteenth century, after eighteen nun
dred Christmases have passed away Tue
e,,,astson which troubles the club woman
Is whether or not it is right to let ner
children. If she has any. ana othsf
neople's. if she has not, believe in santa
Claus.
The question might well be answered py
another: is it right to teach children the
myth Of anvthing2'' The child's world IS
50 much a personal world that everything
in it must be more or less mythical Ine
very chair on which the child sits is I'M
bued with life. If he hits his head against
II he punfshes the chair in return and
feels better. When he looks out OF the
window and sees the ground covered with
ice and snow. Jack Frost has been
round. 1t is all very well to be truthful
and there is nobody quicker to detect an
nntruth than child, but to spoll ms
mystic world of Santa Claus. Jack Frost,
fairies and gobiins would be downright
cruel. After all it is the malicious lie that
is forbidden. and truth where it unneces-
sarily hurts is not always the best policy
Mrs. Henry Niese, Of Clifford avenue, IS
the possessor Of a wonderful Christmas
tree 1t has been in the family for over
a century, and is used every Christmas
with the regular old-fashioned Christmas
ceremony. At a certain hour all the
family are called to the drawing room,
where the tree is displayed. Two Christ
mas tunes are played by the tree itself
as it revolves in All its beauty, Christmas
hymns are sung and the presents are dis
tributed.
Each year Christmas and Christmas
presents are becoming more Of a problem
Everybody wants to give something new,
that is, novel, and everything seems to be
played out. Where in years gone by it
was the young mans appropriateness to
Christmas that troubled and wrinkled the
fair brow of the gentler sex, today, while
the young man is ever with u.s. another
perpIexity has been added, in no less
personage than the club woman
OF course at Christmastide the object is
to give appropriate presents. something
of reminiscent value that will be appro-
prlated by its receiver, not as 50 many
dollars and cents. but for its connection
with something past, present and future,
and here is just where the trouble comes
in with the club woman. The average
person is afraid of her. She is SO well
versed on house decorations, on books, on
articles of apparel, on everything in gem
era1 that in many cases one is tempted
to pass her by for her less pretentious
sister, with a BLESSED be ignorance
Yet even a club woman's heart is sus-
ceptible to nattery, and herein lies the
secret Of Christmas presents in general,
but give her something that bespeaks her
present or future success and she is satis-
fed. Even though it be something beyond
her-something she cannot understand
she will show 1t to her neighbors with
pride. expostulatlng upon its virtues.
The club woman and the school teacher,
though Of course in many cases they are
one and the same, have common inter-
est in Christmas vacation. 1t gives them
week Of rest. the difference being that
in the case Of the former she arranges
this matter for herself, while in the case
OF the latter ii is arranged for her by the
Board Of Education.
During the week between Christmas and
New Years, there are but two meetings
Of the Woman's Cleb booked to take
place, that of the Executive Committee.
at the residence Of Mrs. seudder, on Tues
day next, and that Of the Art Department
on Thursday.
A dancing class is IN process Of forrna-
ton BY Mrs. Harry Bay ana Mrs. George
~. Case. The first OF the series gf lessons
has been planned for January G, al Mrs
Flnn's dancing school, and the class Is
70 consist of efxfaer rorfrey ladies and