The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-12-22
CHRISTMAS W0man'S Share in Its - Good Work.

What would Christmas charities and benevolent enterprises be without wo- man?
 From the embroidering of pair of slipper tops which she presents-too of ten, alas without soles-to some man to whom she feels under obligation, to the management of a fair and bazaar at which thousands of dollars are collected for a worthy undertaking. her nimble brain and fingers are busy during the first winter month. In the cities for weeks before December D gentle sisters of charity in their dark robes, with ha- los of white linen around their sweet, grave faces are familiar figures They haunt the markets to get donations of turkey and vegetables for the Christmas dinner of aged and pauper women and toy shops. candy stores and bookstores. They hunt in couples. usually. some times in a wagon, in which they carry home the treasures they have gathered for their poor Frequently they go afoot with a healthy looking orphan girl to help bear the burden of generous bas- ket. -'t -.s-
 It is not easy to beg even for benevo- lent Christmas enterprises. and for that reaSon-because 1t Is not easy-it is doubt less left by man to woman, as one work, like taking care of children. certainly be- longing to her sphere. Men, of course, pay most of the money because man is the moneyed sex, but that they expect. Perhaps they rather like. unless in case of a few old curmudgeona. to have a fair faced, neat woman come at them and tiatter them insiduously by appeals to their well ~known great heartedness in the cause of warm fiannels for old women or tops and dolls for orphans. Things man considers too small for himself to do he often rather likes to have women do. All over this great country the mas culine sex hand out literally of their means to these fair solicitors of Christ mas charity.
 In the poorer rural neighborhoods a pathos invests the efforts of woman to gladden. with Christmas cheer hearts out side her own home circle. l see in my minds eye the Christmas tree for the children of the rustic Sunday School Off, tentimes the region Is so depleted of men that a woman must even be superinten- dent of the Sunday School, vet for that reason the young ones are all the surer of their Christmas tree. with it's strings Of white and cOlored popcorn, its few cheap waxen tapers, it's little gilt balls and tinsel paper, it's gifts of bags of stick candy and gingerbread rabbits of homemade dolls all bat the head. of tin trumpets and tin soldiers of home cro- Cheted mittens and a bargain counter silk handkerchief.
 The fruit. of the tree all told is not worth $l0 yet it represents the labor and savings and the bt gEir gs of, it may be. six weeks of time on the part of those. devoted sisters. If blessing from the most joyous, sacred day of all the year descends on any Christmas benevolent enterprise be sure it will come to theirs. Or, if conferring genuine happiness be the test of real success the country sis ter's Sunday School Christmas tree will show itself illuminated with great wakening light, while that of many d CC Cngregation numbering millionaircs among it's members will ste nd. as it were with its electric lights eXtingutshed. Gifts make Us happy according as we have be- fore lacked gifts, Here and there in the coming years an unsatisfied man or Wo- eNHTr rx-tlI look hack and smile sorrowfully to think that the toy and bag of candy the world has bestowed have given far less joy than those of the country church Christ mas tree
 Among congregations slightly more urban there is the winter holiday oyster supper or soci2ty festival, presided over by feminine divinities. f1ow they have worked again, those devoted women, They beg, they eajole, they sew, they crochet: they emhroider, they darn. they make illuminated doilies and tftivated workbaskets, all fairer to look at than to use. They make cake and jelly. they beat eggs and whip cSeatu they work their dear fingers stiff their slender feet weary. their nerves to .eShauston and come to the oyster supper to serve as wattresees and hostesses.9 with all their tongues.
 And after the great occasion is over what? Perhaps a warm and soft new overcoat as a Christmas present for the minister, or maybe the minister's wife appears next Sunday in church in a new gown, plain and snber. as becomes a country minister's wife. but well made and of good quality, as also becomes a minister's wife in country or city Or maybe the money they have thus earned by hard work and good will goes to meet an obligation the congregation has taken on itself and they hand the lump sum over to the trustees-men, always mer- church free from debt. Religioussdenom- nations ought to he very good to wo- men. according to them all rights and privileges besides that Of collecting mon ev. for without womep no church could live.
 The world is so accustomed to wo- mans benevolent ministrations at the holy and happy Christmastide that if probably has never once considered what the loss of those gentle minist-o tiors would mean Woman does not count for much until mankind tries to do without