Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-12-13
NO MERR|MENT THERE
A True Story Of an Annual
Family Calamity.
ALLMRS.SMITH'SFAULT
WORE HERSELF AND EVERYBODY
ELSE OUT WITH PREPARATIONS
Then When the Great Day Came Could
Not Enjoy or Let the Rest De-
light in It ALI.
ALL MRS.SMITH'SFAULT
Written for The Evening Star.

Written for The Evening Star.
well, 1 never didr' proclaimed Mrs.
Smith on the twenty-fourth Of December.
Nobody does a thing to help me, and the
way things go does beat everything. l feel
as If 1 should fly, I'm so nervous. When
this is over I'll go to bed. That's what I'll
do"
Mrs. Smith made the same remark every
twenty-fourth of December, and the fam
lily should have been used to it, but the
observation never failed to cast a gloom.
1t worked like a charm, that system of
hers 1t began on the twenty-second. On
that day she said, loud and clear, so that
all the members of the family might per-
ceive and mentally note her self-sacrifice:
I'm tired to death. There's just one
thing I'm thankful for, and that's that
Christmas only comes once year.
The next day she varied the words, but
the motif, as musicians say, was the
same:
~ ache all over 1 can't keep this up
l feel that L shall drop before long"
The family always looked apprehensive
Mrs. Smith never did drop. but then she
might at any moment. They all regretted
having carelessly told, in a moment of holt
day enthusiasm, what they wanted for
Christmas presents. Indeed an atmosphere
of criminality lowered over the tree. The
pleasure had been purchased, you might
say, with mothers life blood. This is at
any time a depressing thought. 1t played
havoc with the holiday spirit of the Smith
family
The Smiths were an average family. Mr..
Smith worked pretty hard, and he liked
holiday well as the next man. The
boys and girls were all at school, and they
talked Christmas for the entire month of
December About the time when the shop
keepers began to get in barrels of Christ
mas green the holiday spirit began to stir
vigorously in the soul of each young Smith.
They made out lists of things they wanted.
They were long lists, but the writer's did
not expect to have everything. They
weren't the kind, they would have told you,
who wanted the earth with fence around
it; and it wasn't very hard to please them.
Mrs. Smith was an average mother; per-
hapS little more conscientious than a good
many. She wanted the best for her chill
dren, and she worked hard to give it to
them. She worked hard, anyway, with
only one servant to help her; but the chill
dren were not little any more, and she
might have kept more time to herself if she
had tried hard She never tried at Christ
mas time. She worked herself into frenzy
that not even by poetic license could be
called fine. The children wanted things,
and the children should have them. John
and his wife, and James and Ellen, and
Cousin Maria came to dinner every Christ
mas, and they were to have the best OF
dinners. There was nothing inhospitable
about Mrs. Smith: and in housekeeping
| matters she thanked heaven that she was
not as many other women-shiftless and
happy go-lucky.
So every Christmas she went vigorously
to work. and in her enthusiastic desire TO
keep the letter of Christmas the holiday had
its spirit crushed out of all recognition. She
never suspected for an instant what she
was doing. Could woman keep Christmas
better than by giving her children every
thing they wanted, and by serving din
ner to her relatives which should prove
both her regard for their tastes AMI her
ability as a housekeeper? 1t never entered
Mrs. Smiths head that any woman could
do better, or that holiday fun and good Will
were preferable to elaborate preparation
When Christmas morning dawned she was
| "all unstrung." She sad, do be quiet' to
the smallest Smith when he made noise
over the presents she had worked so hard
to procure for him. Later. when he blew
the trumpet she had secured after searching
all the stores for just the kind he wanted.
she said he would ssrive her to her grave
yet.
While Ethel was dressing for dinner In
the charming white frock her mother had