The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1904-12-20

on Christmas all the ragged boys and
girls of Hampstead are invited to her
great white country mansion, where a
wonderful dinner is served by a
French chef and his assistants. In the
afternoon there is a vaudeville show
and the children take away tarlatan
bags filled with nuts and fruit. and
with a crisp One-dollar bill folded at
the bottom.
Last winter Mrs. James X. Kerno-
chan was in mourning and early on
Christmas day she drove over to the
poo house near the estate, followed
By a surry filed with packages. She
gave the aged poor the most sensible
and gratifying gifts. The old men re-
ceived pipes with enough tobacco to
last a year and the women had knit
ted shawls and mittens.
Mrs. Kernochan's practical charity
is in contrast to that of another veal
thy woman sometimes known as 'the
most exclusive woman in America"
Last Christmas she sent to the poor
of the village nea which her ountry
house stands dollhouse melons and
French artichokes. The story runs
that several upstate housewives made
the strange melons into peas, think
ing they were a new sort of pumpkin.
The Vanderbilt women are little
known for their charities. Mrs. Cor
nelius Vanderbilt gives a vaudeville
show for several orphanages in the
Bronx and provides n genuinely good
program. Mrs. William K. Vanderbilt,
Jr., takes part in ali the Long Island
bazaars and entertainments. Mrs. Reg
inald and Mrs. Alfred g. Vanderbilt
are identified with charities in New
port.
The many members Of the Dodge,
Phelps and Stoke families are busy
on Christmas day. They have built
up several settlements in the East
Side. and at the University Settlement
a grand entertainment is given every
Christmas. All the neighborhood at
tends and the concert program Is pro-
vided by distinguished musicians Miss
Melissa Stokes has as many interests
in the East Side as any woman in the
wealthy class. Another woman who
sees hat Christmas is a bright Gay
for the East Side poor is Mrs. Isidor
Wormser the bankers wife. who has
a long list of worthy families on her
list
The three churches in Garrison, n.
Y, are practically supported by Mrs.
Fish and the Sunday
schools are entertained on Christmas
with we'll laden trees. Mrs. Fish and
her daughter, Miss Marion, often ap-
pear and empty their gold purses for
the children. Mrs. Fish believes that
children should be amused. n she
has vaudeville artists On hand. for this
purpose.
Mrs. Eldridge T. Gerry engages all
the Punch and Judy shows to be had
and sends them down to East Side
halls, so thousands of children on De-
cember 25 shrek with laughter,
thanks to Mrs. Gerry.
Randolph Guggenheimer's Christ
mas dinner to newsboys is one OF the
fixtures in New York, and Frank Til
ford Of Rye manor always has a
Christmas dinner for poor children in
New York and IN Rye.
Mrs. Russell Sage has many char
table irons in the fire. n working
girls are her chief interest. On all
holidays she has entertainments for
them, and few women pass as much
time in personal visits as Mrs. Sage.
No list of charitable women would
be complete without the name of Miss
Learay, the picturesque Spinster, who
devoteS so much of her time to women
who are i'll. Miss Ieary has persuad-
err her smart friends to send flowers
after every entertainment to the hos
pitfalls, and on Christmas morning Miss
L-eary brightens many n charity pa
tient in the city hospital by plants or
boxes of overs.
Before her marriage to William +.
Wilcox, Miss Martha Havemeyer gave
up much of her time to her proteges
in the slums. Her fathers enormous
fortune was at her command, n she
herself gave children's parties on
Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas
for the Italians. Miss Havemeyer be-
came a sort of saint in the eyes of
those children. Another young ma
tron who is noted in this work is Mrs.
John Mccullough, formerly Miss Anna
Dodge.
Mr.. and Mrs. Hamilton Mckay
Twombly and heir daughters are h
boon of the Italian colonies near Nor
ristown. N. ]. The Christmas parties
they give for the little aliens are ar
ranged by Twombly's agents. but the
result is none the less gratifying. Mrs.
Adolf Ladenberg believes in brighten
ing the lives of children, and. besides
giving money to organizations, h
buys toys and donate them secretly
to poor. children who live near her
country home at Westbury.
Although the Astors give 'bountiful-
ly to the large charities. they do little
personal work. Mrs Aston, like Mrs.
Clement c.. Moore, gives the servants
in her home the most amazingly cost
Ky Christmas pifts-WaShington Star.