Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-12-25
FOR MANY NEEDY EOYS
SAKS & COMPANY DISTRIBUTE
100 oVERCoATs.
Occasion Replete With Human Inter
est Features-Pathetic Pictures
Observation-Disclosures in Thanks.

More than one hundred little hearts were
made glad this morning and Christmas
cneer was carried into 100 homes
through the generosity Of Saks & Com
pany. Following its annual custom, estab-
iished twenty years ago, the firm distrib-
uted more than one hundred comfortable.
well made overcoats to as manv needy boys,
and the picture presented at the Saks' es-
Enlistment during the distribution was
replete with human interest features. Mr..
Joseph l. Saks was at the store in person
to assist Mr.. Isaac Cans. the manager,
In directing the giving away of the gar
ments, and together they saw to it that the
waits of poverty were provided with every
article of apparel they needed. AS the boys
filed into the main storeroom they were
scanned from head to feet by Mr.. Saks and
Mr.. Cans. and where 1t was found that they
needed stockings. hats or shoes those ar
ticles We're literally supplied to the shiver-
ing little ones
Who have we to thank for these good
things?' a tall il-clad man. who was
accompanied by a pale-faced boy, asked as
he surveyed the lad in his new overcoat
shoes and hat that had been supplied him
by direction of Mr.. Saks
Thank the good Lord and Saks &
Company, was Mr.. Cans CHEEKY response
Pallid Girl Taken Ill.
pallid girl about fourteen years of age
was noticed by Mr.. Cans in the crowd out
side Of the doors to be apparently ill and
she was at once admitted to the warm
store. 1t was found that the girl was
numb with. the cold and almost in a state
of collapse. as she had come a long way
with her little brother to get one of the new
coats. She was quickly provided with a
hot cup of coffee and something TO eat and
DlESlci1n
tor found that the miss had been overcome
by the cold and weakness probably due to
lack OF nourishing food. She was brought
around all right and sent to her home
In the meantime a slender woman. whose
face betokened that she was making a hard
struggle for existence against poverty and
hard luck, staggered into the store leading
a small boy by the hand. The woman an
peared to be faint and her sparse garments
had afforded her but little protection from
the icy north winds Noticing that she was
suffering, both Mr.. Saks and Mr.. Cans APP
preached her and asked If she had eaten
any breakfast. The woman replied that
she had not.
A messenger was dispatched posthaste to
neighborng restaurant and quickly re-
turned with pitcher of steaming hot coffee
voured, and then thanked her benefactors
from the bottom of my heart"
There We're other pathetic pictures pre-
scented at the annual distribution of bows
Co. The boys filed in from the 7th street
side lily clad and shivering with cold After
being provided with great coats, they filed
out smiling and happy through the Market
space entrance. 1t was happy presenta-
ton of the familiar picture of before and
after" and the little ones returned to their
homes of want with the CHEEKY salutation
of Messrs Saks and Cans, "A merry Christ
mas, ringing in their ears.
Invalid Father; Blind Mother.
A father. who appeared to be an in
valid, had with him his son. a tot of six
years, who was overcoatless and poorly
clad. When the child went away with his
parent to return to his blind mother he
was warmly clad in new overcoat, stock
ings, cap and shoes. The father was pro-
fuse in his thanks.
The cases were all investigated by the
Associated Charities, and some Of the rec
ords tell fearful tales of the 'other half -
1t shows that Henry, boy of nine years,
lived with his widowed mother who earns
stipend by toiling in a rag factory. The
mother is said to be both mentally and
physically weak. Many of the boys have
drunken fathers Some are without fathers
One Is the son of an invalid shoemaker who
barely earns enough money to furnish his
family with subsistence. The father Of a
nine year-old lad Is in the penitentiary and
his mother Is Ill and confined to bed, with
five small children to provide for. The
father of another boy is III the workhouse,
and the mother tolls over the washtub to
earn a living for her numerous little ones.
boy of nine years is the eldest in a fam
lily Of eight children. The father was a
hard-drinking man, but has taken the
pledge, and the boy is said to be helping
his parent to take treatment for the drink
habit. And so 1t went with the sad cases
that were presented in the kaleidoscope of
human misery seen today at the estab-
lishment of Saks & Co.
Assisting Messrs. Saks and Cans in the
distribution were Mr.. Geo. s. Daniels, Mr.
8. Splitter and Mr.. Bruce Willis.