The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1907-12-26
JACK TAR'S
CHRISTMAS.
A HAPPY WELCOME AWAITS
HIM IN NEW YORK PORT.
For Half Century the Church Of
the Holy Comforter Has Made Him
Forget His Homelcsncss--Iiow
They Arc Remembered.

to fifty thousand seamen. To be sure
1t is a shifting population, here for
q day and away, with any one OF
dozen ports as much like home as
another.
For most of the days of the year
no one cares less about his real busi-
ness than Jack tar himself, but on
| Christmas Day more of them than
would care to own 1t have longing
down in corner of their hearts that
they were having part in the Christ
mas cheer of the humble home that
most of them have tucked away In
some corner of the world, says the
New York Herald.
When Jack Tar finds himself In
New York on Christmas he is likely
to be left to take care of himself,
and the chances are he will seek the
mug that cheers without being parti-
cular to have a guaranty that II will
not inebriate.
If he is a man in the employ Of the
big steamship companies that dock
on the North River perhaps he has
discovered a place that Is open to
seamen the year round and where at
the season of peace on earth and
good will toward men special
thought is given to making these
wanderers happy. This is the Epis-
copal Church of the Holy Comforter
for Seamen, the one church in New
York that Is located on the North
River.
For more than a half century the
Church of the Holy Comforter has
kept open house for the seamen who
come into this port by the North
| River gate 1t began in a modest
way long before it came to the notice
of the elder Vanderbilts, who in
! their wills made bequests that made
| possible the present building that
! faces on West and Houston streets
and hugs in its angle a saloon that
may some time have had its share
| of the seamen who now pass the
swinging baize door and go In at
the panelled Gothic one that leads to
the reading room provided by the
, church Not that all the seamcn OF
the North River have given over the
cup-by no means-but when they
want drink they 60 to saloon that
is not under the caves of the Church
of the Holy Comforter.
From two in the afternoon until
ten at night this reading room Is
open, and In that time anywhere from
| one to two hundred men drop in to
| H., ra y In, ~
| and periodicals of all kinds that lie
free and open to them upon the long
| tables: or to write letters home. In
| the course of year fully ten thou
sand letters come here for these men
ana perhaps half as many are sent
| away.
AS the afternoon wears on the
! air thickens with the smoke OF pipes
| and the hard skinned, weather wrink-
| led faces take on q calm and rested
| look. The flesh that was stiff with
| the cold, the muscles strained with
| the toll of hard midwinter voyage
relax in the warmth and comfort of
| the quiet room, for there is none OF
| the boisterous, registering element
among the frequenters of the place.
This is as X is day after day
through all the year, but with the
coming of Christmas the rector of
the church and his assistants make
ready for the Christmas festival. The
Tuesday night before Christmas, and
the Tuesday night before New Years
are given over to this, and for the
occasion q fine programme of Chris
mas music is arragned. At its close
each man is given as he passes out
comfort bag-and such wonde--
full thirg this comfort bag Is!
To begin with, 1t is made of a
bright red cloth, with a drawstring
at the top, but the wonders of 1t
are within. There are needles ard
pins and thread, for things that rip
and buttons that will come off and
must be sewed on by the sailor HIM
self; there is a package of absorbent
cotton, linen bangades and court
plaster; there Is knife or a pair
of scissors, a package of writing pap
er and envelopes and a little box of
the best mixed caniy-a thing which
all sailormen love. So much for
physical comfort AS for the spirit
ual. there is always a testament or
prayer book, and on a slip Of paper,
printed in artistic type, a simple bit
of verse that gives a man something
good to think about. Many Christ
mas stocking is not so well filled,
1t is hard to tell just how many
bags to make each year, for there
are apt to be seamen who bob up at
Christmas time at the Church of the
Holy Comforter just as small boys
become very regular in attendance
at Sunday school when 1t comes near
Christmas.
The good will spirit found in this
chapel of the Holy Comforter is not a
spasmodic thing, born with the
Christmastide and gone when the last