The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-24

housed, or underfed. Tn nearly every
 principal city of the country one per
 son out of every i've or six gets mu-
 nicipal or private aid at some time
 during the year. There are over So.0oo
 people. enough to populate a city like
 Richmond, Va. locked up in prison,
 and as many more find themselves in
 the almshouses of the land With such
 astounding figures of poverty before them it is little wonder that the great charity organiEa tions of the nation are moved to deepest pity, and that they
 work so hard and so faithfully to ban
 ish the pains of poverty for at least one day in the yeaf. With more than 5000. 900 hearts oppressed by the
 smotherIng bangs vf want. there IS
 little wonder that the great heart Of the nation rises responsive to the call and gives food, raiment and cheer 10 the struggling underworld, acquaint- ing 1t with the blessings of plenty during the day of worldwide rejoic- ing. e9
 In every city in the land the salva- tion Army and other charitable or. ganizations have arranged to feed all who are homeless. and to provide has- kets for the poor homes where christi mas cheer might not be known but for their work. New. York takes the lead in this direction. The home ol | the rtcneBI DeQpIG OA <AaACfANNs is no less the dwelling place of the poorest of the nations population. Al ways at the head of the procession m inc extent of its charities and In the relative proportton of it's aid to the poor. New York turns out on chrisI-
 mas Day to go her own record one pet ter. and to outdo the whole world m
 deeds of kindness. in that metropolis know the joy or Christmas time through the hands oI strangers, moved by that ittle IouSh l If xvupathy which makes the Whole world Kin. Not even the poorest steer age passenger who has just iahdeo n | this home of hope is forgotten' Las' s year there were full thousano l"i,l .he e | grants at Ellis Island. Thfough Lhe bountifuI thought of that little sister | of the poor, Miss Helen Gould every oua If theIn had a Christmas dinner, that might have delighted tha King df the land from which they had come. Each child received a toy anu eaen adult a carnation. Thus were tnez | given a taste of that Wnoie.He,.ss M. ~ | heipfulness through which millions | have transformed their lives Iron pow
 erty.ruIed existence to anluense ana
 n the great west liberality at ohristmas time Is notable. In Denver. St. Paul, Kansas City, Seattif Fraicisco, Des MoiHes. Clevelana, Sln- !la- cinnati. everywhere, arransslnSsneo nS s,o | have peen made that no one need go hungry on that day of days. In the soufh the heart goes out to blhck ana
 white alike, and Atlanta, New Orleans Houston. Birmingham, Montgomery, | Memphis Columbia, lead other clties and towns in making aFraI ts'o which will give everybody eveh so ,,s,t ans most obscure little pieksnlnnS not | for a whole days antoymena n2s more Some cities not only provloe
 fsasts for the poor, but permit them l ,o dina to the aceompaniment or beau l tif,sl music. Last year the best or l chestra in Houston played iss cnolcess l selections while the unfortpnates oL
 the city were eating their iCaFiS'i'ia'
 dinner Tnayv indication, is that ,his christ mas will witness q bountifplness nev- ar before approached. ss HArd tunes naaAser hut iistle difference in Christ mas giving--servtng only to increase the liberality of the givers. Last year times were tight along aoous es Christmas. and the whole country Wss in doubt as to where 1t would end Vet ii is estimated that the benefac-
 tions of that season in such cities SIS
 New York, cleveland, Detroit. Mem
 phis, Houston, St. Louis and Chicago
 were about IS per cent. greater than
 they were the year befors
 Perhaps the people who feel the grind
 of poverty most are those finely"
 wrought souls who have known plenty
 and have been brought into contact
 with chill penury by diversity. Too
 proud to beg. too heroic to complain,
 they eke out their existence. keeping their poverty hidden. This year the
 organized charities of Washington have made an especial effort to discover them. In a quiet way that will give no offenE.e to the most sensitive they will bring Santa Claus Into their lives again. A carefully prepared and guarded card index of these cases has been established. and 1t is open for the inspection of confidential agents alone. After 1t has served it's purpose the index will be burned,
 One of the most beautiful charities of the Christmas time Is that of prominent clothing firm of Washing ton. Every Christmas they have the Associated Charities hnd them from
 fifty to a hundred poor boys who have not enough clothing to keep their iit- tie bodies warm. dhese are taken to the store and, after a nice bath, are outfitted from head to foot at the ex- pense of the firm.
 Though essentially a Christian insti- tuition, Christmas Day Is non-sectartan in It's helpfulness. Comfort and hap piness were dispensed last year in New Yorlr's East Side to representa- lives of almost every race. tongue and religion known to civilization. The ChinaTnan, the IIindoo. the Russian Jew, and the Turk yied with the Chris tian in the opening of bis heart on that day.
 4 Western fuel and iron cornpsny not louR ago gave q wonderful lesson in Christmas wholeheartedness. It em- ploys sO,0O0 men and they were on strike as Christmas time rolled around. As the day approached 1t began to look as if q gloomy Christmas was in store for the homes of the strikers. With no money laid by. and little more than q hand -to-mouth existence. the strik- ers had small promise of giving the little enes the gIfts so wear to childish hearts. The corporation had maintained kin- for all the children Of these families, and had not closed them dur ing the strike. When Christmas Day every chiid found itself the possessor of an invitation to meet the Santa Claus ct the Kim dergartens. They did so, and were given as Ifb6ral presents as if there had been no strike on. It is needless to say that the differences Between the corporation and its labor were soon adjusted, for few human hearts can resist such magnanfmtty..
 Another instance of a large eorpor- ation looking we'll after the children of its employees at Christmas time Is that of a South Carolina cotton mill For some years 1t had been the custom of the mill to have its own santa Claus for the children. But the employees be- gan to believe that such liberaltty sa-