Los Angeles herald., 1908-12-26
ARMY OF WORKERS
DO HERCULEAN TASK
Willing Hands Prepare Feast and AS
sist in Distributing Gifts from
Christmas Tree-Santas
in Blue Coats

Thanks to the voluntary services of
scores of noble men and women, young
and old, to the open-handedness of
many merchants; to the hospitality of
the management of the Y. M. G. A.
of this city and to an almost perfect
day, yesterdays Christmas dinner and
Christmas tree, given by The Herald to
the hundreds of poor children of this
city, was unquestionably the most sue
cessful event of a charitable nature
ever undertaken in Los Angeles. Scores
of persons familiar with similar events
voted this to be the fact without quail
f1cation or equivocation.
Between 1900 and 1000 children were
given a dinner on the roof of the Y.
M. C. A. building from l o'clock to
o'clock yesterday afternoon that would
have done credit to a first-elass hotel,
and this event was followed by a
Christmas tree celebration at Simpson
auditorium which lasted from 8 O'Clock
until nearly O'Clock.
Three-quarters of a ton of turkeys
was served among the little ones, while
bushels of sweet potatoes, wagonloads
of buns, tubs of cranberry sauce,
three dozen immense freezers full of
ice cream, barrels of lemonade and
hundreds of pies and cakes were among
piled about the plates of the delighted
children.
Army of Helpers
Fully 100 women and half as many
men volunteered their services in maxi
ing the event the success it was. This
army of helpers began arriving as early
as o'clock yesterday morning and by
10 o'clock the roof of the Y. M. G. A.
building looked like a beehive filled
with workers and with no drones
among the entire number.
The effort required in working out
the far-reaching details of the two
phased program was of a stupendous
character, and it was only after it was
all over when the army of children
had gone their hundreds of ways and a
survey of the days events was made
possible that the enormous amount of
work performed was really appreci-
ated.
But, tired and worn as they all were,
1t is doubtful if there was one person
among all who had assisted but who
would have willingly done twice as
much in return for the pleasure that
came to them from the open-eyed and
unspoken thanks told by too-often
smudged faces of the shouting, scram-
bling children.
With the beginning of work yester-
day there were hundreds of glasses,
knives, forks, spoons and dishes to
be washed and wiped, lemonade to be
made; hundreds of pies to be cut; 9th
er hundreds of buns to be buttered;
bushels of potatoes to be peeled and
baked or boiled; hundreds of turkeys
to be carved; rows upon rows of tables
to be set up and chairs to be placed.
Then came the drilling of those who
were to serve the tables and a thou
sand other details, all requiring time,
but tiresome in enumeration.
Runs Like CIockwork
And yet these details had to do with
but the Christmas dinner. There was
vet the Christmas tree feature, which,
in some respects was a more serious
one than the dinner. There were wires
to run for the hundreds of little electric
light bulbs of white and blue that were
to take the place of candles; there was
the tinsel and the strings of popcorn;
the filling of 1900 to 1000 large bags
with nuts and candies; the arrange
ment of the musical program; the
dressing of Santa Claus and other
countless details.
The fact that these things were all
done, that everything ran like clock
work without hitch or delay, and that
the event was enthusiastically pro-
nounced the most complete success ever
attempted in Los Angeles is quite suf-
ficient proof that the herculean task