The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1908-01-20
CHRISTMAS CHEER
FREE IN NEW YORK
FROM BATTERY A TO BRONX
NONE GOES HUNGRY. COLD OR
WITHOUT KIND WORD

JulS OuIlSluldS Ddg + rum the BIOuA
to the Battery and over into Brooklyn
there was merrymaking enough to sat
isfy the jolliest, and those who had
no cheer of their own had enough and
20 spare. Never before, it is said, have
good things be distributed with so Law
ish a hand, or so many unfortunates
made happy
The Salvation Army, Volunteers, Y.
NJ c. A. and hundreds of other public
and private humanitarian organiza-
tions We'd with each other in supply
ing to all who would accept food and
clothing, with toys for the children,
and music bright lights and good
wishes thrown I'm.
Even at the Stock Exchange, the
scene of recent financial disaster for
many the walls were hung with holly
and mistletoe, and the brokers proved
that they are not broke by making a
pool Of $4,000 for the $50 Exchange
employees.
Nearly every public school had it's
Christmas programme, and the old Old
story was sung again just as though
there had never been such an ado over
sectarian differences. Nothing of the
sort troubled the children, and the
"cutest' little Santa Claus on the East
Side, it is said, was a properly costum-
ed little Jewish girl.
Christmas Eve not only filled the
restaurants and cafes, but also every
available hail in the city, where the
throngs were made up of every element
found in the metropolis. Band con-
certs, chorus singing, Christmas trees
and vaudeville turns made up the pro-
gramme A score of places were given
up to free entertainments for the Grip
pied children, the newsbOys and thou
sands of others without the price
Christmas Day, though without
snow, was as beautiful as the senti-
ment it engendered Clear, crisp and
cool the weather filed the parks and
invited the ever spectacular parade on
Fifth avenue It lifted the fog that
had hung over the harbOr and rivers.
revealing the craft that frisked and
wigwagged GOODWILL to each other.
Even the stately transatlantic liners
unbent their dignity and accepted the
good-natured challenge footed by the
whistle of the most disreputable
tramp.
The great turbine steamship Maurc-
tania was wreathed from stem to stern
with holly and other Christmas greens.
A great feast was set for the crew, at
which every man received a bottle Of
beer, more than 900 bottles being used
The Baltic, of the White Star Line
and the New York, of the American
Line, also in port, are decked with
holiday wreaths and other decorations
and special dinners were served to the
crews. On the miscellaneous craft in
the harbor decorations and special
dinners were the rule, and as many Of
the crews as could be spared were
given shore leave.
Down at the Battery, Captain Davy
Roach, of the light tug e. NJ. Timmins,
made his annual distribution to his
employees OF So gold pieces Of the
same weight and fineness as those
that the employees of Central Park re-
ceived from the hand of Mrs. Russell
Sage.
On Ellis Island, 1900 immigrants, in
a babel of tongues, thanked Miss Hell
en- Gould for their first Merry Christ
mas in America. There was a toy for
every child and a pink carnation for
each adult.
The Christmas spirit invaded the
penal institutions, where real home
dinners were served. 1t found its way
into the Tombs, where Harry Thaw
furnished cigars for the keepers hand
kerchiefs for the matrons and smokes
and chocolates for his fellow prison
ers. It blocked the streets at 100
points where leftover stocks of millin-
cry and toys were given away, and big
policemen nearly lost their minds in
frantic efforts to keep the blissfully
Indifferent tots from getting under the
wheels of street cars and automobiles.
The police were lenient, too, and
push-cart men with everything from
paper Christmas bells to Teddy Bears
for sale, pushed their wares with i'm
munity even into the sacred precincts
of Fifth avenue.
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