Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-12-26
Around the Civ

| - OSSAAS> SA4S 041y
| A clerk was selling a doll. She was
such an attentive clerk and SO determined
to please that the customer. having al
last made a selection, felt called upon tc
say:
You certainly have been patient with
me and 1 know you must be tired tc
death. Never mind. you are young
enough to get lot of fun out of Christ
mas. and I hope you will have a
lovely
Il was awfully sorry to hear about
your pocketbook-I think it was a
shame!''
The interruption came from another
clerk who had paused in scurrying by
The girl who had sold the doll tried to
| smile as If she didn't mind, but the smile
for details. The doll clerk shook her head
but the girl who had paused fingered to
| tell the story:
| Why. she's a stranger in the city and
she can't go home for Christmas because
| somebody in the crowd this morning
swiped her pocketbook. 1t had SIS in it.
and now she hasn't got cent to buy a
single thing. l think it's a downright
| shame.'
The doll clerk handed the customer her
Il
subject were too heartbreaking to dis
cuss. Then she turned to another shop
per who wanted doll.
| Everything in that vast toyland sug-
gested love and friendship and peace and
good will; Santa Claus faces beamed
| down from pillars garlanded with tinsel
and woodsy green's; Christmas trees
glittered with every color known to
stockings hung from mantels that must
have reminded every shopper of child
| hood and away back home
| And right in the middle of it all be-
hind the doll counter worked a fragile
bit of girl who had been robbed of her
Christmas holiday and maybe her faith
! in human nature.
| And the woman who stole her money
| has probably got holly wreaths in her
window and mistletoe under her chan
delier.
Two business women were at luncheon
together in a bright little cafe. One Of
them was girlishly slender, with voice
that somehow suggested cheerful things
| like sleighbells and holly berries. The
other was-but never mind the other.
The only thing she had to do anyhow
was to listen.
dolls for you to give away. l wanted to
dress them. but couldn't find time; had
| to work until 0 o'clock last night.
said to myself: 'Bess, / know Nance
can find three more baby girls who
| have no dolls Christmas is a lonely
time for homeless folks like you and
me. but it seems like little children
ought to be happy"
| When she was through with her sand
witch and coffee she gave her hat ]
| stylish tilt, drew down her veil to just
| the right angle, gave an expert touch
| to the snowy waist that showed its
| lacy mesh at her coat front. put on her
| gloves and went off somewhere, to
work until dark.
| Just wholesome woman, God bless
her, who believed that the one thing
for a lonely creature to do on Christ
| mas day was to keep some other crea-
ture from feeling lonely.
| Here's a glimpse of a man who might
| have come out of Christmas carol-the
| kind Dickens made.
| He had jumped from an automobile 10
speak to another man who was passing
| by The Star building. While they hob
| nobbed at the corner the carol man hap
| pened to notice a boy who was reading
| the want" page pasted on a side wall
| The boy was long. tnin-iesged young
| ster in a jacket that might have fitted
| him about year before last. and trousers
| that never could have fitted him at all.
| Oh yes. he had a hat There he stood.
| with his hands In his pockets-at least
pockets were too small. and his face
| well, you just ought to have seen the
| look on that boys face.
| The carol man saw it, and it must have
| touched him way up where his soul lives.
| for he said something to the other man.
| Then he went over to the boy and said
something else. and then-you needn't be-
| lieve 1t If you don't want to. but
| The carol man put that boy in his
automobile and whizzed off with him.
1 Honest!
The car was crowded with men. women
and brown bundles. A man who was
| holding to a strap said to the woman
| who was seated in front OF him:
| What did you get for the Blanks
| kid?'
"Why, nothing. of course. You know
very well that Mrs Blank won't be able
to make any gifts this Christmas. with
| her husband out of work.
| We'll, I'll be-
/ The man said something harsh. But
| none of the passengers who heard him
seemed to think that he ought to be put
| off the car.
She is a dear little teacher in a public
school about q stones throw from New
! Jersey avenue-if one be a good hand at
| throwing stones. And she considered
it her duty the other day to impress
| upon her second-grade class the beauti-
full meaning of Christmas She told the
| children about Bethlehem and the man
! ger and the glorious star. and of the
/ three wise men who brought gifts OF
| gold and frankincense and myrrh. Then,
/ TO test the success of her story, she
| asked:
Now, what gifts did the wise men
bring TO the infant Savior?'
A tiny German girl raised hand.
/ "Frankfurters, am
1 She was such tiny girl, and so Ger
man. and SO dead In earnest
4 mi heir init tod into t1,o