Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-12-25
JOHN D. HER SANTA
Little Armenian Girls Faith in
Standard Oil Chief.
MAKES JOURNEY TO SEE HIM
Head of the Mansion Absent, But
Butler Is Sympathetic.
DISPENSES FOOD AND COMFORT
Child Has Very Happy Day, Despite
the disappointment Of the
Morning.
DISPENSES FOOD AND COMFOR.

NEW YORK, December 25.-A small
black haired. black eyed girl, in the
neighborhood of forty inches tall. wear
ing a bedraggled red dress reaching TO
the knees. an old brown coat, pearl but
toned and well worn. a brown tam
o'-shanter and red ribbons on her pig
tails, rang the doorbell at John D. Rookie
feller's home, on j4th street, yesterday
afternoon and said she was Mary Baya-
CLAN. twelve years old. She had an i'm.
portant errand and would see Mr.
Rockefeller In person.
Mary lives with her father. Harry
Bayagian. at 30 Laurel street. Worcester
Mass. and is pupil in the fourth grade
of the public school on Ell zabeth street In
that city. She has been saving her money
for several months with the sole end In
view OF buying Christmas presents for
her mother and her father and her two
sisters. Lillian and Edna, and her brother
Henry and some relatives and several
friends In the public school.
Thursday afternoon, when Mary re-
turned from school, she opened her bank.
In which she had been boarding her
money. and counted her savings. They
totaled 81 to a cent. Two dollars seemed
g. lot of money to the little black-eyed
Armenian girl. and she went to bed that
night planning what she would buy for
each of her prospective beneficiaries.
Money Would Not Go Round.
Mary had been around the stores in
Worcester pricing various articles. so she
knew just about what each gift would
cost. 1t didn't take her long before go.ng
to shop to figure out that she didn't have
nearly enough money for her plans. Sc
there In bed she thought and thought for
way out Of the difficulty.
Mary reads the newspapers and also she
had heard her father read from them
about John d. Rockefeller and the mil
lions upon millions of the Standard Oil
man. This all came back to her as she
studied her own problem and as soon as
she had had her breakfast she took s.
from her bank and left the house without
saying anything as to what she was going
to do.
A few minutes before O'Clock found
Mary at the Union station in Worcester
pricing half-fare tickets to New York.
and shortly after. with a ticket in her
pocket. which left her only p cents, she
boarded the New York. New Haven and
Hartford train. She reached the Grand
Central station we'll along in the after
noon, and following the crowd out OF
the station asked some one the way to
Fifth avenue-where she said she knew
all men like Mr.. Rockefeller lived. She
walked up town a little way in the ex-
better than all the others.
Is Finally Set Right.
Mary soon realized that she never would
be able to tell it this way, and she STOP
ped the best dressed woman she could
see, a woman who looked to the eyes OF
the small dark girl with. pigtails as If
she might be a relative. or at least a
friend. Of Mr.. Rockefeller. The woman
told her with some amusement that Mr..
Rockefeller lived at 4 West Fifty-fourth
street, and at 5 o'clock yesterday after
noon Mary rang the Rockefeller bell
The door was opened by a butler.
whose name is Nicholas Stanton. Mary
told the butler that she wanted to see
Mr. Rockefeller. and the butler asked
her what for. She said that she had
come clear from Worcester. She was
sure that MT. Rockefeller would be will
ing to help her out: she didn't need
such a heap of money to do all the giving
she wanted to do-not much for Mr..
Rockefeller.