The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1912-12-24
BY ESTHER GRIFFIN WHITE.

and more acclimated if it can SO be
put.
Nearly every other house Oh the
block has Christmas tree.
It's a cheerful sight, too. these gay
interiors, glimpses of which we see
through unshuttered windows.
The truth is that it is sort of
charity to leave your blinds up on
Christmas eve or Christmas night and
let the pasSer-by get a fleeing view
of the cheer within.
Cheer" is hard-worked word now
days.
And has grown to have perfume
tory, hackneyed sound.
But it has no especially fitting
synonym to interpret this particular
meaning and must stand the wear and
tear of the Christmas season.
For soon will it be returned to cold
storage with the glittering array of
things displayed in the emporiums to
trap and ensnare the wary or the
guildless one who fares forth with his
Christmas list.
There is nothing funnier, in a way,
Ipers-incoherent, vague, eyes wander
ing here and there, stopping a moment
here lingering an interval there, fling
ering this, that and the other, pass
ing on to the next thing, returning to
the first-"bought in madness and be-
slowed in despair as we have hitherto
quoted.
And the shakedown on Christmas
morning isn't always so bad. Some
times We get what we want and are
surprised with the rest.
And it's always nice to be surprised.
Pleasantly surprised.
But to return to the German man
ners and customs"
The whOlesouled spirit and the hos
pitality with which those of this race
celebrate Christmas possesses unde-
niable charm.
1t is peculiarly Teutonic.
And not entirely possible to their
racial neighbors.
For it has a certain intimacy-a
family and blood and national init
macy that the outsider cannot always
entirely understand and into which it
is hard for him to enter
1t is something close-knit and fine
with a touch of joviality and a hearty
response.
We simply don't have it.
They do.
The German Alliance of this city
will give an evidence of this posses
sion in its Christmas party-before
referred to in the news columns of
this paper-which will be held on the
evening of December 3Oth
This is. as stated, celebration of
the members of the organization with
a few invited friends.
But as a social event it is interest
ing and characterizes and gives color
to the more purely social phases of
the communitys holiday gayeties.
And it's party-which is also called
the Maennerchor Christmas Fest-in-
cludes every age.
The young, the old, the parents, the
children.
There is something delightful about
the German regard for the old
The elders in the German family
are not pushed to one side or treated
with neglect or disdain.
They are not forgotten.
They are not only not forgotten but
paid every respectful attention.
At the German weddings you will
find the granddame or the grandsire
in an honored place at the brides
table
Their advice is sought for and TAX
en-.
They are included in the family So
liability and regarded with a certain
generation.
1t is something that their social con-
J freres of other blood may we'll emu
: late.
The trend of the time is to disre-
| gard all but Youth
} The Americans are notorious in the
short shrift they give to their elders.
The contemptuoGs attitude of chill
dren toward their parents is nation
al failing-and. it may be added, a
national disgrace.
Although, in the end. it is the fault
of the parents themselves.
Very few children have good man.
ners.
-No HloIitI "IStueE from the cot
tage or the mansion or the halfway
house
Their rudeness is deplored but not
corrected
Or if corrected. the discipline is too
rigid or comes too late
American parents, if we'll TODD. have
a way of sending their children to
finishing schools where they are pol-
1shed down and made presentable.
But this is a surface gloss.
1t does not ooze from the center out
And rarely sinks below the ton.
The time to begin most things is
in the beginning.
Children should be taught good man.
ners from the time they are big
enough TO have even a glimmerins
comprehension.
And respect. regard. consideration
constitute good manners
That very few children have ever
been taught these virtues and graces
at home is evident by their attitude
in public.
You will see a string of school girls
spreading over the entire walk who