Abbeville progress. (Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, La.) 1913-1944, 1914-12-19

! In this home. and 1t was delicate IN
dertaking to bring woman like this
any provisions. But explained to
I her that IL was a present and her Joy
was only equaled ~ :hat of her chill
dren. who we're moro than delighted
with their new toys
Il have been I'm homes whore tho
/ children never had toys. and I have
! brought thcm their first playthings.
| In ono case there were two children. n
/ boy and a girl. Pepino and Mechanic.
+ Their father died when they were
| babies. and the mother supported
/ them. She had come to this country
| n bride and was not well vcrscd with
! tho American way OF doing thing.
| She did not even know how to mako
a rag doll for the children. We
J brought those children small tree.
| decorated It. and gave them plenty or
| toys. Words couldn't tell the happi-
ness OF those little ones.
There is more pleasure in the work
than You would imagine. We see many
sad scenes. sorrow and Joy mingled
together, but we also find much TO
amuse us. Last year we took
basket TO an old colorcd woman. Her
husband was u paralytic and she had
two orphaned grandchildren TO keep.
Christmas to her was to be the same
as any other day until we arrived
with tho provisions and toys. She
glanced at us as We entered the room.
and when we put the basket on tho
table. she stared at II and pointed to
herself. as much az to say, For meT
said. Yes. Liza, that's for you
You could see nothing but the whites
of her eyes. and she raised both OF
her hands above her head. clasped
them together and said. DE Lord be
praised That was all she said but
she repeated It time and again. One
dollars and she would joyously sing
the De Lord be praised and again
she would be sad and mournful and
moan DE Lord be praised
Finally her husband. who was I'M
able to leave his chair, lost his pa
thence and he shouted, Liza, good
Lord. woman. has you done lost your
head altogether? Why don't you
thank the ladies'? Then. as a sort OF
apology to us, he said: 'Yor1l have
to excuse her, ladies', for she has sure
ly done lost her head altogether AS
we left the room and glanced back.
poor Liza was still standing there,
looking at us with her hands clasped
before her and slowly nodding her
head saying: DE Lord be praised
We concluded Liza knew better than
her husband She was thanking the
right one.
Il have witnessed many reconsilia-
lions of families OF foreigners on
Christmas eve. The afternoon that I
spent at the immigration station last
year was one Of the pleasantest Of my
life. 1t was interesting to note the ex-
preston of gladness on the faces OF
the children in the costumes OF their
various fatterlands. They couldn't
speak word of English, but they
could show you that they were CRATE
full for the playthings.
Il will never forget my first Christ
mas visitation. II was my initial ex-
perience with social service work.
One OF the first places we visited was
in a court. poor German family.
When we arrived at the house the
mother was telling the three children
Christmas legends. She had gilded
apples, and that was their only other
reminder that the morrow was a great
festival. She had no meat nor vege-
tables in the house for the next days
meals, and there was no coal in the
bin. But the place was as clean and
neat as n new pin.
THE mother was an educated wom-
an. and you could tell at a glance that
she had seen better days. She had
married against the wishes OF her
family and she was too proud TO let
them know OF her poverty. Her hus-
band had gone West to try 10 better
his condition. but was unable to get
work there and became stranded.
The wife kept the wolf away from tho
door as best she could by sewing
We brought her turkey, vegetables,
fruits and cranberries. then went out
and got a tree and doll for the chill
dren and left an order to have coal
sent there Immediately. II is impos-
sibe to tell how grateful that poor
woman was
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