The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-09-08
Children OF america
Requested to Become
Eur0pe'S Santa Claus

~ IbL u u IN
"lnasmuch as We have done it unto one of the least OF these
my brethren, We have done it unto mt. st. Matthew
XxV-4o.
when daddy goes to work each morning you expect HIM
to come home at night. You would be very sad If ne d1an1
wouldn't YOU?
lover in Europe, where kings rule, millions OF fathers are
being sent to work by the kngs-the work of wal. The
kings tell them to 60 and fight, and they have to go, even II
there is no one left at home to earn money to buy fsod ana
clothing and pay the rent Hundreds of thousands OF fa.ners
will never come home to their little boys and girls. They
will be killed by the fathers of other little boys and girls, who
do not really hate them, but who kill because they have
"You will have merry Christmas. You are looking
forward to the day when Christ was born. You know that
father and mother will be with you on Christmas Day. You
know that Santa Claus will come from the frozen North
his sleigh laden with gifts for you.
Have you stopped to think what is going to happen on
Christmas day to the children of Europe whose Santa Claus
in his heart-the father whose kiss and cheery-up, lazy
boots-kris Krngle has been here, once woke them on
Chrst's birthday? For these bereaved children there will be
no Kris Kringle. His sleigh bells will not jingle on the
frosty air in the black forest, and the SHOWS of the Russian
steppes will be dntrodden by the good saints reindeer.
Stockings will hang limp and empty in many a French cottage
and the smoky chimneys of England will know him not. No
doll for little Jane and no red nittens for brother John. No
soldiers, all red and shining, that Karl had hoped for. What
a mockery this Christmas tide will be ! for them, and Gretchen
had dreamed of a set of dishes viii roses around the edge and
a beautiful big bouquet in the center. Ivan and Francis and
Paul and Marie-all their little dreams have died in war.
Zone million Christmas tragedies-think of it!
"You children know how big they are, and there will be
suffering, the dumb grief of the widowed mother who has
given her all, and yet stands at Christmas time with empty
hands; the physical agony of the hungry and the UNDERGRAD;
the sorrows crown of sorrow, that of remembering happier
things.
"Children of America, if you could help you would,
wouldn't you, and you may.
you can be Santa Claus to those little boys and girls
whose daddies died fighting for their country. You can
stretch out your hands across the sea bearing messages Of
love and hope and sympathy to the children of a war
ridden OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES from fortunate America to sun-
fortunate Europe.
you can send that doll to Jane and those mitens to John.
Yes, by the thousands.
Ivan will not feel the cold when the stockings you knit
are pulled upon his chubby legs.
"Gretchens eyes may fill with tears, but she will smile
through them when that big red comforter is wrapped round
neck and ears.
Don't you want to help? Of course you do.
"LlSTEN
LET each little boy and each little girl be a Kris krngle
Isn't that a fine thought? Wouldn't you love to be that
great Saint? Wouldn't you love to put your gifts in a sleigh
and take the reins in your hands and drive the reindeers over
the roof of the houses, slipping down the chimneys and hav-
OF course you can. You can help load the sleigh and 20,
can shut your eyes and feel the rens in your fingers ane
drive the reindeer up and down the lanes in England, Hnee
with thateh-roofed cottages, through the vineyards of France
and the Stubble fields of Belgium, across the white mantlel
stretches of Russia, up and down the highways of Germany
Servian peasants hut, stopping to leave a surprce-a catch
the breath surprise-foT your little brother and sister who's
father is dead.
you may live to be a hundred years old, you NAV trave
all over the world and see its wonders and delights, but neve
will you have such a journey as that.
'How can you do all this?
"Just in the easiest kind of a way. But you have got to
presents or make them yourself. Every boy knows how t
earn money to go to the circus with Ask father to let yo
split the kndhng, carry in the COAL carry out the ashes loo
after the furnace-and make him pay you for it Save til