The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1907-1917, 1914-12-17
A MERRY CHRISTMAS, AND A
HAPPY ONE.

ne IN line WITH the rest or the
Christmas Cheer Gang, and just
break loose with what it really feels.
You remember Peter Pan asked,
edo You Believe in Fairies?" and
those who saw the delightful Maud
Adams in the part say, she was the
. most Winsome Of questioners when
she asked the question, and the peo-
pie Of her audiences were almost
tempted to answer eyes, unani-
mously
Lacking the magnetism of Maud
Adams, but with just as much earn
estness, we are going to ask, 'Do
You Believe in Christmas?" and
while We realize the horror of the
: poverty that is in many sections of
our country, especially in the rural
distrincts, we are going to say our
little say, ana trust to the charity
of those whom we want to reach.
The papers Of the cities have been
filled lately with accounts of the
! various charitable enterprises that
manage to have a perfectly good
! time collecting other peoples money
to distribute to the worthy" poor.
! have been on those boards, and
committee, and circles, and chapters,
and all the rest, under whatever
name, and I have often thought, if
was in need, and sick, and lonely
and ninety per cent miserable, and
! the other ten per cent hopeless, I
! would rather lie in the ditch until
! the ash man came by and took what
! was left of me, off in his wagon, than
! to accept the offerings of these pro-
fessional charity mongers, Or make
my condition known to them.
think I would have made a pretty
good scrub-Woman, if [ had had to
take up that profession, and after
reading of one Of the craft who do
mated $50 to foreign missions lately,
the profession is not as badly paid as
/ had thought.
Any way, I am making a special
plea for Christmas for the child
rem, and maybe if I had a lot of
them, and no other way, I might
accept things from the charity bro
kers for them, but I would have to
be pushed.
We read lot about the duty of
children to their parents, and it calls
to mind the discipline of other days,
when a child was not permitted to
speak before it's elders, nor to take
any part in the conversation. the
pendulum has swung far the other
way now, and the children are very
little trouble on that score-they are
so little at home, and their parents
see so little of them, excepting at
meal time. But the joy of a Christ
mas season is not possible without
them; it is amazing to note the
change in the cynical, cigarette
smoking, loud-talking, moving pic
ture fiend, when you back him into
store where there are mechanical
toys that will go with a key or the
winding of "a spring; if you have
ever been in a city and fortunate
enough to get in touch with one of
these little scamps, you realize with
start that there are still children
in the world. but they are suffering
from the sins Of the parents.
The broken home, or the home
that is neglected; the child who is
permitted, without let or hindrance
to spend all the hours it is not at
school or at meals, or in bed, as it
pleases have, by the combination,
brought about a species that is not
to be understood, until one gets be-
low the crust and finds still, the real
little boy, or the real little girl The
toys that mean manly achievement
will take the little how and the