The Holly chieftain., 1914-12-18


dertaking to bring . woman like this
any provisions. But explained to
her that It was . present and her Joy
was only eQualed by that Of her chill
dren. who were more than delighted
with their new toys.
II have been In homes where the
children never had toys. and ! have
brought them their first playthings.
In one case there were two children. a
boy and girl, Pepino and Mechalmo.
Their father died when they were
babies. and the mother supported
them. She had come to this country
Q bride and was not well yersed with
the American way of doing things.
She did not even know how to make
rag doll for the children. We
brought those children small tree.
decorated 1t. and gave them plenty OF
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 o
basket to an old colored woman. Her
husband was paralytic and she had
two orphaned grandchildren to keep.
Christmas to her WIS to be the same
as any other day until We arrived
with the provisions and toys. She
glanced at us as We entered the room.
and when We put the basket on the
table. she stared at 1t and pointed to
herself. as much - to say, For mer
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 she7 said; but
she repeated 1t time and again. One
time her eyes would be as large a.
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 un.
able to leave his chair, lost his pa
tience 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: 'Yorll 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.
II have witnessed many reconsilia-
tions of families Of foreigners on
Christmas eve. The afternoon that l
spent at the immigration station last
year was one Of the pleasantest Of my
life. It was interesting to note the ex-
preston Of gladness on the faces OF
the children in the costumes Of their
various fatherlands. They couldn't
speak word Of English. but they
could show you that they were CRATE
full for the playthinsa.
II will never forgss my first Christ
mas visitation. It was my initial ex.
perience with social service work.
One Of the first places we visited was
in q court, a 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 Q 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 q 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 to better
his condition, but was unable TO get
work there and became stranded.
The wife kept the wolf away from the
door as best she could by sewing.
We brought her a turkey, vegetables,
fruits and cranberries. then went out
and got tree and doll for the chill.
dren and left an order to have coal
sent there Immediately. 1t is impos.
sible to tell how grateful that DOOR
woman was"