New Britain herald., 1915-12-22
EXCHANGE OF GIFTS
 BARRED IN SCHOOLS
Special Exercises Will Take Place
 Of Usual Custom
WERE PICKPOCKETS HERE?
Kindergarten to Have Christmas Tree-lcemen Star Annual Harvest: Forestvllle Man Relieved of $81- State Lecturer to Install.

Having placed the ban on the ex-
 changing of gifts between pupils and
 teachers, the school board through Principal 0. l.. Judd, is arranging special Christmas exercises as a sub stltute for the time honored custom in the local schools and Thursday af- ternoon when the fall term is brought to close, interesting pro- grams will be given in all the grades. special feature will be the introduc- tion of Christmas carols sung by the children. The pupils have ben rehears- ing the songs for the past month and the musical features of the exercises are expected to the most entertaining.
 In the kindergarten there will be a Christmas tree tomorrow morning and the children will hang gifts they have made for their parents The school board has adopted a policy now in vogue in most places of abandoning the plan of exchanging gifts in the schools and this feature will be e1im- mated from the closing exercises this year.
 Throughout the school the teach CTS are trying to inculcate in the minds of their pupils the idea of giv- ing presents that require but time and S of money. Principal Judd says the plan is to encourage them to give re- membranes which only the spirit of
 kindness and love teaches them to give, such as a desire for better les- sons and conduct, helping at home and doing for others because of the spirit of love which is the true Christ
 mas spirit and that of the Christ child"
 The schools will close tomorrow and while a number of the teachers will leave in the afternoon for their re- spective homes where they plan to spend the Christmas recess most of them will remain here until Friday. , , The winter term will begin on Mon day, January 3.
 Start Ice Harvest. Although the ice of the ponds in this locality is hardly of sufficient thickness to warrant harvesting for storage, the dealers have found it necessary to start cutting, last win ter's harvest being practically gone. All the repositories are now about empty and the icemen are cutting from their ponds to supply the trade. Leland Hart harvested small crop yesterday from his pond. The ice is
 
 prisingly clear, considering the | weather conditions under which 1t was formed. MT. Hart plans to begin cutting for storage soon. His reposi- tories have a capacity of 2,00O tons and he proposes to take advantage of the first opportunity afforded for cut ting. the lessons learned by experience
 during the past few years, making it
 clear that delays in ice harvesting som etimes prove expensive The White Oak Ice company, which supplies ice to the New Britain Ice corporation, has made no effort 10 start cutting but will probably begin the harvest next week, weather condi- tions permitting. The company has storehouses near the pond with ca 1 pacity of 5000 tons. The buildings l are now practically empty a heavy demand for ice in various places in the state during the summer having de- pleted the stock earlier than usual Farmers at Scott's Swamp hope to start cutting their summer supply
 from Selectman Johnson's pond in a 1 few days.
 Claimed Pocket Was Picked. The police of various towns in this section are seeking a pair of we'll 1 dressed strangers who are suspected l of having relieved Charles Johnson of