Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-12-10
HITRRY! ONLY Is DAYS
TO CHRISTMAS, AND 2
OF THEM ARE SUNDAYS
chon Windows Are Teeming
with Brilliant Things, Dia-
monds, and Even Things
That Are Cheap
pEGGARs WHO WEAR FUR
.,,d,,o today, there are only thrice
ncin days before Christmas.

.,,5,,s today, there are only thirteen
.honping days before Christmas
rhore is no question about this being
.aovv sbopplng and an early shopping
,,r,e The streets seem to sing with the
( settlement. especially as the afternoon
csts so late and so dark that It's really
n,gbt in the thin disguise of being before
o'clock and not after o'clock, when
von,d surely call it night
mt when the dark comes on the brill
Rant things in the windows take on so
ruch more brilliancy and sheen that new
cords have to be trotted out to describe
a all. The whole show seems to be NOV
ing not only the crowds but the store
u,pdows with their festoons of tinsel
rones and little electric trains running
,eund and round, and diamond ta-ra-ras
ar whatever they are, which are full of
motion. scntilating from million facets
and winking and blinking, as If impatient
10 encirce fair fingers, wrists and
throats.
Also the small mechanical toys which
walk across the sidewalk and which dc
not cost as much as the diamonds, but
which many young person would rather
have saying in regard to the diamonds.
In the words of Shakespeare. that they
are to my purpose nothing"
There Is a certain phase of charity
which considers the needs of the South
African diamond miners and the people
who have TO 90 to the opera, and so
while one Is doing his Christmas shop
hing early 1t would be advisable to take
home several handfuls of jewels; paying
for them.
Begears never have had much of
standing in this country, except at Christ
mas time. Then begging becomes quite
fashionable, and even ladies in furs from
head to foot do it.
In the old countries beggars have a re-
spectablc standing all the year round.
There is not much sentimentality about
them there; a beggar gets supplied with
odd pennies, i'm a matter of-fact way just
as letter boxes get supplied with letters.
They lounge about the Cathedral steps.
with dirty. cupped hands and picturesque
rags. and it's part of religion to share
with them. They swarm upon the Irish
roads, and John Synge, the poet, says he
stole many of his colorful phrases from
the lips of "beSgar women and other fine
people" on the roads out of Dublin.
Here beggars are pitied and sobbed over
and consequently rarely get any money.
But the respectable beggars are holding
up the tradition in fine style. and when
the list of earnest charities is gone over
thoughtfully 1t would seem that there was
great deal of quiet work going on that
bears none of the marks of ugly mechani-
cal charity"
bopl of
Delaware County young men and women
who 70 about in autos and leave baskets
and-nobody knows who they are. Only
one man, David Laupheimer. of Colling-
dale comes before the public, in order
70 receive donations and money help for
The work.
Then there is the Prison and Hospital
Evangelists' Association; baskets dis
tributed through Mrs. A. S. Smith, 1926
Poweton avenue; the Blind Relief Fund
of Philadelphia, COAL groceries, warm
clothing, especially coal, for the needy
blind. distributed through DIR. l.. Web
ster Fox, Gl7 Witherspooh Building, and
various Santa Claus ladies, among whom
are Miss Olive May Wilson, of 5l51 Nor
ris street, Gle. mantown. and Mrs. MIllie
Cliff, OF 22ll st. Adams place, South
Philadelphia, whose specially is dolls for
little girls.
There remain, However, the plain un-
vanished beggars who walk the street
or stand and watch the early shoppers
pass and the late shoppers. too. Some
times with a whining and rather fishy
story, sometimes just standing, letting
their old clothes and terrifying shoes tell
the story; sometimes claTging at your
elbow with their Say, mister what l
want is the money for drink; I'll be
honest with YOU"
They are the one fixed point in the
varying phases of the Christmas season.
They are the final judges of Christmas
success. They are iLscrutable. especially
the undeserving. for 1t must be a terrible
series of misfortunes that makes a per-
son thoroughly undeserving. They are
the reason for Christmas.