Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-12-26
D00NER BROTHERS
MAKE AGED HAPPY
Follow Custom Started by
Their Father Forty-one
Years Ago
FooD FRoM soUP no NUTs
Bv KNOX,


Just about everybody knows tho Doonei
Boys They are brothers three. They rur
hotel Il y a good hotel II n on Tenth
street about ninety steps north from
Chestnut street There may he found food
Tor man. who sometimes IL called beast.
II you ever wandered into Dooner's Hotel
you would md II cheery place. Darky
walters would take the warmest kind OF a
personal interest In you. And You would
20 into the outer world well fed and con-
tent and YOU would wonder whether there
must not be soul back Of the boomers to
make Il such a satisfactory chow" place.
C'Chow" means entlnF3
Doonera has a soul. IL has four Of them.
EotIis sometimes have names They do In
this story. This Is story Of three live
souls and the memory OF soul--and the
memory 10 the best soul of all
"Biii" Dooner Ia a big sort bf chap
fFe asked mo on Saturday nght--n rather
fake sort OF q Christmas Eve this year
whether would take n Christmas Jnunt
with him como Monday. l said, sure"
didn't know what e NIL was about, All l
did was merely 20 Bay that one word.
"sure." It's funny how one little word like
-snre' will let you into no much happiness.
WELL bo. Bill and me loaded ourselves
into taxicab yesterday at noon with
about forty pounds Of coffee and n bunch
Of candy and nobody but the pooner boys
knows what else. And Bill. who In rather
Inclined TO be fat and puffy, and who loses
his breath remarkably easy. ho says 10
tho chauffeur of the taxi eighteenth
street. above Jefferson" Just like that:
nothing more. And off We went.
Eighteenth street is like any other Phil
ndslphia street. IL IN rows and rows of
houses, each n pattern OF tho other, untli
you arrive north OF Jefferson street. Then
Eighteenth street takes on an Old-World
flavor. For here, reaching almost from
block to block--Jefferson TO oxford street
ia hAN NaNN hi II.
people know too little. "Tho Home for
Aged OF Both Sexes, without regard TO
Greed or OF Nationality" under tho care
Of that self-sacrncing band OF devoted
women who are known as tho Little Sisters
OF the Poor. The home is under the invo-
cation OF the Immaculate Heart OF Mary.
''Bll" Dooner rang the day bell" The
door swung open and "Blll" got n real
Christmas greeting from the sweetest faced
Sister of the Poor man ever laid eyes
upon. We were hustled into tiny room
where II became obligatory to don big
white walters apron that covered one from
neck TO midway from knee to ankle. Then
the good Chrlstmas work started
'Forty-one years ago" little Sister
whispered in my cara French sister who
had her heart over there whero her broth
ars are fghtinB-"Peter Dooner founded |
the custom of giving our old mon and our
old women something to remember that |
Christmas was for them as we'll as for tho
sons have kept UP the good old custom"
felt grip upon my arm.
Time to get 20 work." said 'Bllr' |
Dooner. And l found myself before n huge |
pile OF plates. It seemed that tho Dooner |
boys had impressed lot OF the lonfers |
and barilies Of a big hotel into some real |
service
They sat in rows at long tables around
the rooms, these old folk who had been
taken in without regard to religion or
nationality.
''Bill' Dooner put on an apron. So did
Frank. And SO did Ed. And 30 did the |
pooner barfiles, And so did those wives |
OF those baraies who happened to have
wlyeA And every one smiled and looked
terribly happy Which they were.
Then in the mems dining room. in the
women's dining room. in the mems infirm-
ary. in the women's infirmary much food
was served, including all that should be
In a Christmas dinner turkey and all ia
Trimmings. and plum pudding and cake
and punch--steaming hot--and cake and
cofree and--for the men--pipes and smox-
Ing tobacco and soap and two cigars and
much else--and for the women packages
about the contents OF which 1t was bad
form for man TO ask
And then came Frank Dooner and the
old people knew him from many years
back. and applauded. And then came
"BLl' and told funny stories and got
hearty GOD bless you" from all the old
folk who had had an ordinary day turned
into Christmas holiday
And finally came Ed Dooner with hia
sweet voice and his songs OF long ago
And he sang for the feeble women In the
women's infrmary. And he sang for ma
Feeble men in the mems inhrmary. And he
sang for the women in the dining han. And
voice Just as sweet though he had
never sunga song that day--he sang for The
men In the mems dining hall
He sang songs OF long ago. Not sentI
mental sopgs- For those kind of songs
make folk ery when they are in the even
ing OF life But sweet old Irish sonTa
with twistl OF humor TO them. And there
Hniahed.
lt seems that forty-one years ago, gone
yesterday. the daddy of the Dooner bows
dear old Peter Dooner. OF blessed memory
started the custom OF giving the old foik
happy Christmas And since his death
his sons have considered Il a trust fund
ana haven't felt II Christmastide unless
theyssnaoe the old folk happy up at Eight
senth,and JEFFERSON streets.
May God give Philadelphia more Dooner
boys