The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-10-27
Mrs. Phebe A. Curtiss, the Promoter of 'The White Christmas" Talks of This Celebration Very Interestingly
By DOLLY DALRYMPLM.

"A MoNG the most distinguished vis- NA itors to the School of Methods.
 = eS which is now in session in Bir-
 mingham, drawing it's members from the
 most cultured and intellectual Bible schol-
 ars of t1ie world, none is more beloved or
 more honored than Mrs. Phebe A. Curtiss,
 elementary superintendent of the Sunday School association of Ohio, and also su- perintendent of the home department.
 Mrs. Curtiss is widely known and ex- perienced Sunday school worker, and she is also an author of note, as well as the promoter of "The White Christmas" beautiful celebration which until IA years ago was entirely unpracticed in the churches of this country, but through her 1 interest in it and the books she has writ ten in connection with the celebration, has become almost national in its scope. Mrs. Curtiss is a very charming woman to talk with, her large acquaintance and her wide experience in matters pertaining l to Sunday school work giving her a pres tige that is most delightful.
 Nothing pleases Mrs. CurtsS more than to talk about "The White Christmas"
 and when I asked her about it's begin
 ming, she told me the story very prettily, when she said:
 some years ago, III laCI Qu1t0 l4, up in the little town of Gainesville. Ohio, where I lived at the time there was a Methodist minister whom I knew and liked very much; both he and his wife were very much beloved and did great work in the little town. Every Christmas, of course, the Sunday school would have it's annual Christmas celebration, having a Christmas tree, with gifts on it for the children and teachers and others which in ite wa After time" Mrs. Curtiss continued. the minister's wife became a little dis satisfied with the manner of celebration; it was not quite in accordance with the ways she thought the birth of our Savior should be celebrated, and so she began to seek new order of things which would be more unselfish, more impersonal, than the customary Sunday schol celebration at Christmastde. About this time she ran across little story In a newspaper called The Legend of Cathay,' which irn- pressed her very much. The story was told of the King of Cathay who was greatly beloved by his people; every Christmas they brought him white gifts, and he in turn repaired to the white chamber of his palace, where he received his subjects, all clad in white, bringing their gifts to the King. Some of the wealthy subjects brought marvellous gifts of pearls; others, poorer but equally as earnest, came with their hands filled with grains of rice, all beautiful tokens of love for their King. The impressive thing about the celebration was that the King valued none above the other; they were all one and the same to him-each brought as much love and as much honor in their hearts as the other, although some of the gifts were so much simpler than others"
 "The minister's wife," Mrs. Curtiss said, "was greatly impressed with the leg end and after she had gone away from Gainesville, she wrote back to her old and
 dear friends in the parish whom she loved very much and asked them to start the work of White Christmas The next
 Christmas was the first White Christ
 mas celebration and at that time The
 Legend of Cathay was read and the chill
 dren brought white gifts to their King
 and made a beautiful contribution to
 others. For the first time instead of re-
 ceiving they gave"