The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-12-03
THE TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
ENFORMATEON BUREAU
By FREDERIC }. HAsKIN. Director.
Washington, d. g.
GETTING YOUR MONEYS WORTH

and friends. As she waited in her
limousine for the chauffeur to bring
out her parcels, she looked infinitely
listless and tired.
All about her swarmed the life of
a great city. 1t was the noon hour.
and factory workers flooded the
streets, shivering under their thin
coats and eating odorous lunches.
Some of them were nearly moved
down in the network OF traffic. An
Italian woman in a purple thread
bare coat, her face scanned with wrin-
kles, hurried along thru the mob,
dragging a small blind child after her.
On the corner an ambulance had
stopped to pick up small newsboy
who had somehow managed to get
himself knocked down by a motor.
Nearby, women in blue wells were So
Letting contributions to the Red Cross.
The society woman saw nothing
that was going on outside the limou
sine window. She was thinking that
she must have taken cold at the skat-
ing rink that morning and if so, it
would be better to take Turkish
bath that afternoon. She breathed a
sigh of relief as the chauffeur climb bed
back to his seat. Thank God that is
over" she murmured. Christmas is
such ADORE"
She Does Not Know How.
notably unselfish. The ugly things of
life, it is safe to say, distress her as
much as anybody else. Every year
her name heads the list of a number
of subscriptions to charitable institu-
tons. But in spite of a reputation for
cleverness she is really stupid. She
doesn't know how to get the most fun
out OF life. Christmas boreS her, and
why? She doesn't know how to buy
perfectly nice Christmas for herself.
That is why Christmas bores most
people. They don't know how to
place their money where it will do the
most good. For six weeks before the
holidays, they rush madly around the
stores buying superfluities for their
friV1ds and relatives, motivated by
great ambition to give to each person
as much as that person will presum-
ably give to them. The result is sim
ply an exchange. Everybody gets his
raft of neckties, shaving bric-a-brac
and writing paper of the type that
women think men like, and the women
get lots of things which they subse-
quently take back to the stores. The
only people who really want what they
get, and more than, pay for it, are
children.
Did you ever give a child a toy that
he had been wanting and wanting for
months. and see a slow smile of alb
solute joy radiate his small face. If
SO, you got your moneys worth out of
that toy. And, the more he wanted
that toy, the more returns you re-
ceived on your investment.
Christmas is not a bore to people
who understand how to get the most
out of it. Last year a travelling man
for a large war plant found that he
was going to have to spend Christ
mas day on the road. He did not feel
very cheerful at the prospect of eat
ing a holiday dinner in a middle west
n
health but a foreign waiter, but there
was nothing else to do. In the morn
ing he lit his pipe and took walk
about the town, striving to forget ms
growing sense of disappointment. The
stores were all closed and the streets
deserted except for a corner in front
of a dilapitated grocery store where
some boys were shooting craps be-
hind a dingy bread box.
The man paused to watch them, and
the boys instantly became suspicious
They showed the dice into their pockets.
The man smiled his most winning
smile-the smile that won him his
saIary-and the boys Immediately re-
covered their sang froid. Il used to
shoot craps" the man explained con-
fidentially land I always liked the
game. I'll shoot you game now for
today's dinner, against a package OF
cigarets."
Needless to say, the man lost. and
that afternoon he played host to six
ragged Youngsters who ate as if they
had never had food enough before.
The man told friend of his week
later ct never had such an enjoyable
Christmas in all my life"
Toys for Certain Children.
This year, when the nation is at
war and the bare necessities of life
can scarcely be bought, there is lot
of fun coming to people who have
the money and the ingenuity to get
the most out of it. The usual ex-
penditure buys everything from SILK
knitting bags to pin trays, from sofa
cushions to picture frames, from tie
holders to cuff-buttons, but it does not
go very far along this line. On the
other hand. it would buy splendid
toys Suppose you took $25 and put
It into toys for children who you knew
did not expect to get much this year?
Don't you think you would feel
The other day a woman visited an
orphan asylum to see IL she could
make arrangements to adopt an or
phan over Christmas. She was admit
ted by a slatternly maid who ushered
her into the reception room and went
to fetch the matron. The carpet on
the floor of the reception room was
one of the thin hard fabrics of intri-
cate and hideous design that cast an
eternal shadow of gloom over room.
A NUMBER OF SJlII 0OrSe-na1r cnd1rS
were placed stiffly about the wall,
which was appropriately decorated
with old-fashioned etchings of the
founder and his family; marble
topped table in the center of the room
supported a lamp that was doubtless
once described as elegant" and an
ancient square piano, closed and COW
cred with a blue figured cloth added
to the atmosphere of decaying re-
spectability. That the place was never
adequately aired was evidenced by
the lingering doors of many hardy
cabbages and onions.
Lacks the Home Sign.
Yet this was home for children.
1t was hard to imagine the happy
turbulent disposition of a child there.
Finally, the matron appeared. She
looked as if she, at least. belonged.
Her dark hair was plastered back and