The New York herald., 1921-12-24
big BILL EDWARDS
REAL SANTA FOR 800
Quips and Merry Jests Ac-
company His Gifts at Mrs.
Behrends's Party.
IDLE DADDY is TICKET
72O Ex-Service Men, Now on
Earning Basis, Provide
Own Dinner.
BLIND CHILDREN CHEERED
Elks, X. Of c., SalvatiOnists,
Red Cross and Others Hosts
to Unfortunates.
BLIND CHILDREN CHEERED


Of work it was all you needed to get a
pair of ball bearing roller skates, a
horn making a gratifying amount of
| noise, a ball, an apple, an orange and
ice cream and cake at the Christmas
party given by Mrs. Genevieve Beh-
rend at 136 West Seventy-second
street yesterday afternoon.
1t is we'll known and much alb
hored fact among children Of the not
so very wealthy that Santa Claus has
distressing way Of ignoring utterly
those boys and girls whose fathers are
tramping about from place to place
| during December instead of holding
down job. But strangely enough, a
father out Of work, or. in some cases,
a mother out Of work, was not a LA
bility but an asset, good for the fore
mentioned gifts on demand, or, in case
you were too frightened to demand it,
merely on appearance in the rooms
Of Mrs. Behrend's School Of the Build
ers. on West Seventy-second street.
OF course Santa Claus was not Off
cially due yesterday, the twentythird Of
the month, so he sent instead to attend
to the disbursement of gifts his most
| imposing deputy, no other than Big Bill
| Edwards himself, clad in the traditional
regalia of Deputy Santa Claus. Any
| one who has ever seen Big Bill will un-
derstand why he cannot be beaten as
Santa Claus. There were two Srow Men
at the party. too, but had they been
| would have looked like acorns alongside
| Big Bill.
How Big Bill Can Act Up:
| And the things he said and the way
he acted! He patted one little girl,
Nancy De Louise of 57 Grand street,
on the head. handed to her roller skates,
ct cetera ad infintum and rumbled:
| "Be a good little girl, Nancy. and
some day you'll be as big as 1 am"
| Nancy, forsaking even the skates, re-
! tired to a corner to think It over. The
rest Of the evening she was not con-
spicuous for her good behavior.
| The children, 800 of them, some ac-
companied by elders and others bravely
| a.one. came In a stream from Until al
| most o'clock. They arrived silent.
white. scared and suspicious, but the
| two Snow Men, all the assisting women
| in costume, the snow and evergreen
| decorations. made by Miss Vellone
| Floyd; the fireplace. the Popcorn Man.
the huge and brilliantly shining tree
and Big BIZ in his ermine trimmed cos
| tune of red soon melted them and con-
vinced them that nothing but ice cream
and candy was to be eaten there. Some
of them even got so far as to b. health
! lily naughty and the horns made a brave
racket.
| 1t had been announced that John
! Drew also would be a Deputy Santa
Claus. but when he got there and saw
| Big Bill he realized that not even his
| art could make him as really a satis-
| factory Santa Claus as Big Bill, partic-
ularly in the matter OF bulk. so he
stayed John Drew and helped things
along in other ways.
Ex-service Men mt BiItmore.
Down at the Biltmore Hotel yester-
day afternoon Santa Claus also came
ahead of time for 720 ex-service men
whom the fortunes of war had left
! minus an arm or leg or otherwise dis
abled. But the disabled men them
selves. students at the Lincoln Institute
| for Vocational Education, not having
any unemployed fathers 10 make them
eligible for Mrs. Bchrend's party. and
| finding themselves once more able to
earn their own living, made their own
Santa Claus and paid for II. too.
Last year. when most of us We're out
Of luck they gave us a party" said one
of the veterans. "This year we're able
to give ourselves the party, and next
year maybe we'll be able to give some
body else a party"
In the gray stone building OF the New
York Institute for the Education of the
Blind. Ninth avenue and Thirty-fourth
street. another entertainment was held
and a Christmas tree. with glittering
icicles, bright colored electric light bulbs
and all the ornaments n tree can wear
cleaned brightly for the benefit of boys
and girls who could not see It. They
were as gay as boys and girls could be.
and saw the tree with their fingers
and played with their books and toys
with Joy.
Blind Children Entertain.
In the afternoon there was a regular
bangup affair, given by the children
themselves, with music and recitations.
and stories of Christmas. Ten-year-old
Anthony Klein with nimble fingers read
off his piece from a slate as rapidly as
III he had two Eoou eyes 10 leip' rrdHcts
Sjevert. blind organist. played Christ
mas music duets were sung. and Frank
Narolitano. who IL 8 years old In his
shoes. closed the affair with a Christ
mas greeting:
May Christmas dnv and all the year
Spell happiness for YOU.
because your doing what you liko
Or liking what YOU do
Now as 20 Christmas Day itself. more
cheer will ne dispensed In New York
than ever before. Because OF the large
number of unemployed charitable organ
izations societies. churches and ).ler
bodies have made unusual preparations
The Salvation Army says no one has
10 go hungry and not n child in the city
need be overlooked by Santa Claus. Free
turkey dinners will be served by all of
the army's institutions for relief and
welfare al almost any hour of the day
or night. Open house will be kept at
the Bowery Hotel. 225 Bowery Mems
shelter. 507 West Twcnty-sixth street !:
Industrial Home, 2S1 East 12oth street !:
Social Welfare Center IS. Raymond
street, Brooklyn. and Emergency Home
az the old Anity street police station.
The Salvation Army also will distribute
IN Manhattan 1000 baskets, each con-
tanning enough food to last for two
meals for a family of Ave or six. In
Brooklyn 1000 baskets will be given
out Baskets. together with toys for
children. warm clothing and shoes will
be- distributed this. afternoon at the