Evening star., 1921-12-25
HE Christmas tree Of today is twin
to every other tree. for the reason
II . +b.t +ba yu,etide snirit has gone

into trade. Each child'S tree is exactly
like the next child's tree, which Is exact
ly like the ship-display trees trimmed by
window dressers-allowing for varia-
tiops in cash values. This IS about
tree that was different:
1t was at a club meeting that turned
into a Christmas party. And 1t was
al, over silver and shiny red balls. with
candy canes growing on the hmos-and
il YOU dort know about ,ca;idy canes
YOU nave missed a whole lot, poor dear!
Some of the club members are lohg
time travellers on the great road, and all
of them live this side the garden OF
youth with a high wall between ana
when they had motioned and rcSoluted
and voted to where they concluded 10
conclude, out flashed fifty billion 5ewelef
sparks on the tree and IN noullcea
really truly red-cotton Santa Claus
wit.l a treasure packard you couldn't
ask for a better beginning for a CHRIST
mas PARTY could you" unanimous
answer is, NJ. So it was treasure
pacI, that held 4 special gift for every
member, with a tree favor for JUST pialh
guests-which explains the candE cares.
IT was a different sort of tree in that
# WAS a shrine to friend,iness. ana as
Of CHI member answered SaEta'S 1oit call
with humorous pretense of an eagerness
tt at was real, you could ten lnat 10.
each the tree was memory-lahen "ith
the goodies and sn'pped-out ornaments
that mother used to make; ana that
piled under it, with ecstatic uncertainty,
were w-apper-hidden bundles that might
he red-topDed boots, or drum, OF.
wax doll, and, anyhow. II it was rag. IL
would be dressed in ball gown NIX
the painted fashion ladies' IN ~ Gooey ss
NaI
-and a sled, for sure. You couid READ
It in their faces as plain as II 1t were
printed in a book.
And seeing these club members bub-
being over with funny trifles. presented
in rhyme by Santa's pretty secretary,
all of them forgetful of their civic and
social importance in the everyday world.
vou would know that when 1t comes 10
genuine all-gold spiendor. there is noth-
ing in this world to equal an honest'to-
goodness man-unlesS 1t be an honest-
|. to- goodness woman.
X x \
THERE is another tree-such a. fool
ish little tree that it would have
no right in a nice, conventional place
like this. except that it is different.
And it is the difference that counts.
1t is greeny-green bush hung
with acorns, sycamore balls and pine
cones, And it grows into being each
year-this is. the. seventeenth-for a
small, wooden mannikin that once be
loneed to an artist who walks tRe.
world no more. The little figure was
identified with so many many years yarsrnit OF tine nn
that never came, that it somehow
gained personal valuation in, her
| lonely life. And when she gained en-.
| trance to that hall of fame that
swings wide it's portal for all noble
endeayor, the forlorn brown atom was
! adopted by another lonely woman be-
| cause of-but that isn't the story
So every year Love puts holly
| around a picture and Memory dresses
| a bush for wooden thing that will
never, never know. uniessIuniess In,ie a,atf It
shall live again and resurrect Alta
lanta into the branch a,s +. OF and Black acl,
might as we'll hope for the best.
Also. there was another woman
And she didn't think it right to waste
| a tree on a senseless doll that had
only one arm and both feet gone.