The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1922-12-08
AMERICAN RED CROSS
JUNIORS OF ELY!

"All in the class who know where
the Virgin Islands are, please rise.
So many? That's fine. Now sit
down while l tell you why the Vir-
gin Islands may be of special in
terest to you. 1t is because that
is where your Junior Christmas
boxes have been shipped. You re-
member they did not reach Duluth
in time to be included in the Near
East shipment, so had to wait for
another call. If any of you felt
badly on this account, cheer up.
You wouldn't be sorry at all, if
you could have heard DIR. Lewis
Wood tell about the Virgin Islands.
He conducted a mission at Saint
Croix on one of these islands and
talked here recently. Cat this point
want to tell you that at present
this same DIR. Wood is very ill-dy-
ing, perhaps. Will you, children
dear, say little prayer for his re-
covery? He is needed SO badly in
his little mission.)
"Well, to resume: DIR. Wood told
one incident which should be enough
to make you realize whether or not
your boxes will be appreciated:
"a little girl there-somehow-
got hold of dolly. Some Ameri-
can child must have sent it or left
it behind her when she was there
visiting or something. Anyway,
there was just this one dolly in
beautiful dolly and l dare say her
wardrobe was neither fashionable
nor complete. but imagine the popu-
larity of that dolly's mamma! She
was a generous little mamma, too,
loaning her child to her little
friends, only being sure that Violet
was home nights. And then one
day you can probably guess what
happened. The dolly fell and was
broken--her life completely snuffed
out, all in an instant. Now, |
leave it to you, wasn't that a real
and awful tragedy? Think of it,
the only dolly in town-dead
We'll, after the first shock, the
: aides Aid q guess it was the
Ladies' Add got together and made
several rag dolls,and / am sure the
little mothers were greatly comfort
ed, but, of course, the rag dolls
didn't take the place of the one
who was lost and a rag doll never
could.
81 tell you this story, because in
the boxes from Ely, by some lucky
coincidence, there were large
number of dolls-not very big ones,
but in other respects quite like the
martyred one, | am sure; dollies
with golden hair, brown hair, blue
eyes and pink cheeks, and all with
lovely smiles. Can you see the
bubbling-over joy of these little
girls, who never had new doll,
who, in fact, had only one doll for
all of them? And now, aren't you
glad to have your boxes go to the
Virgin Islands?
LEST anyone get the impression
that the Junior boxes from Ely con-
tanned nothing but dolls, let me
hasten to correct that idea. There
were picture books, mechanical toys,
balls, tops, knives (big ones. with
four blades), soap, tooth paste,
tooth brushes, wash cloths, towels,
caps, scarfs, mittens, stockings,
handkerchiefs, hair ribbons, Jewel
ry', goods in the piece, and lot
of candy and gum. A worth while
shipment. Well, l guess yes, and
every box packed neatly and care
fully.
juniors, you may not realize it
yet, but it is a big thing you are
doing-a thing which will affect
the attitude of other nations toward
America. In years to come when
the children in these foreign coun-
tries have grown up and want to
come to America, they will think
back over the years, remember the
kindness of the American child
rem, and when they come to our
shores, it will be with the desire to
become good citizens and worthy
of the friendship that vas held out
to them SO long ago. So you see, it
is not just to make one happy
Christmas-though that in itself
would be fine thing-but it goes
much, much deeper than that, and
best of all it is a service which only
the Juniors can perform! Doesn't
that give you bit of thrill, and
keep warm in you the determine
ton to let the good work go on
and on and on through all the years
to come?
81 wish you all happy Christ
mas and know it will be happier
than it could otherwise have been,
because of your thought for others
who, without you, would have
known no break in the monotony
of their colorless little lives"
Very sincerely yours,
GEORGE H. CROSBY,
Thas