Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-09

WIN the ad0rlnE - 1ElNitA-4lRANlli
men who knelt -V--NNIlll
before newborn =
child. T.
Ii was a beaut.
fuliy artistic tab
ieau of an old, old truth. And it
brought to the woman a way-back
memory of childhood time, when
Christmas was a ioyously spiritual
neutrality-suspicious. progress made it q
commercial holiday for the buying Of
gifts.
Beyond the light of the shining
star, in corridors dim and warm and
pungent with freshcut holly, were
uther figureS-men and women. doc
tors, sisters nurSeS-wOrking on this
Christmas eve, as on every other day
An the year, to give health to those
who suffer; and among them visitors
Sn for a cheering word to dear ones.
and patients. able to walk with the
aid Of helpful arms or canes-tWO
of them in wheel chairs, happy as
children or saints to be 50 far on the
road to convalescence. Each paused
an the light of the star to recognize
the beauty and skill of the Manger
o. Bethlehem. and to pay homage to
Its meaning. and then passed on to
a glory of other lights on a snow
white altar; candles and scarlet flow
erS and the fragrance of incense, in
honor Of the coming of a. child
whose name shall be called Jesus ;"
And when the woman had said her
prayer and taken away with her
some OF the joy and love and service
that charged the atmosphere of the
big and beautiful place it came to
her that even with the giving and re-
QliNinU nf tho
sesame to shows, gay dinners and
like festive odds and ends, she had
to come to a place like Providence
IIospital-that vast clearing house of
pain--tO find the true spirit of
Christmas.
You may not know it, but Abou
Ben Adhem has a twin sister
living in this town.
Her lifelong and genuine interest
In every JOY or sorrow that comes to
those she meets on the great road all
of us are travelling, has given to her
eyes and voice such SteadfaSt friend
Illness that even the Ben Adhem angel
might write her down as one who
loves her fellow man-and woman.
The Sunday after Christmas, for
one time, she had stepped from a car
in AnacoStia almost to collide with a
young man waiting for q car that
was not in sight. He was an
attractive-looking young man, in we'll
chosen clothes, and would have repre-
scented every phase Of prosperous life
except that his feet were tangled into
that oldtime contortion-the grape
vine twist.
Miss Ben Adhem delayed her going
IN yrrhof.oI-n1- che hound IN 70
the young man, with friendliest
sympathy-as If she had known him
all her life:
81 am so sorry for you, son. l wish
could do something to help you"
Son touched his hat with conven-
tfonal difference, and tried to express
proper appreciation. 1t was good
intention that failed. The best he
could do was to lurch forward,
straighten up to sudden rightly and
take a reel to the left. While he
was doing it the woman kept on, with
q pal-like intimacy:
You are too fine young fellow
to be caught on the street like this.
II isn't right for you to be like
like
Know it," agreed the fallen one.
Cant help it,
"Of course you can help it. Why.
boy, you've got the making of a good
and honored citizen in you. Buck
UP, and leave this booze stunt to poor
chaps with no will power It is your
place to help them, not to be one of
them-a nice boy, like you
The young man smiled sheepishly,
and then sobered into a look Of frown-
ing inquiry. as if debating the valua-
ton she was laying down. It must
have had Stealing effect. for after
bit more of motherlike kindness,
he confessed in a voice that was
lovably penitent-good men gone
wrong are like that:
Took a fool way of celebrating
Christmas. But I'm Strengthened out
now. all right. Know why? You are
the first good woman who ever said a
kind word to me while / was drinking.
have been preached at and
threatened with what is going to hap
pen to me after / die. but--honest-
Tn not a regular soft can stop, if
want TO. Here. see this? Real thing
~-f1rst-class prewar stuff. / want
YOU to take it away from me. Here's
where l swear off for life. Also,
here's my card. Will You shake
hands on it?'
Sure. Miss Ben Adhem shook
hands on it. Likewise, she gave him
her own card and they parted the best
cf friends. Cheerfly risking the dan
ger of being nabbed at bootlegging,
she took the flask to the home of a
relative who was ill-in the hospital
now, poor dear-and when she told
her little incident, illustrated by the
flask, which was nearly full and
wiffed out the arena of the Real
Thing, a prohibition niece declared
with relentless virtue that it must be
emptied into the kitchen sink and the
bottle thrown in the trash can.
But the relative, to whom temper
ance Is also a religion, had attained
tn the wisdom that pain brings:
Put camphor in it to rub me with.
i relieves me-"
So the flask was emptied into a
noble bottle, pungent with Jumps of
camphor ice, to which more Jumps
We're added-and that was all there
was to IT, except--that-
We are told that nothing good can
come from evil, but, like every other
ruling, il seems to admit Of excep-
tions-with the small story for one.
x X x
IT Is our big brother Work who
helps us play the life game.
One woman, for whom the New
Year has it's indelible memory Of be-
loved ones who have vanished with
the old years, was on her way--vta
Mfreet carlo a small Office tucked