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Show THE SAUNA SUN, S A LINA, UTAH Can They Count on Yon? , RS. BAItBER, deep in thought, seated at a bro.ad desk, heavily laden .with papers which bore evidence of her many responsibilities, planned and pondered the question at length. She was of slight build. Her hair was tinged with gray, her complexion clear, her eyes brown and sparkling, her facial. expression most pleasant, although one could not help but note at the moment a trace of worry. There were exactly one hundred and fifty old people In the institution depending upon her care and judgment. Never was this fact brought so forcefully to her attention as It was at Christmas time. To be sure, people were generous and thoughtful In remembering this grouj). That was exactly it. IIow could one put this generosity Into a form which would benefit the largest number In the group? The agitation of the question had begun but today, when Mrs. Barber had received a note and a donation of fifty dollars from a group of fine, public-spiritecitizens who were endowed with the true Christmas spirit. The accompanying note merely stated that Its use could bent he determined by Mrs. Barber, and so d would be left entirely to her good judgment. She read the note once more as It lay on the desk before her. Our group jr society lias a little fund raised In various ways -- by Its members. Each year at Christmas time, we give fifty dollars of this fund to the head of some Institution, and leave It to the Judgment of the person In charge as to how It will he disposed of to lest advantage In their particular or peculiar situation. It lias occurred to us that the children are more apt to bo well taken care She Read the Note Once more at It Lay on the Desk. of than are the Institutions such as yours. We therefore wish to remember the Old People's home with our small sum. We have enjoyed accu- mulating this money and hope It, added to your other yearly contributions, may help to bring cheer and happiness to your home on Christmas day. The evening failed to disclose the adequate solution for this problem. However, on the morrow, Mrs. Barber awoke with a radiant face. With the clearness of the morning, the crispness of the air and the Invlgoratlon which had come through sound, restful sleep, the perplexities vanished, and Mrs. Barber saw her way clearly defined before her. Her feet and hands couldnt work fast enough to comply with the wishes of her brain. Time was limited. Plans must be drawn up quickly and executed Immediately. The first day saw the telephone as a center of Interest. It was constantly In use either for outgoing or Incoming calls. If Mrs. Barber had realized how many phone operators she wore out, her kindheartedness would certainly have made her spread her phone calls over two days. She was so enthusiastic and absorbed In her plans that she was not aware of her excessive tax upon these girls. The last phone call brought smiles and added energy to Mrs. Barber ps she hurried oft Into the heart of the great smoky city. She spent perhaps an hour behind closed doors In conference with the matron In charge of the large settlement house. At the end of that time she emerged with a piece of paper bearing the names of some fifteen young boys and girls. Glancing down the list she swallowed forcefully, uttered a peculiar sound and shook her head as she said: Cant exactly say I am very apt at pronouncing these long foreign names. The Settlement house matron put her hand on Mrs. Barbers shoulder In an affectionate manner. Dont worry. They understand nnd are used to 1L They will help you and you will soon learn their Americanized versions." The next two days were spent In the city library. From the stacks of books which Mrs. Barber went through la her two days there, but one did she select to take away with her. For some few days after this Mrs. Barber occupied her time with the white paper with the list of unpronounceable names, the book, and last but not least, fifteen vivacious young persons, grimy and a little crude, but how sweet, earnest, happy and eager they were. The training had to be patiently undertaken. The response Was altogether what might have been AN they count on you to always Jo V The thing that you know it right ? Or do they thmk you're lure to shirk Then the cause demands a fight? Do they tay of you "He it true blue" In the work committed to you; Who will stick to your work and never shirk Till you carry your contract through? Or do they say "He'll run away In the time of sorest need ; His dearest treasure is his selfish pleasure ; His idol is lust or greed? Do shey also say "He loves to play When the game goes his own way. But he gets lame when he loses the game, And is ready to charge foul play"? Do your friends all feel youll stand Lke steel When the great test comes to you; That youll face the strife, and give your life For the cause you know is true? Or do they fear when that test draws near Shall try your inmost heart. Youll sell the Christ far a paltry price. And play the traitor's part? We are needing men who can clearly ken The things that are most worth while; Who'Can look ahead and forget the dead. And at misfortune smile. For the thoughtful man who tan work and plan Mien the untrained lose their head; With the skilful hand at his command. Who can honestly earn his bread. They look long in the common throng For the man of faith and love. Who can thmk and feel for his brothers weal. And plan for the lift above. W i th a tender heart to take the part Of the wretch cast down in sin; Whose help is sure for the weak and poor. Who keeps the Christ within. these youngsters. Then, lastly, there were the house decorations to he attended to. There were willing hands in the home which helped hang wreaths, trim the tree and put up the little sprigs of holly nnd mistletoe. Melodies not familiar to the younger generation filled the houve. The humming nnd quiet whistling told of expected joys not now far from expected high-spirite- kind-hearte- d In the oiling. There was shopping to be done and many preparations for the food which would be necessary. Busy days, but what happy ones. Mrs. Barber was never too busy or too tired to stop and have a friendly chat with anyone of the elderly people, to profit from their suggestions or abide by their wishes, if it was at all possible to do so. Christmas Hay, the day, arrived. AYhen the old folks came down to their breakfast, they found a Christmas tree laden with at least one gift for each. They were as pleased and happy as children with their presents. At noon the festivities took on proOne would never have portion. guessed that the folks ranged anywhere from seventy to ninety-five- , as they trooped In to Christmas dinner. The table was heavily laden with all the Christmas delicacies, especially good for people of their age. They also had another little surprise. They had fifteen radiantly happy guests who were Introduced to them. Jt was Indeed hard to judge which was enjoying the dinner the most, the young or the old. Suffice It to say, the young folks encored It the most Before the group left the table Mrs. Barber made Ck rid'maj Greeting1 . a little announcement "Our guests have come out today not only to help us enjoy our Christmas dinner, but to help us to have a delightful afternoon. They have come prepared to present a short Christmas play and to furnish us a little musical entertainment. From the chuckles, smiles, laugbte and applause, there was no doub bcA Visckesc Ae SCOTT WATSON WAS some unknown wh who made the statement recently that Christmas greeting cards will cost this country $55,000,000, and that does not take Into account the time lost In trying to remember to whom they should be sent. Although It wonlu be difficult to estimate the value of the time lost In trying to remember, as this wag suggests, there are those who of cun testify to the fact that his estimate $55,000,000 as the total cost of Christmas greeting cards Is a modest one, If not actually an . underestimate. , Beiflers In Christmas cards will tell you that e their business has virtually doubled each And six five or last the for years. year tlie season of 1027 trobably will exceed One wholesale in the volume of sales. dealer In Christmas cards lias reported that early In November his orders had already passed the 102G total and each week saw a steady Increase over the previous week. The number of Christmas cards used In. die United States long ago passed out of the realm of millions into billions. if there is anyone who can testify to the popularity of the custom of sending Christmas cards, it Is Uncle Sams mail man.. He will tell you that these gay little hits of cardboard have doubled and trebled and quadrupled the burden on his back around Christmas time. Time was when you could send- - a Christmas card for one tent. Now .t costs two cents, but not even this extra penny which soon rpns into the tiiousands of dollars for the coffers of the Post-Offihas diminished the flood of department cards which begins to pour into the mails at the and beginning of the third week-- continues until after January 1. For the Christmas card Is a gift in universal use for remembering ones friends at the holiday season. Rich and poor alike send them. . The social leader" has her cards of special design engraved on costly vellum and sends them out by tbe hundred. The working girl buys hers at ten nnd semis them out by the the' Tlve-anCount that man poor in friendship. Indeed, dozen. who has never received a Christmas card. Ard some complain of an embarrassment of riches In this regard, for the problem, ns suggested by the wit In the opening paragraph, of tlds article. Is a real problem to many How many times have vou, looking through the stacks of curds that the mail limn brought you during Christmas week, come across one which held your attention more than momentarily ns you said, "Heres one from Did we send them one this Mr. and Mrs. Blank venr? In fact, the custom of sending Christmas cards has become such a problem to those conventional-minded persons who have' never fully realized the meaning of the gift without-theglver-lbare statement that they hnve deflated, Rut the next year finds them Never again! adding their quota to the mountain of Christmas rards which pile up In post offices throughout the land Although the. Christmas card is a comparative newcomer among Christmas traditions. It can hv no means he regarded as an "Infant Industry." The figures already cited prove that. But as one regards the amazing growth of the idea, one wonders sometimes how our forefathers ever man aged to celebrate Christinas without Christmas cards For It was only 81 years ago, In 184G, that the first Christmas card first, at least. In the sense tlmt it was the forefather of the present Christians card Idea was wait out. The man who originated It was Sir Henry Cole, later famous as a social and educational reformer. He had alrendv begun applying the fine arts to manufacture and was the pioneer in Illustrating of famous hooks with woodcuts children's paintings. Just where Sir Henry got the idea if it was not original with Idiu for ids Christmas card is not known Lover cards and illustrated writing paper laid been popular in Europe for many I years. In Germany Illuminated cards wore sent on Namcnstag. the feast of one's patron saint. In some unknown person in the oily of Leith, Scotland is said to have wait out New Years cards to Ids friends hearing a .laughing face nnd the words A Glide New Year to Ye." lint since tlds did not have a wide circulation, it Is doubtful if Sir Henry got the idea there. He may have got it from tlie custom of English school hoys of writing Christmas pieces" on paper which they decorated with many scrolls and much flourish of penmanship. But wherever Sir Henry got his inspiration, after deciding to send out cards to his friends hearing Ids good wishes for their happiness at Christmas, he went to J. C. Horsley, a member of the Royal academy In London, for tlie design, nnd Horsleys product was that shown at tlie head of this article. The German influence may be seen In the Germanesqne style of leafy trellises which divide tl.e card Into three panels. The smaller feed side panels show two of the acts of charity lag the hungry and clothing tlie naked and tlie central panel shows three generations of a fata il.V party at tlie festal hoard quaffing their ChristTills card was six h.v four Inches, inas cheer colored h.v hand and a thousand copies were Fot some unexplained reason. Horsley Issued Issued Ids design under I Jit until tie plume of Felix Summerly.' and ihe curd hears the line 'Tuhlehed at 'innmerly's Hive Treasury Office, By ELMO T about the approval with which the entertainment was received. The young people were worth of all the praise which they received. The coaching had been successful. The day had been delightful and was a topic of conversation for a long time. Mrs. Barber was even happier over the occasion than the old folks, if such a thing could be possible. She realized that this vision, her schema, had been practical. The fifty dollars had given pleasure to not only the old people but It gave these young forchildren a eign Settlement-hous- e chance to share In the Joys of Christmas, the Joy of giving of their own talents, reaping the consequential rewards of pleasure, praise and remuneration, the Joy of finding the true Christmas spirit in giving freely of themselves, as well as having had a sumptuous Christmas dinner which otherwise might have been merely a thing of their dreams. t. 1I1T, WmM Mwtpapi Union.) gicnrtg 5reting Cor tmh the touting (Cl;ritnta 2rBr. suc-essiv- s ce Greeting Cards of Today d -. s 1 Were Willing Hands Which Helped Trim the Tree. tear flxj Greeting Card 1 There for a "Happy New 2 Old London. Ron S'nce i' Christ ' ' bears the inscription A Merry linppv v w Year to You." It can te regurded as the first holiday greeting card ever printed and sent out 83 the forerunner of a custom that was to become world-widStrange to say. Sir Henry Coles friends were not especially pleased at this remembrance and It Is said to have received much unfavorable criticism. So he did not repeat the experiment and tt looked as though the Christmas card idea was to die d, aborning. However, in the early sixties ornamented note paper and envelopes began to appear In the stationers shops around the holiday season nnd the use of these began to increase each year. Next these designs were stamped in relief In the center of a card with colored or embossed edges .decorat.ed by stencil or by hand. Thus the business of making Christmas cards got under way slowly. It was evert slower In getting started In . America and It was not until 1S73 that the beginnings were apparent In this country. In that year Louis Prang, a lithographer of Boston, exhibited samples of his flowered business cards a( the Vienna exposition and they attracted He had an agency In considerable attention. London and one of Ills women employees there (her name is unknown) suggested to him that he put a greeting In place .of the name of his firm and Issue them as Christmas cards. This was done the next year, so that 1874 marks the beginning of tlie Christmas card in this country. It was not until two years later, however, that the Christmas card idea became widespread and this was due to the exhibits of such cards by different printers and' lithographers at the Centennial exposition in Philadelphia. Another forward step In the Christmas card business was taken In 1S79 when a British company, which had offered prizes for Christmas card designs, held an exhibition of tlie host ones submitted In Dudley hall In London. About this time a Boston card manufacturing company held a similar exhibit at which the first prize winner was given tlie sum of $2,000. At the London exhibit It was learned that the majority of the prize winners were women nnd two of them, Kate Greenway and Alice Havers, later became famous for their Christmas card designs. In fact, in tlie early years of the Christmas card business, before the great demand for them resulted in mass production nnd more emphasis upon quantity than quality, tlie Christmas card design was an important piece of creative art, so much so that it has been said that The Christmas card enjoyed a golden nge of art In the decade from 1S78 to 1888. One of tlie reasons for this was that the exhibitions nnd contests which were being held by the producers of Christmas cards were stimulating luterest In this form of art and uncovering many new artists. One of the art events of the year 1SS0 was a Christmas card exhibition arranged by Louis Prang at tlie American Art galleries," writes one investigator In the history of tlie Christmas card. For several years thereafter similar exhibitions were held, with competitions In the artistic merit and popularity of the designs; and such men ss Richard M. Hunt, John La Farge and Louis C. Tiffany were sufficiently Interested to act as Judges. The exhibition of 1S84 carried a special feature. The quantity of dilettante work that hitherto had found tts way to the exhibitions tended to turn away the best artists, but now their Interest was deliberately sought In the hope of raising the level of Christmas card design. o artists of first rank were comml sioned to paint designs and these were purchased and entered In the popularity contest. Among those whose .work was shown was E. H. Blash-fielthe dean of American mural painters, and J. Aldan Weir. And thq collection was exhibited not only in New York, but also at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and at the Art Institute of Chicago. But tbe later Influx of cheapness and mediocrity proved too overwhelming for the continued Interest of the best artists in Christmas card designing." Until the eighties the illustration on the card was the main thing and the only reading matter was a simple greeting or an appropriate motto. Then poetry on the cards became popular and it became so popular that It brought into the Christ- mas card field several noted poets. On one occasion a London firm offered Lord Tennyson $5,000 for 12 poems of eight lines each to beTisetfon Christmas cards, but he declined the offer. The craze for poetry became so pronounced and tt was used so generously that finally the manufacturers of cards were forced to place a limit upon the verses and set that limit at 12 lines. The religious motif also was popular from the beginning and as late as 1S96 one manufacturer declared that the most popular of all Christmas card designs was a reproduction of the Nativity scene, with Murillo's Nativity as the greatest favorite. Since that time various motifs hnvi appeared In Christmas cards until now eveil symbol of Christmas, contributed by every nation, appears on our Christmas cards. Camels, tlie star in the east, the three wise men, pnlin trees, buildings of decided oriental appearance recall tlie scenes in Palestine where Christ was born on the first Christmas; ttie Yule log nnd. the mistletoe aYe reminiscent of the Druids of ancient Britain; holly, plum puddings, roast hoof, singers of Christmas carols, typical English landscapes remind one of tlie good cheer of the English observance of Christmas; jolly old Santa Claus, originally a Dutch patron saint, but now thoroughly Americanized (one Christmas card tills year shows him speeding oer the snowy landscape in an automobile of distinctly American make!) appears on many; the turkey i9 a symbol for botli Thanksgiving and Christmas feasts nnd is a distinctly American contribution. Nor do Christmas cards stop with Christmas symbols. Each year sees a new Idea introduced with new symbols which are not especially associated with Christmas. In 1911 the Dickens centennial was echoed on tlie Christmas cards; the revival of interest in Americana in recent years has put all kinds of antiques furniture, hoop-skirt-s, muffs, bonnets, sleighing parties and husking bees on our Christmas cards, and last year, as tlie result of tlie great interest in ship models, many a ship went sailing across the cards. Just as Christmas cards of the past reflect the interests of Americans of those days, so do this year's cards Indicate some of the major American interests now. Among them are radio and aviation, the latter, no doubt, due to the various historic flights which have thrilled the nation during the past year. Sports, too, have their place and It Is not unuual to find on Christmas cards scenes illustrative of the various types of outdoor recreation. This, however, is not a near Idea, since swimming, boating, cricket and tennis scenes were reproduced on English Christmas cards more than thirty years ago. Twenty-tw- . , , |