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Show HEART OP THE CHRISTMAS GIVING The goats-milk cheeses in the shop of Andros Giakopulos aro looped with fuzzj', spicy tamarack. So are tho bottles bot-tles of Chiau wino, smelling of resin. And in a corner stands a rliamna, its long gilt shaft festooned with green leaves, tied with rod ribbons, sprigged with pink and purplo tissuo paper flowers, flow-ers, while here and thcro a banana pcops out, or a lemon, or a green , feather. ; The Giakopulos children, in tho midst ; of this grandeur, are sharing their bit-i bit-i ter mastic, their coffee nnd their jam. Next door tho Burotti children' aro consuming almond pasto made into , pralines. A block away tho Alvarcc children I are likewise engagod in a steady consumption con-sumption of almond paste, but for them, to suit their inherited needs, it has been rolled into turrni. i Half a mile to tho northwest, tho tow-headed lit tlo Olcsons aro sotting out soft, 3'ellow cakes in their yard for tho sparrows, and little round fish balls on the tablo for themselves. On 1 Twolfth street the Zaiiaceks aro eating 1 noppy seed cakes, Bohemian style. On oblo street the Swobodas aro eating ponpy seed cakes, Polish stylo. The i Pilsenors arc making headway into . mounds of hard, brown spice cakes, i wcinachts cbak covered with sugar and , cut into gronadicrs and elephants. Tho I MurphyB arc eating fadgos. Tho neigh-1 neigh-1 bors 6.1': "PancakesI Nothing but pancakes! " But the Murphys ltnow better. Fadgcs! Ileal fadges. Tho i littlo MacDougnls aro eating sand col-, col-, lorcd short bread. Tho littlo Stubbses i arc eating plum pudding. Tho littlo , Adamses are eating mince pio. But the liomanos and the Sforzus aro eatiug eels. For it is Christmas time. I No othor created thing can sympathize sympa-thize with an American turkey at I Christmas time except an Italian cel. ; Under tho iufluouco of free thought and tho materialistic interpretation of his-i his-i tory. tho presepio may gather dust and I ! finally fall to pieces. Not so tho col, ! i Him tho Ttalian must havo at Christ-' Christ-' mas. Soap he can do without. Meat ho , can resign for all tho year. Chairs are luxuries. But tho Christmas oel is i lifo itself. j Tho poor wo still hnvo always with j us. We know they nro poor. Lot us uot call them predatory, or think they i I nro predatory, until wc are sure of it. J i However, in tho numo of .iustico and in ! tho name of mercy, let us try, jiist a ! little, to find out something about them i before wo attempt that most dolicatc of all human privileges Giving, j Lot us not give to tho bold who do not need it, what wo ought to bo giving at a cost not nlono of money, but ot i time, to tho needy who havo to be ' urged to speak. Lot us not rob tho 1 worthy to hoap benefits ou the un-' un-' worthv. Above all, lot us not make tho unworthy unworthicr. Let us not dc-i dc-i ntroy what remains of family privacv, 1 what remains of their sense of family , self-respect. Lot us go back to tho giv-I giv-I ing of gifts in person, either in our own person or in the person of some ono who knows. Let us abandon the un-, un-, christian, the inhuman setting out of i troughB in public places for tho pinking ' of our fellows into swine. If yon foel you really must share in 1 bodily presence tho joy of the children I you elect to make joyful, why, even i then, thcro is no reason why you should j drag them to a hall to mako a public exposure of them. You can choose to 1 go to their Homes. Not tho homes with i a small "h." You would bo in the i , way there. But the homes with a big I I "II." Tho endowed homes, formed I I out of the fragments of beaten, broken t i familios. The Homes of a thousand . j homes. I Little motherless babies, holding out i dewy baby lips for t heir rightful loll , of k'isues; tiny tragic offshoots of night, , ' put forth bv Sin, lopped off by Shame, picked up from tho highway by Love; broken tdmrds from the wheel of the Potter, tho sight loss, tho speechless, i tho twisted; little weak bodies and ! minds, individually helpless, swept into Crimo and Court and Prison by social floods thoy cannot fathom and cannot can-not resist Hampton's Broadway Magazine. |