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Show Merry Christmas? Just a Meal's a Treat to Them N .-V - t ZC-lfA , : Mi , ,. rJ ,, - - - I WAIFS OF MISERY. THEY DIDN'T KNOW THE MEANING OF SANTA CLAUS These children know the meaning of poverty. Their only toy It a tin bowL ' i . i Hunger and Misery Reign in S. L. Home BwasnaBWSBwaawaaawa Mother 111, Father Jobless, 10 C h i 1 d r e n Face Dreary, Cheerless Yule By SUSAN GREATHEART I went down into Misery last night, into poverty to abject the children hid never even heard of Santa Clsus. The biggest thing in Subbing for Santa ' SUB FOR SANTA DEPT. Room 401 Tribune-Telegram Bldg. Please enrol me at a Sub for Santa. I can provide for children. My Name Addretl Telephone , ................ Meil or brine to Die Sub for Seirte Depi, 401 Tribune-Teleeeei tulldins, or Telephone Weuich M0. dren's dresses? That's because they are tha only clothing they hava what they wear on their backs and because their back yard Is a mudhols and their front yard ths railroad tracks. There waa a basin on a stool behind be-hind the children. Tbafs the only "plumbing In tha house. That's ths wash bowl and bathtub. There are three noma In tha house and tha front door baa no handle or latch. It must be wedged shut with rags. As I mentioned before, there are ten children in the family. The oldest one is 11. I asked them what they wanted Santa Claue to bring them and they didn't know what I meant Know Only. Misery I asksd them what they wanted for Christmas and they had only a vagus idea that It meant a day of gifts. Gifts? Life to them has been one sift of misery. their lives is a full meaL Don't tell me Salt Lake City hasn't any slums. It's true there isn't any certain district that Is confined to slums Its hovels of destitution are scattered everywhere. every-where. The four dirty little children pictured pic-tured on this page are only four of hundreds who exist from dsy to day on ths scrapings older brothers and sisters and dejected. Jobless parents dig up from God knows where. See the little girl next to the baby? See the stockingless toes sticking from a broken shoe? See that round object in the baby's hand? That's a tin bowl. That's the only "toy" In the house. There are ten children In the family. Tha mother is ill, confined to a bed that consists of a mattress and a lumpy quilt-See quilt-See the blackness of ths ehil- I asked them If they wanted any toys to play with. They said "Yea" mechanically. I told them a man . named Santa Claus would bring them dolls, crayons, little dogs that wiggled . . . and their eyee lit up like stars for a moment then glowed out again ta become dark, blank windows In starved, pale faces. How old would you guess ths baby is? Six months? Wrong, hs's over a year. But he's sick from undernourishment,, under-nourishment,, his growth stunted by starvation. I'm writing this Just as I ssw H. or rather telling only part of what I saw. You wouldn't want to read the entire story. You don't like to read about misery and poverty and hunger and children of dejection. You'd rather hear about the brighter things of life. Well, if you want to put this paper pa-per down and go on remembering this story ail your life and Just remembering, don't do anything about it Dont enroll today as a Sub for Santa. Just let these children chil-dren go on living the way they are. Don't try to make their Christmas happier. |