Show r MERRY L HEALTH TO ALL i 1 0 1 6 1 t NATIONAL t 4 in rry ca amu hap cw car 1 04 B by ELMO SCOTT WATSON you luuy buy a big sheet ot of christmas christinas seals does etever it lt ever occur to you I 1 that theres arf an interesting Inie resting story sto ry back of the addition of these little lit tle scraps of paper to the list of sym s ni bols of Christ christmas miss time and do the names of einar hol boell boel and emily P bissell corne come to your mind when you ou stick oa one of these gayly colored little stamps on a christmas package and send it away 16 to carry its ines sage of cliber as well as the message ahat that you are chils iti it great humanitarian worl work if not they should sli for it if Is to ito a danish postal clerk and tin an amerlean american tied red cross worker that vve we owe the idea and rna development of the Christmas seal hack bael in fit 1803 a man named damned minar einar Hol boell a postal clerk in the 1 lice flee at copenhagen denmark was busy in the division of outgoing mall mail it wits was christmas week neek and lie he was literally burled buried in cards and letters the faster he sorted the faster they flowed in fr for a moment he paused in serious thought then his face brightened bened theses these christmas cards and letters should have an additional stamp a benevolent stamp or seat seal at a small price within the reach alach of all why not call alta it a christmas stamp even a two ore jabout about one fourth of a cent stamp on all these cards and letters would creato create a mighty sum if the plan could only be realized christmas mas Is a time of 0 gener generosity and good will when we send a kindly I 1 y thought thou glit even een to those whom we neglect the whole year through two tao ore eich cacti on cipry ev cry greeting would mean meana a sum to be reckoned with well then to the task 11 t ile he went with his plan to the head hendon of the postal service and others with influence and authority and so when hen the first christmas seal committee was formed including among others gis representatives from the postal de partine iii the interest of the postal employees was insured fram the start in 1004 the committee wet biet t to dis cuss the purpose and use of the pus pos sible income from the christmas christinas seal and it was decided decide that the first ob P sect ectrus was the erection of a 6 hospital for tubercular children cl dren and in general the income from the seal should always be for the fight against tuber culos ls in one form or another upon application on to the then kin christian IX Hol boell buell secured the permission e lils slon to have it 11 likeness of the deceased queen louise on the first christmas seal and the king became BO 0 interested that lie he himself selected it the h picture which lie wished used naturally mr Hol boell and hla his am committee felt some anxiety over the out iconic of their first ven venture tin anxiety which proved to be ae without foundation the success waa overwhelming whelmine whelming wh elmin elming the first p pran i r tang of was immediately increased to and over were sold since that time a capital of kronen has been realized which has been used for the erection of largo large numbers of and convalescent homes for tuber tubercular cufar pat patients lents hol 1101 boell the modest postal assistant be came anie postmaster at charlotten near copenhagen and a danish cross of knighthood casmis was his adge of honor hollor ho he died ot of heart trouble in tits ills sixty second year on february SH W 17 and as 68 was ivas fitting fittin the danish christinas seal for WT 17 bo bore rethe the picture of oc Hol boell whosel eliose idea dea has spread ever the e entire nalie wo world 1 rid j r rhe story of how miss anally 11 1 bis als selli name cante canie to be associated associated with the cli christ inus s se seil il was told in un nil nr ar birte ya matchell Ml lodges hodges whim appeared appear edIn in the curvey last year and which lias has been reproduced to a pam form by the national 1 tuberculosis ruber culo association tits his story of the first christmas seal follows december 1907 the world war seven years ahead but a deadlier war at flood tuberculosis taking one of all who died froydis from disease folls folks everywhere wondering what whai could be done to stem the tide midmorning mid bild morning december 13 a ragged dirty newsboy walked into r a philadelphia newspaper office offic reaching Red ching up to a marble counter coun ter higher than his head he be put down a copper cent gamme one me sisters got it what he was given Is the seal illustrated above directly under the letters ch in the title of this article I 1 noontime december 9 1807 1907 in wilmington capital ot bf little delaware two tivo pretty girls gills in red jred cross uniforms taking their place at a table inthe in the post office corridor asking a quarter each for little pay envelopes thus thug labeled 25 STAMPS one penny apiece issued by the delaware redcross red ned cross to stamp out the ahe white Pl alkue put this stamp with message bright on every christmas letter help the fight and make the new year better these stamps do not carry any kind ot of mail mad but any kind ot of mall mail will carry them midmorning mid morning december 11 1007 eighteenth floor of the north amerlean american building in philadelphia 4 a day member of the staff in his cubbyhole A lady to see you passing a card en engraved grayed miss emily P 11 bassell issell Bl ssell la Is slie she good looking sure show her in enter the secretary of the alie delaware red cross on unofficial bustness she had come came to ask a favor ot of the sunday editor and thought shed aed pay her respects to the columnist who hoped the sunday editor tormad had granted tier her wish he had not she had wanted him to run it a little story fiory about tb tills Is taking a sheet of stamps from her handbag Delai delaware iare was worried about tuberculosis needed a few feni hundred dollars to start caring for poor patients she had read jacob hits story about the danish christmas stamp in the outlook wondered it delawari Dela waie e issue one and sell i enough to build a small shelter 7 here it was but she was afraid downstairs went the occupant of the cubbyhole cubby hole two steps ata time to the office of IS A van burg president and editor of the paper that had been first to displease the alie doctors by proposing publicity as as the weapon to use against the white plague iier heres esthe the way to wipe out tu tuberculosis cul cu losis half shouted the man from u upstairs pst airs as he waved the sheet of stamps under the editors nose I 1 bilat the ilie belldo hell do you mean man A brief explanation tell MIS ailsa s bissell the north american Is hers from today how flow soonwan soon can we have waw ot of the stamps wits asked of the lady ladi from delaware delaba re she gasped gashed and said shed telephone frum from ton that evening fifty thousand slie site echoed as she left that too loo many 7 ten the morning 0 of f december 13 1107 a few thousand of the si stamps amps they were so culled called at first on sale in the publication office und and a few more at a booth in waria wann tu makers akers also a top of column five brink benki head on age oneff alie 0 american nest day y 64 the whole hilj editorial space devoted to a plea to buy these bullets in the bat battle tie n the worst foa foe next day h a seven column 11 spread op read I 1 on page one and on december 18 14 with the stamps selling b by thousands and telegrams fro from many parts parm of the country askin asking about them The presses in wilmington print them fast enough soa so a philadelphia delp lita printer was w as enlisted through its washington c correspondent respondent or th the e newspaper got tbt he postmaster generals pe permission slon to put ts up p a booth in the philadelphia post office lobby r from roto jacob nils hits on od december 19 good for you andhor and tor philadelphia and nd the cortil american keep it up I 1 am J jad glad ad the little seed I 1 sowed bowed in the outlook last summer has borne fruit five days before christmas the governor of Pennsyl pennsylvania yanta pennsylvania branch of the national red lied cross indorse indorsed Indor sed the stamp fourdais pour Four das days before christmas an editorial urged that A million piercy messengers Messen geis be bought by the people two days before christmas happy new year was added to the stamp design the demand having grown so the day after christmas more than half a million already distributed to city state and nation then a flight of signed indorse ments from washington president roosevelt secretary of state root secretary of war taft raft from baltimore cardinal gibbons from other places leaders in public life philanthropy anth ropy and education all featured on page one on januarys Janu jan un arys ry 8 a check for 1013 97 shafto sent to miss bissell Bl ssell the proceeds of the north amei Anie leans ricans part th in this preface to stamping out the plague several times the sum delabar eans had wanted to raise and i feared they could not get and as much more from other sources in all told delaware and pennsylvania raised from this first sale of stamps meantime the national red cross stopped looked looke dand and listened at an meeting to miss bissell and the cubbyhole cubby hole man and slowly buti but surely decided to get behind s th the stamp so the beld was widened wIde for or the second round of these harmless bullets harmless to all saye the alie deadly d germs ou ob nove november mbel 12 1908 the fil arst rat gun lu in the second campaign was fired bred by alie north american a page one promise to sell ot of the 1008 stamps and one month litter later to the day lt it ordered its fourth tall lion meantime every very day from november 12 to january 1 I the red cross Chri christmas simas stamp wits was a matter of first firs t page moment and ninny many a day it was given precedence Precede tice over all other news lu in the north Aine american ricart it Is splendid said president taft at the meeting of the red lied cross in december 8 two days later the first page of the north american came out with a border of the stumps stamps in red and a three column facsimile likewise colored other newspapers lu its many parts of the lands land were joining the procession when the curtain was rung down ott on this act in Jai january inary the net result of the stamp sale alie nation ana I 1 ribe never could have believed lt it sald said miss bissell 01 olmie turne one and lowthe how the tinkle a 0 that copper coin has haa grown 1 annual sales gales of christmas seals amounted to to date from this source alone yet the cooey Is the lest purl ourt ot of it 1 the message Is what has count counted ed most between them the deathrage death rate from tuberculosis has been cut in halt and it Is still gains its fate Is s sealed S mo |