OCR Text |
Show BrimSc the loonior ft Spirit to vmmmMl 7 f' T IS a quoRtion whether the famlllos helped or the workers work-ers helping them get most Nfnr- Jv out of the Christmas dis-ggZjV dis-ggZjV tribution. A real settlement ft worker, one imbued with the Kp right spirit, will tell you that only one who bus visited the homes of the poor and the suffering on Christmas eve can realize the pleasure Df bringing happiness and sunshine into these homos. Many settlement fisitors, who have given up the work for some reason or another, but who return to assist with the Christmas distributions, give generously from uioir own pursus iuui me uaaKeis may be larger and more families aided. Wealthy women, who have never done settlement work, enter into the Santa Claus spirit and visit the alley and tenement districts dis-tricts of the large cities on the night before Christmas, their automobiles heavily laden with toys, turkeys and good things to eat They employ investigators inves-tigators to canvass the section in which they are interested a week before the holidays, and the distribution is made according to their reports. Oftentimes small trees are sent to the homes, with glass balls, trimmings and candy toys, and the donors, with the aid of their chauffeurs and the parents of the children, fix the tree while the little lit-tle tots are asleep. Though little known, Santa Claus' work In the slums of the big cities Is carried on along systematic lines to overcome any overlapping of the multitude of good intentions. In days gone by, charitably inclined women would leave a large basket of pro-risions pro-risions in a house in ignorance of nother basket hidden in the closet And it was not unusual for two or three workers to meet in the same kitchen at the one time, each burdened bur-dened with good things for the one family. This i3 an error of the past; for now the Christmas giving has been systematized. Settlement workers of the various societies and representa tives of the wealthy private givers compile a list of those they will assist, as-sist, and all go over their lists carefully care-fully together. Although the Christmas giving is all cut and dried a tew days before the time, Santa Claus' secret is not given away. Half of the pleasure would be gone if the families knew that the visitors were coming with food and toys in abundance. It is true that those who are visited and quizzed by the private workers have a shrewd suspicion, after they have told their tale of woe and received the sympathy of the visitor, that something substantial is to follow. The regular settlement workers know their ground pretty well; they know which families have had a hard road I to travel and are putting up r. good battle against the tide of misfortune. The settlement workers have little investigating to do before the holi- ! days; their entrance into a home or tenement is always greeted wit! surprise, sur-prise, for they generally make it a point to go where they are least expected. ex-pected. "The poor are always with us" is doubly true at Christmas time. Families Fam-ilies who can barely exist, who do not know whero the next Jay's bread Is coming from, can certainly not afford af-ford any extras for the holiday season. sea-son. They consider themselves fortunate for-tunate if they have a loaf or two of bread and a small piece of meat for the Christmas dinner and coal for the kitchen fire. No one appreciates this seamy side of the bright ' Christmas story more than the charity worker. She knows that tribulations exist at Christmas time as during any other part of the year. Years of experience have shown her how to use tact and good judgment judg-ment on her travels and where she cannot leave good cheer, she can at least make the sorrows and troubles easier to bear. The "Angel "An-gel of the Settlement" knows, more than any one else, that there are many cases when the word "Merry Christmas" would sound like a mockery; where the hand of death, for Instance, has been heavily felt when It takes away the chief provider provid-er of a large family. She knows, also, that the Christmas spirit is cherished by the poor as well as the wealthy. While they cannot spend the day in feasting and merrymaking, merry-making, they can at least forget old MUfXPCCTCP CLAJAS )'X'M in tills home, and it was a delicate un T 5 silt dertaking to bring a woman like this grudges and let bygones be bygones, shake hands with their enemies and wish one another good luck. TLl i 1 rtrtT.lll!. tions take place then is known only to these good women. The hearts of many men who have been separated from their wives and families become be-come softened as the holidays draw near, and it Isn't uncommon for the settlement worker to find them together to-gether when she comes with the Christmas basket. Many prodigal sons return on Christmas eve. A striking case of this kind that occurred two years ago was run across by a settlement worker work-er In Philadelphia. She said that she had never witnessed a scene on any stage that could equal it. It was a real case of where the Christmas Christ-mas prayer of a broken-hearted mother moth-er was answered by the return of her boy. The son ran away from home seven years earlier, when a youth of sixteen years. He had a good home and the family consisted of his parents, an Older brother and a sister. His father was a hard-working man and used all his earnings for his home. The younger young-er boy, being the baby of the family, was the pet of all; but he had a wild disposition, and he wanted to see something of life. He decided to run away from home and go West. When he reached the ranches of Arizona he found that the cowboy life wasn't as bright as it was painted. He longed for home many a time, but vowed that he would not return a failure. He persevered until he had made good, though it took seven years tor mm to ao u. nis ieai les&iiess auu daring attracted the attention of the owner of the ranch, and he placed him in charge of another place. When the young man had a goodly wad of bills accumulated he decided to return re-turn in time for Christmas. He reached the old house to find that another family was living there, and he learned from neighbors that his father was dead; that his sister had grieved so over his disappearance that she died shortly after he had left, and that his brother had been killed in an accident. The mother, doubly aged with grief, had been left alone and was subsisting as best she could in a third-story room. The son lost no time and arrived In the room just after the settlement worker had reached there with her basket of provisions. pro-visions. The mother had just finished telling her story to the sympathetic listener when this latest prodigal returned. re-turned. "No one can really appreciate," said a settlement worker in another city, "how happy one feels fter visiting the homes of the poor on Christmas eve. The gratitude of one woman alone last year was enough to recompense recom-pense me for the work I did. This woman's husband was ln the penitentiary peniten-tiary serving an 18-year term for murder. mur-der. It appears that he and a companion com-panion were working ln the cranberry bogs. They quarreled, and in a scuffle scuf-fle this man stabbed his opponent. He made his wife promise she would never allow the family of six to be separated. She not only kept them together by taking in washing and working until all hours of the night, but she refused to accept outside aid ln any shape or form. There would have been no Christmas celebration in this home, and it was a delicate uu dertaking to bring a woman like this any provisions. But I explained to her that it was a present and her joy was only equaled by that of her children, chil-dren, who were more than delighted with their new toys. "I have been in homes where the children never had toys, and I have brought them their first playthings. In one case there were two children, a boy and a girl, Pepino and Mechalmo. Their father died when they were babies, and the mother supported them. She had come to this country a bride and "vas not well versed with the American way of doing things. She did not even inow how to make a rag dol for the children. We brought those children a small tree, decorated it, and gave them plenty of toys. Words couldn't tell the happiness happi-ness of those little ones. "There is more pleasure In the work than you would imagine. We see many erf bopmph sorrow and joy mingled together, but we also find much to amuse us. Last year we took a basket to an old colored woman. Her husband was a paralytic and she had two orphaned grandchildren to keep. Christmas to her was to be the same as any other day until we arrived with the provisions and toys. She glanced at us as we entered the room, and when we put the basket on the table, she stared at it and pointed to herself, as much as to say,, 'For me?' I said, 'Yes, Liza, that's for you.' You could see nothing but the whites of her eyes, and she raised both of her hands above her head, clasped them together and said, 'De Lord be praised.' That was all she said; but she repeated it time and again. One time her eyes would be as large as I dollars and she would joyously sing I ., T 1 n- ianA' a r A a ffO 1 Tl tile Lfv ijuru uc t" she would be sad and mournful and moan 'De Lord be praised.' "Finally her husband, who was unable un-able to leave his chair, lost his patience pa-tience and he shouted, 'Liza, good Lord, woman, has you done lost your head altogether? Why don't you thank the ladies?' Then, as a sort of apology to us, he said: 'Yor'li have to excuse her, ladies, for she has surely sure-ly done lost her head altogether.' As we left the room and glanced back, poor Liza was still standing there, looking at us with her hands clasped before her and slowly nodding her head saying: 'De Lord be praised.' We concluded Liza knew better than her husband. She was thanking the "I have witnessed many reconsilia-tions reconsilia-tions of families of foreigners on Christmas eve. The afternoon that I spent at the immigration station last year was one of the pleasantest of my life. It was interesting to note the expression ex-pression of gladness on the faces of the children in the costumes of their various fatherlands. They couldn't speak a word of English, but they could show you that they were grateful grate-ful for the playthings. "I will never forget my first Christmas Christ-mas . visitation. It was my initial experience ex-perience with social service work. One of the first places we visited was in a court, a poor German family. When we arrived at the house the mother was telling the three children Christmas legends. She had gilded apples, and that was their only other reminder that the morrow was a great festival. She had no meat nor vegetables vege-tables in the house for the next day's meals, and there was no coal in the bin. But the place was as clean and neat as a new pin. "The mother was an educated woman, wom-an, and you could tell at a glance that she had seen better days. She had married against the wishes of her family and Bhe was too proud to let them know of her poverty. Her huB-band huB-band had gone West to try to better his condition, but was unable to get work there and became stranded. The wife kept the wolf away from the door as best she could by sewing. We brought her a turkey, vegetables, fruits and cranberries, then went out and got a tree and a doll for the children chil-dren and left an order to have coal sent there immediately. It is impossible impos-sible to tell how grateful that poor woman was." |