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Show if A slf 3 , v I UzLA1 i A Christmas stocking for every child! The Christmas day la coming wh,en Santa Claus shall visit every child in the land ind none shall be forgotten. Elizabeth Phillips. Ml- HE spirit of Chrtst- .VAwSn maS' 19221 what AvlkP h" 1s " ln Amer1ca- H the greatest and p wealthiest nation 'ifftkf? J ll ' of earth? From jg-! JLM one viewpoint it is "fflgj much the same HS? that it has always QLj been a ellgious family festival . of good cheer and gift-giving. From another viewpoint there is an encouraging encour-aging growth of the spirit of the utterance ut-terance of Elizabeth Phillips. Eighteen years ago Elizabeth Phillips Phil-lips had an inspiration to make the anniversary of Our Lord's birth not so much an anniversary of happiness for the few as an anniversary of happiness hap-piness for the many. She had a vision of those who have giving to those who have not. And from her humble beginning with a few hund.'ed poor children have come the thousand and one Christmas givings the country over that are making the holiday year by year one of happiness to Increasing Increas-ing numbers of the poor, the friendless friend-less and the hopeless. Elizabeth Phillips she has been dead these thirteen years had her Inspiration in 1904 ln Philadelphia. She was a teacher In the public schools. She lay ill in a boarding house. She saw the cold rain of autumn au-tumn beating against her window. She thought of the Christmas that was coming. "Christmas will not mean very much to me," she thought "But It will mean far less maybe nothing at all to many. If I could only make it a better Christmas for some ot those. I can ; I know I can. I will try." As son as she got well she began to work out her plan. Through the co-operation of President Roosevelt she was enabled to secure hundreds of letters to Santa Claus every Christmas season these letters come in a flood to every big-city post office. Then she made It her business to visit her friends, to call upon a host of new ones, to solicit help from everybody, everywhere, collecting two cents in one place, five cents In another an-other place, a dollar somewhere else, and by the time Christmas eve arrived she had filled several hundred stockings. stock-ings. The fame of Elizabeth Phillips spread widely. And she had visions of a nation-wide movement along the line of her successful experiment. "A Christmas stocking for every child!" she said. "The Christinas day is coming when Santa Claus shall visit every child ln the land and none shall be forgotten. "It Is my purpose to make Santa Claus a reality, whose home will be In every home and who will be the friend of children everywhere. The most important thing Is a permanent headquarters-the House of Santa Claus And over the door there will be a statue of the old fellow with a pack of toys on his back. When tbe children pass by they can say.Tberes where Santa Clans lives-he sees that -very boy and girl gets a stock ng Ailed with Christmas things at t-nnst-nias time.' -There Santa's work will be carried nnot only during the week before mas but all through the year Anodes, it will be a home for as many children orphans as I can stuff Into it "I hope to build up an organization in the National Santa Claus association associa-tion which will be a Joy not only to the children but a benefit also to poor people everywhere." For four years Elizabeth Phillips continued her work. The Santa Claus association grew with each succeeding succeed-ing year. It came to have many assistants as-sistants with a fleet of automobiles and an army of givers in the cause of Christmas giving. The movement spread to other cities and thousands came to know her name and love It. But the results of her work, though great In the estimation of others, seemed small to her. And as the results re-sults became greater and the work Increased the goal seemed farther away than ever to her. Her work was halted by illness, and she was forced to watch tlfe Christmas of 1909 draw nearer and nearer without being able to keep on. Despair took hold of her and she ended her life. But the spirit of Christmas that animated her did not dis with her. She had done her work too well. From her Inspiration, directly or Indirectly, In-directly, have sprung the Christmas givings of the Christmas clubs, Big Brother and Good Fellow movements and Needy Cases campaigns r.nd the Christmas activities of municipalities, community centers, newspapers and business concerns. For example: A New York newspaper news-paper took up, three years after Elizabeth Eliz-abeth Phillips' death, the task of supplying sup-plying the Christmas needs of "thi hundred neediest." The task, loo great for one Individual, one organization, organi-zation, was distributed among a great body of those best able to shoulder It, just as Elizabeth Phillips aimed to do, and as the givers Increased In number so did the receivers multiply. Organized as a clearing house for the benefit of all the many charitable organizations, concentrated as a focal point for the contributions of all the many previously unorganized and aimless givers, the "neediest" campaign cam-paign began Its career In 1912 with the Christmas distribution of $3,000. Each year it spread to greater breadth. For such was" the success of this movement that newspapers In other cities took up the idea. And such was their success that still other organizations organi-zations copied the plan, others and still others, first In one swtlon, then in another, all over the United Slates. Philadelphia has similar movements, so has Pittsburgh. Chicago, St. Louis, Denver, San Francisco. The Idea, Just like the aim of Elizabeth Eliza-beth Phillips, has been the means of pointing out that such relief Is something some-thing more than the giving of a tinsel top Is something that lias a deeper significance than spasmodic giving, useful as that sometimes may be. It has been the Instrument of bringing whole-hearted generous help to families fami-lies ln need and of bringing at the same time the satisfaction to a large number of Christmas doaors of a simple arfd direct method of translating translat-ing Christmas generosity into terms of health, happiness, good cheer, the essence of the Christmas spirit The modern Christmas spirit has gone farther than mer- giving at Christmas time. It has undertaken to see that families who have met with misfortunes or havs lost their breadwinner through sickness or death shall have that simple and fundamental fun-damental opportunity without which democracy means little the opportunity opportu-nity to live u family life. It is laboring labor-ing In season and out of season, Just like Miss Phillips, to demonstrate to the public that this Involves adequate relief; tbat a scanty and penurious relief of a family which merely makes it possible for It to eke out a drab existence Is not Intelligent relief; that this relief must not only be adequate ade-quate ln amount but regular in Its provisions. Of New York's "one hundred neediest need-iest cases" In 1921, eighteen concerned young mothers and children under the care of the State Charities Aid association. asso-ciation. These eighteen were given Instant relief. In addition the sum total of children saved from serious and distressing situations reached the number of 75. These additional children chil-dren were helped from funds not designated des-ignated for particular cases. In some cases a considerable portion has been conserved for future use. Here, for Instance, Is a sample report of the association, which shows what Christmas Christ-mas giving can accomplish when done in the right way : "Raymond, of Case No. 89, the half-starved, half-starved, half-naked baby rescued from a desolate room, had a desperately desper-ately hard fight for his life. The doctors doc-tors at the hospital tried every sort of food, but Raymond's was so serious a case of malnutrition that nothing seemed to reach the tiny spark of vitality. vi-tality. Finally, as a last resort, blood transfusion was tried, and this had the desired effect. Raymond reacted almost Immediately; and was soon able to leave the hospital for a free" convalescent home for babies In the country. From there he recently went to a foster home of his own, ari unbelievably sturdy and vigorous child. Amount received, $300 ; amount spent, $72.73; balance on hand, $227.27." So, at Christmas time A. D. 1922, a multitude of organizations all over the country will gather from those who have and distribute among those who have not. There will be Christ-inns Christ-inns good heer In homes where otherwise other-wise It would be lacking. Encouragement Encourage-ment will be given many who had well nigh lost hope. Lives valuable to the state will be saved. And there will be Joy where there was sorrow. The activities of these organizations organiza-tions of course vary widely. Some give gifts, some give food, some give clothing, some give money, some give service. But their principle and purpose pur-pose and Inspiration are the same; all nre born of one Idea and all aim at the same goal. This goal Is to make Christmas day everywhere the day of Joy It should be In a Ch.-litlan nation celebrating the anniversary of the birth of Our Lord. It Is no exaggeration to nay that much of this Christmas giving Is the result of Elizabeth Phillips' Inspiration Inspira-tion elghteeu years ago as she lay 111 In her boarding-house room. To this Philadelphia school teacher Is due In no small part various movements all over the United States that embrace the collection and distribution of Christmas cheer and Christmas char-Itv. char-Itv. The spirit of lillzabeth Phillips gnet marching on. |