“Go Lt Doghing-
i you Dismay
by ge
God rest ye, merry gentlemen,
Let nothing you dismay!
HE words sounded through
the hall of the big oflice
building In a high, clear
soprano, which made both
John Harden and his son,
Ralph, took up, startled’ and irritated,
Then, as “merry gentlemen” sounded
farther off, John Harden thought,
“It's a good thing that woman didn’t
come in here singing that! ‘Merry
gentlemen,’ indeed!” and he looked
over at his son, who sat brooding at
his desk.
“If Ralph would only give me his
confidence!” he thought. “Money
I'd help him out If he'd only tell me.
Troubles enough of my own, but not
about money. ¥ a million dollars
would remove this threat of blindness,
I'd pay it in a minute,”
“Let nothing you dismay!"
the clear, light voice again, and Ralph
thought :
“How ean I help being dismayed,
spt out from under? Father suspects,
too. I know, for he looks glum all the
time, and keeps his hand over his eyes
so much,
pr———————
| only ask me,
be I'd
may-
have the
to tell
the singing
the
Har-
voice neared
office again,
den growled,
“Tell that girl to
hwish up or go
away!" Then the
office door opened,
and the words
“merry gentlemen”
made both
look up. Impa-
tiently. But, in-
stend of a bold
young woman ~~
men
stood a serubby newsbhoy, savin
for the Times. Cire
cer's s0 busy he sent
“Collectin’ ulnt-
in" mg
“Where did you learn to
a ain
ced tiph.
“Si. uke's cl
dollar
ing a Gee,
and
never get
Got five
think?
choir saved fer a
been sick
way, I'd
L Whaja
out o
if it
clothes
dol
money
overcoat
another
“and 1
toward 1°
hope your [athe
you!" exclaimed the
1
pocketing the dollar
Fhank boy,
“Giee, 1 hope he
‘cause he's all the family 1
He works in a factory where the
does, too,
ad, and son g his eyes go
where else?™
box
eve work,
Harden
who that
You a
your
owns
note to take
name?
Wickens, and he's
You tell ‘em
my life, an’ 1
Presently Harden looked up,
“Her the and a dollar
ew Year's
eling in ad
ance. Don’t for
get to come In
ith it—it's paid
for. remember!”
“You bet TH
come! Fad get a
handsome
it my Dad ever
heard o my bein’
crooked! I'm
proud o° my ole
man an’ I want to
make: him proud
0 moe”
With that,
door <Q
und the
voice was
father's
“Albert all right!
said so—known him all
recommend him.”
sayi
note,
liekin
the
nmed,
young
heard
caroling down the hall,
The two men looked at each other,
speaking simultaneously :
“Son, I have something to say—"
“Dad. 1 have something to tell—"
Then. with half-embarrassed amuse.
ment, they both laughed, healingly.
“1 guess there's a good deal we
have to tell other,” said John
Harden, *1 that we get a
private root at the club and have
tunch., and talk things over.”
“Great!” said Ralph, rising te help
his father with ula cont, “I'm not
locking forward, exnctly, to what 1
have to say, because I'm ashamed of
ft. hist iH be a relief”
“No:hing you ean tell me will be as
had ns this estrangement has been”
replied his father. “If it's anything
1 ean help you shout"
“It is, and If you'll straighten me
out this time, 1 know [I'N never get in
such a hole again. When
vald, ‘I'm proud o my ole man, and
I wunt him to be"
Ralph choked and stopped. but by
this time they were in the outer hall,
ee?
each
propose
some
arm nnd pressed It affectionately,
An the elevator reached the street
fevel the two looked at ench
and smiled. for down the hall they
heard a high, clear volee singing:
Cod rest yo, merry gentlemen,
tot nothing you dismay!
(5 1527 Western Newspaper Union)
Y tian
Bawa yi¥ie WGAaS et I —
Tat.
the first Greelutg Cord
| Tua
L___———— i pH
ogg PR
7
afd Ph
By ELMO SCOTT WATSON
T WAS unknown wit
who made statement re-
cently that “Christmas greet.
ing cards will cost this coun
try $55,000,000, and that does
pot take into account the
time lost in trying to remenk
ber to whom they should be
sent.” Although it woulc be difficult to estimate
the value of the time “lost in trying to remem-
ber,” as this wag suggests, there are who
can testify to the fact that hig estimate of
855,000,000 as the total Christmas
ing cards Is a modest actually an
underestimate,
Dealers in Christmas will tell
their has virtually doubled
cessive year for the iast five or six years.
the season of 1027 trobably will exceed all
others in the volume of One wholesale
dealer in Christmas cards has reported that eariy
in November his orders had already passed the
1026 total and each week
over the previous week, The
mas cards used in the United
passed out of the realm of millions
If there
popularity of the custom ©
some
the
those
cost of greet-
one, if not
you that
each suc
And
cards
business
giles
saw a steady increase
number of Christ.
States lon
+t
is anyone who can testify to
i
creasing {
Christmas cards, it is Uncle Sam's mail man.
will tell you that
board
the burden on his around Christm: time,
Time was when you could send a Christmns card
Now dt
re bled
these gay little its of Cn
i
have doubled anc quadrupled
back
two cents, bat not
into the
offers of i Tost
for one cent. costs
even this extra
thousands of
Office
cards which begins to pour into the malls at the
beginning .of the third December and
continues until after January 1,
For the
use for remembering one's
Rich and poor alike send
her ecards of special design
costly vellum and them out
by the hundred. The working girl buys hers at
the “five-and-cen” and them out hy the
dozen. Count that man poor in friendship, indeed.
who hans never Christmas Ard
some complain of an “embarrassment of riches”
in this regard, for the
a
the wit in the opening
penny— which soon
dollars for the c¢
department—hoes diminished
week In
card is a gift in universal
riendes nt the holiday
Christmas
season, them, The
“social leader” has
engraved on sends
sends
received a enrd.
problem, as sugested by
parngraph of this article,
flow many times have
lem to many.
is a real prot
you, lookir hrou of eards that the
mail man
come HCTOSs one
than momentarily as
Mr. and Mrs, Blank.
year?" In fact,
cards has
ventional-minded
realized the meaning of
giver-is-bare” sl that they
“Never again!” But the next year
adding their quota to the mountain of Christmas
eards which pile up in post offices throughout the
land.
Although Christmas card Is a comparative
newcomer among Christmas traditions, it
by no means be regarded as an “infant industry.”
The figures already cited prove that. But as one
during Chri nas week,
held
you said,
Did we
you
which your 4
“Here's one from
them one this
the custom of sending Christmas
those con
have never fully
“eift without-the
have declared,
become such a problem to
persons who
the
tement
finds them
the
can
our forefathers
withont
sometimes how
Christmns
cards. For it only 81 3 ga, in
that the first ecard-
the sense that it was the forefather the pres
ent Christmas ecard ldea—was sent out. The man
originated it Henry
famous as a social and educational reformer, He
had already begun applying the fine arts to man-
ufscture and was the pioneer in illustrating
books with woodcuts of famous
ever man
{‘hristmas
ders
aged to celebrate
wns 1846.
Christmas first, lenst, in
who was Sir Cole, later
Just where Sir Henry got the idea—if it was
not original with him—for his Christmas card is
not known. Lover curds and illustrated writing
been popular In Europe for many
years, In Germany {lluminated eards were sent
1844 some unknown person in the city of Leith,
Qeotland. 1s sald to have sent out New Year's
cards to his friends benring a laughing face and
the words “A Gude New Year to Ye,” but since
this did not have a wide circulation, it is doubtful
if Sir Henry got the idea there. He may have
got It from the custom of English school boys of
writing “Christmas pieces” on paper Ww hich they
decorated with many scrolls.and much flourish of
penmanship.
But wherever Sir Henry got his inspiration,
after deciding to send out cards to his friends
hearing his good wishes for their happiness at
Christmas, he went to J. C. Horsley, a member of
The German influence may be seen
in the Germanesque style of leafy trellises which
The smailer
mas cheer. This ecard was six by four inches,
hand, and a thousand copies were
issued, For some unexplained reason, Horsley
“Felix Summnierly,” and the ecard bears the line
“Published at Summerly's Hive Treasury Office,
2 Oid Bond Street, London,”
Since this card bears the inseription “A Merry
regarded as the
first
printed and sent out as the
holiday greeting
forerun
ne to become world
r Cole's friends wer
remembrance ar
uch unfavorable «
» experiment
card
a-borning.
However, in the early six sented
envelopes began appear in
joners’ shops around the holiday season of i
the use of these began to increase each year, Next
these in relief In the
ter of a card with colored or
decorated by stencil or by hand
ness of
slowly. It
were stan ped Con
embossed edges
Thus the busi
making Christmas cards got under way
was even
America and it was not until 1873
nings were apparent in this country.
In that sear Louis Prang, a
Boston, exhibited samples of his flowered business
cards at the Vienna exposition and they attracted
considerable attention, He had an agency in
London and one of his women employees there
(her name is unknown) suggested to him that he
put a greeting in place of the name of his firm
and them as Christmas This
done the next year, so that 1874 marks the begin
ninz of the Christmas card in this country. It
was not until two years later, however, that the
Christmas card idea became widespread and this
was due to the exhibits of such cards by differ
ent printers and lithographers at the Centennial
exposition in Philadelphia.
Another forward step in the Christmas card
business was taken in 1870 when a British com-
pany, which had offered prizes for Christmas ecard
designs. held an exhibition of the best ones sub
mitted in Dudley hall in London, About this time
a Boston card manufacturing company held a
similar exhibit at whieh the first prize winner
wns given the sum of $2000, At the London
exhibit it was learned that the majority of the
prize winners were women and two of them, Kate
Greenway and Alice Havers, later became famous
for their Christmas card designs.
In fact, in the early years of the Christmas
ecard business, before the great demand for them
resulted In mass production and more emphasis
upon quantity than quality, the Christmas card
design was an important plece of creative art, so
much so that it has been said that “The Christmas
card enjoyed a golden age ¢f art in the decade
from 1878 to 1888" One of the reasons for this
was that the exhibitions and contests which were
being held by the producers of Christmas cards
were stimulating interest in this form of art and
uncovering many new artists,
“One of the art events of the year 1880 was a
Christinas card exhibition arranged by Louis
Prang at the Amerlean Art galleries,” writes one
investigator in the history of the Christmas card,
“For several yeurs thereafter similar exhibitions
were held, with competitions in the artistie merit
and popularity of the designs; and such men as
ftichard M. Hunt, John La Farge and Louis C
Tiffany were sufficiently interested to act as
judges, The exhibition of 1884 carried a special
feature, The quantity of dilettante work that
hitherto had found Its way to the exhibitions
tended to turn away the best artists, but pow
thelr interest was deliberately sought in the hope
of ralsing the level of Christmas eard design,
g
slower in getting started In
$
1
hat the begin
lithographer of
jssue cards was
“
aa———
New Year
Tiearty Greetings
and Best Wishes for Christmas
nnd the coming ens
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A
HAPPY NEW YEAR
Twentviwo artists
!
sioned to paint
and entered
those whose
i, the dean of An
1 Alden Weir. And the ex
New York, but
ne Aris in Boston
fleld
not only In
Fi
Cl
mediocrity proved ton Of
CORO.
erwl
best artist
tinued Interest of the
card designing
and the
tration
only reading
Then poelry on the car
Mme so popular th
mas card field sever
noted poets, 4
London firm offered Lord Tennyson §5
gion a
for 12 poems of eight lines each to be
Christmas carde, but he declined the o
craze for
was
poetry became so pronounced
used =o that finally
forced to pin
t limit
was pop r from the
1890 one
generously
facturers of cards were
upon the verses ! set thi
The religio
peginning and
declared that the most popular of all
card designs was a reproduction of the Natvity
scene, with Marillo’s Nativity ns
favorite. Since that time various motifs have
appeared in Christmas until
gymbol of Christmas, contributed by every nation
appears on our Christmas cards,
%
alen
manufacturer
{Hiristmas
the greatest
cards now every
Camels, the star in the east the
men, palm trees, buildings of decided oriental
appearance recall the scenes in Palestine where
Christ was born on the first Christmas; the Yule
log and the mistletoe are reminiscent of the
Druids of ancient Britain: holly, plum puddings,
roast beef, singers of i
English Iandscapes remind one of the good cheer
of the English
old Santa Claus, originally a Dutch patron saint,
but now thoroughly Americanized (one Christmas
ecard this year shows him speeding the
snowy londecape in sn automobile of distinctly
American make!) appears on many; the turkey is
a symbol for both Thanksgiving and Christmas
feasts and ig a distinctly American contribution,
Nor do Christmas cards stop with Christmas
symbols, Each new idea introduced
with new symbols which are not especially rs
gocinted with Christmas, In 1011 the Uickens cen.
tenninl was echoed on the Christmas cards: the
revival of interest in Americana In recent years
has put all kinds of antigues—{furniture, hoop
skirts, muffs, bonnets, sleighing parties and husk.
ing bees—on our Christmas cards, and last year,
#8 the result of the great interest in ship models,
many a ship went safling across the cards.
Just as Christinas curds of the past reflect the
interests of Americans of those days, so do this
year's cards indicate some of the major Amer.
jean Interests now. Among them are radio and
aviation, the latter, no doubt, due to the various
historic flights which have thrilled the nation
during the past year, Sports, too, have their
place and it la not unusual to find on Christmas
cards scenes Hlustrative of the various types of
outdoor recreation, Thie, however, is not a new
iden, since swimming, boating, cricket and tennis
scence were reproduced on English Christinas
cards more than thirty years ago.
three wise
carols, 0 al
Chrigimas
observance of Christmas; Jolly
over
year sees a
gr :
ay 5
§ Building
“Health Center” Has
Cut Mortality Rate
Fast Harlemn, one of the most con-
gested districts in Manhattan, has car-
ried on a most interesting health pro.
gram during the past six years, result-
ing In a decidedly mortality
rate, writes Savel Zimand, in the N
York Times.
The East Harlem
operated by the health departinent
the city, private
and social agencies, During the ls
five years the general death rate
Manhattan has while ths
reduced
health center
assisted by heal
©
increased
The rate for Manhatian
49 per cent greater than
wer, according to Kenneth
D. Widdemer, executive
center,
{ine of
tality.
under
144"
| § 3 PEER
1
QeCTed
Close Association of
Parents and Teachers
Parer te
to the
pertinent :
o¥
ih your
orates of
trees
or sai
is fruit
trees would he go much more
itizens of the state
cost of fruits and nuts,
becoming prohibitive?
nt every other tree should be
nut tree, and 1 believe every
be willing to pay for
or put tree. I'm
1 would pay for more than one
the highways attractive hy
fruit and nut trees among the
ghade trees f of each, at
and give fruit and nuts to all”
least
See Home a It will Be
Architectural service is not an ex
travagance, not even an expense—it
is an investment and a genulpe sav.
ing.
Always build from plans, and be
fore going ahead have a picture made
of what the plans call for: in that
avoiding disappointment later:
when the building is up.
way
The expense of a rendered perspec
tive sketch iz small, and it often re
‘yeals the need of changes here and
there. Those can be easily made in
the plans,
The Weed Law
flank weeds give a neighborhood =
seragely and unkempt air. The com
plete citizen attends regularly to the
mowing and removal of unsightly wee
patches wherever he may be respon
sible for those unpatriotic growihs
Where the property owner or vacant
fot owner neglects his duty, there is
authority and respunsibility to inspect
and act for the community good af
the expense of the derelict weed-crop
producer. = Lafayette Journal and
Courier,
Aa
Don’t Spare Paint
Those who refrain from adequately
painting exposed wood are in the class
with the penny-wise, pound-foolish, In
addition, failure to paint loses one any
esthetic pleasure which must be
Siasned with one of the truest joys of
life,