Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 22 December 1950 — Page 15
s batteries) | DOWN
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Saase added
ee.
Rac Es
NAN
of the James E. Roberts
2 School, M20 ¥. 10th St., should know that their
was the best I have ever
_ Roberts School, you know, is for crippled children. Why children are handicapped, I'll never know. This is not the place to dwell on that. If I did, I'm afraid the youngsters would
. pity me.
The building fairly hummed with the sound of excited voices. There was a fine odor of food and it made you think of a comfortable kitchen, not an institution. The were gay with decorations. Gay with .children, too, who were anticipating a wonderful afternoon. "On a ramp, a group of singers dressed in white blouses sang softly. One boy was in a wheelchair, Spotlights illuminated the carolers and the effect was what you would get had they been under a
* street lamp. The beauty of the voices was not
hampered by physical defects. * ¢ o OFFICIALS OF the school board were present. Roberts School teachers were there. No one paid any attention to rank or. position. It was the children's party, and it remained so ft.
1 heard a member of the board say to another that it was a privilege to attend. Another agreed humbly in a whisper. Turkey and dressing, cranberry sauce and stuffed baked potatoes, shrimp cocktail, salad, Brussels sprouts, hot rolls, milk, frozen fruit and nut dessert made the eyes of everyone crinkle and sparkle. Several children were so excited they could hardly eat. One of the “biggest” men in the city pays the bills for the food and gifts. The rule; for many has been that his name be kept out of print. His gifts come from the heart and his deed must remain a treasured secret. The main dining room isn’t large enough to accommodate everyone at one time, so several classrooms were used. It is the only time of the year when everyone in the school eats together, eS &
WHEN THE turkey was all gone, the children
‘* began to slowly gravitate to the auditorium.
Those who could walk helped companions in wheelchairs. Braces made harsh metallic sounds above the shuffling, halting steps. Little deformed hands clasped other hands for mutual support. Crutches tapped along the hall in the gay rush. You stood and watched and
It Happened Last Night
By Earl Wilson
NEW YORK, Dec. 22—Once again some of the Duchess of Windsor's “late dates” are raising saloon society eyebrows. . Sunday night and early Monday morning she was in the Champagne Room at El Morocco with two incurable bachelors, Clifton Webb and Jimmy Donohue. On Friday she and the Duke were there with the social Byron Foys. The Duke went home around-11 and she remained and danced with the New Yorker artist Alajalov. But, according to the Windsors and their friends, it was merely because the Duke retires ‘at 11 to be working at 9 the next day on the completion of a volume of his memoirs that the Duchess, with her boundless energy, stays on a while, Sitting together in their Waldorf Towers suite having a cocktail with a friend of mine the other day, the Duke and Duchess laughed about the persistent “rift” rumors. The slim and sparkling Duchess said, sympathetically, that the Duke is “now a slave”—he is that serious about his work. He doesn’t have a cocktail until 7 o'clock (P. M., that is). Unperturbed about the rift rumors he cut short his stay in Paris recently to rejoin the Duchess quickly because of the tense worl situation.
“IN TIMES like these,” he has told friends, “a couple shouldn't be separated if it isn’t absolutely necessary.” And, he has added, “After all, quite a lot of people have been apart for two weeks without getting a divorce!” Laughingly, the Duchess has told Intimates that the Duke's determination to join her at once when the news from Korea got =... bad has greatly upset her Christmas shopping plans. “He made up his mind to leave in the middle of the night and didn’t bring some Christmas presents I'd left for him to bring,” the Duchess has said . . . S38 : “I got my Duke back but not Ig my Christmas presents!” And so she has been elbowin through New York crowds and traffic doing some of her Christmas shopping over, One of the Windsors’ friends §§ asked the Duchess whether she i§ might—as is often rumored— ™™ take a position or go is Busia,
“HEAVENS!” said the Duchess. “Doing on 3
“Oh, in fashions, or perfume, or something like tn & “I think T have enough of a job right here!”
answered Her Highness, es
And she Indicated her lord and master who smiled and nodded. They're looking forward to their fifth Christmas together in America, and, after 131; years of marriage, have convinced niost of their friends that this greatest romance of our generation will continue for many more
The Duchess seems to be entering more into American life. She met the other day, with Elsa Maxwell and others at the Park Sheraton to discuss plans for a benefit for the U, S. Marines. The Duchess will make some appeatances for it.
BE
Americana By Robert Ruark
NEW YORK, Dec. 22—There is a proposal afoot to insure the draft deferment of bright boys, or juvenile double-domes, and to that end we understand Congress will be asked for money for a million “aptitude” tests in the close future. This would put a life-or-death premium on
The poor. genius who does not attend college would not be con- E sidered for exemption. In some E
groups, it would make sense to take them
: Party Is ‘Best Ever’
wondered the firm and strong couldn't hands'in te “same for mutual hap ess ER PR be Ph le
bring good bodies that didn’t tremble. . The auditorium darkened, and voices offstage sang a carol. In front of the stage were approximately 50 boys and girls tree,
different sections could be heard the metal hand crutch being moved, or a brace snapped loose.
® ¢ . THE CHORUS sang as a prelude to the tableau of the story of the first Christmas. Five singers rose. and gathered around the ‘piano. Two girls were on crutches, On the stage was the manger scene. Then followed the scene where the Three Wise Men arrive with gifts. Probably the most impressive part of the tableau was the adoration scene of the Nativity. The chorus began to sing, “Oh, Come Let Us Adore Him . , .” when two tiny figures appeared from the wings and made their painful way to the Mother and Child. If it wasn't for the fact that the boy and girl were students of James E. Roberts School, you would be inclined to be a lige angry with the persons who cast them for @ The impact of the two handicapped children, together with the beauty they all created with song and story, was tremendous. For the first time in a long, long time, it was difficult to keep the eyes from filling. With the arrival of Santa Claus, however, the tempo changed. Santa was greeted with a great shout and high-spirited squeal. He patted many a head and rubbed curly locks. His hand was grasped and his beard was pulled. Some of the smaller and more excited children found themselves in his arms for a moment. Without a doubt, ‘the Roberts School Santa was tops. He didn’t come in with that so-called hearty chuckle. Santa came in and flung his arms out as if he wanted to hug everyone in the room. His gestures, his friendly mingling, didn't appear forced. Teachers helped with the distribution of the gifts, Well, at least there is goodwill to children even if there is no peace. Maybe men of goodwill can attain peace on earth one day. Thanks, kids.
Windsors Laugh Off All Reports of Rift
The Duchess has been but very lightly touched by the onrushing years but in occasional chats with friends she refers to herself and the Duke as “the old folks.” “The old folks aange once in a while,” she says. ¢
MOST PEOPLE, seeing her for the first time are amazed at her youthful look, but she says self deprecatingly, that she can imagine people looking at her and saying, “You mean that he did it for HER?” She laughs and says it would: be fairer if, instead they said, “What a nice-
- looking old married couple!”
The Windsors live cozily at the Waldorf in a suite lent them by the widow of Lucius Boomer, the late president of the hotel. Every morning, Cosimo Stravallli of Long Island City, Queens—who is known as “Gus” around the Waldorf barber shop—comes and gives the Duke a shave. Gus finds the Windsors democratic. He tells them about Italian dinners washed down by chianti until they're both hungry. Gus’ Santa Claus anecdote about his small grandson, in .fact, is the former King of England's favorite story just now. Gus’ grandson saw two Santa Clauses on 5th
- Ave. and naturally expressed his skepticism about
the whole Santa Claus idea. ¢ © 9 “OH, THAT other one is Santa's assistant,” explained Gus. “I thought so,” said the grandson. “That other one doesn’t look very good.” : \ The Windsors will go quail-shooting near Tallahassee, Fla., late next month, may go to Palm Beach, and possibly in the spring to their ranch in Canada. Then they'll return to France .. . world conditions permitting. ® © o
TODAY'S BEST LAUGH—EImer Reilly asked Taffy Tuttle if she liked Duncan Hines. Said she, *‘I don't know. I never dunked any.” ¢ & ¢
THE MIDNIGHT EARL—Eddie Fischer—the year’s best new crooner took his Army physical Tuesday and was scheduled to go into the Miami Copa Thursday. . . . The Kefauver Committee’ll reportedly question press agents. . . . Top Hollywood Agent Johnny Hyde, 54, great pal of Al Jolson who fell ill after Al's death, died in Hollywood. . . . On “Who Said That?” Oscar
__ Levant said Sen. McCarthy kicked Drew Pearson
in a strange place. “That's right,” said Faye Emerson, just in time, “in the Sulgrave Club.” . + « Betty Brainerd McClure, widow of the late Harry McClure of the Syndicates, now a publicist was operated on ‘at Roosevelt Hospital. . . . At’ Eddie Moran's housewarming, hé gave presents to guests. I got 3-in-1 “Oil.” . . . A columnist now has bottle trouble. . . . Doc Rockwell was tagged for more TV shows after his good showing with Fred Allen. . . . Sir Benegal Rau was dining at Quo Vadis. ‘ ¢ & o ALL OVER—Magda Gabor’'s 3d may be Brazillan steelman Candido Rengel; whom she'll sqgon join in Rio. The Gabor Sisters and mother gave a huge party, to which they fearlessly invited the most beautiful women in: town. Newly married Ernie Brooks maintains two can live as cheaply as one—if both work. . . . That's Earl, brother.
Doubts Elite Brain Corps Can Be Created
80, the less special privileges involved in it, the better. We had too many ‘‘essentials” in the last one. Washington was leaping with politically connected - youngsters with no particular cerebral endowments, while many a genius slept in the mud and toted a Tile. a
IT SEEMS to me that the basis of preference in a manpower muster would be physical acceptability, age, state of economic MHability as determined by dependents, and possession of professional or scientific skills beyond the demand of the military. x For those who qualify, in the right physico-age , an
rts School Yule |
- ~ Hs
=
IT WAS Christmas Day,
when it presses with all its creature. On that Christmas Day,
calm otherwise than by the which were there to remind
some, this was certain, until
violin, half of the strings of missing, another was relating Christmas- tales to his comrades whose attention was riveted upon his words. This was Timofey, the Thief, as he was called, who declared that he had never been so happy as in prison, because there at least he had food, and clothes, and had a roof over his head, luxuries which at times during the course of his adventurous and criminal life he had often been without. This Timofey was considered as something like a hero in the prison. He had not killed anybody, but he had taken a part in so many hold-ups and robberies that his reputation had preceded his arrival in the penal settlement, where he had immediately assumed a preponderant position by virtue of his past misdeeds.
o ” = I WAS LOOKING at all the shaved heads around me, and wondering what I could do next, when a deep sigh aroused my attention. It came from a fellow sitting a little apart from the other prisoners, all by himself, a fellow who was known by the name of Illia the Fool. He was a new-comer, and it was his first Christmas in the prison. His nickname had come to him, because of the complete indifference which he displayed in regard to everything that was going on around him, and of his dumb docility not only before the guards, but also in complying with the many requirements of the other convicts, who tyrannized over him, and used him as a kind of man of all work, saddling upon him those tasks of the prison which no one cared to perform, such as to carry out the pails and so forth. ; - He was about thirty years old, a short, rather stout fellow, blind in one eye, with a face deeply scarred by smallpox. He had committed a murdef, and was servling a life sentence, but he had never been heard to complain about it, nor to imply that his sentence had not been a just one, but seemed to have accepted it, as something that was due him, and this was what had earned for him, at least partly his nickname of “Fool,” which Timofey had been the first one to give him.
“ ” # »
ON THIS Christmas afternoon, Illia the Fool appeared to me to be different from what he was on other days. For one thing he had sighed, and this I had never heard him do before. There was such bitter sorrow in the sound of that sigh, moreover, that it struck a soft chord in my heart, and made it ache as it had not
nearer to the man and ventured to ask him of what he had been
ticularly sad. _“Oh, you could not understand it,” he replied. “I was only thinking of my small Wassia, of my little goat. What has happened to Wassia? This is the only thing I would like to know. Oh, if anybody could just tell me where is Wassia and whether Wassia is happy and well cared for, I would ask nothing further from God, or from His Saints!” “Who is Wassia, will you not tell me?” I enquired, that he would mention the name of a brother or a sweetheart. He looked at me, replying with an accent of surprise, “why, I have just told you, Wassia my little goat.” : 8 = ” 1 STILL did not understand, but not wishing to grieve the poor
By FEODOR DOSTOEVSKY
had been brought to the Dead House. The convicts had been granted a holiday in honor of the occasion, and dispensed from work, which after all is not such a great favor, because it is better to work than to think, and what can one do but think when one’s hands are not busy, and what can ‘be more dreadful than thinking, when this means the remembrance of other times and other days, and what tormentor has ever been able to evade the agony of thought,
quiet, while its inmates were whispering to each other in hushed tones, as if afraid to break this silence ‘and this|
clinked whenever they made a movement—these chains
them that their misery was still going on, and would go on for how long... none could tell or, remember. But for
from the burden of their doomed existences.
- = THE CONVICTS, free for a few moments from the per- 2 petual watch kept over their movements, were lying or # ) sitting on the large wooden platform on which they slept at night; and while one’ of them was playing softly on a
done for a long while. I drew)’
&
the second Christmas after I
dead weight upon a human
the prison was very still and
noise of their chains which
the poor wretches who wore
death came to release them
e Indianapolis 1
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1950 :
which were either broken or
3 re
I asked him if he would not re-
“It is Christmas Day, and per-
you told your story to someone who could sympathize with you,” I added. “I will tell you, Little Pigeon,” he said at last, “I will tell you, although I have never yet told it to anyone before; there are days when one must speak or one will die.. You see, Little Pigeon, I never had a mother. I was found lying in a basket—a baby just a few days old—Dby the gravedigger of our village in the churchyard, when he went to dig a grave for a woman who had died that morning. The gravedigger was a good man and he took me to his home. #” - 8 “THE SAME afternoon, the priest baptized me and they gave
had been on the day of Illia the
Since no one knew who were my parents, of course people thought that my mother had never been married, and had abandoned me out of shame. ‘ “As I grew up, the older boys laughed at me and taunted me with my disgrace, until I used to think sometimes I hated them all. But still I was not unhappy; you must not think that I was unhappy, Little Pigeon, because it would not be true. The gravedigger was a good man, his wife,
me too much or too often. 3 8 - #
years old, God sent them a little daughter. I loved that child so much, so much.’ Anisia she was called, and I used to watch over Anisia while her mother was out in the fields working. I rocked her in my arms, drove the flies away from her face, and led her by the hand when she began to walk. “Then one day when a big dog wanted to bite her because she had teased it, I threw myself before her; you can see here, Little Pigeon, where’ that dog bit me
fellow, who was in real misery, |
late to me the history of Wassia. ia)
haps it would soothe your grief if!
me the name of Illia because it,
me some clothes, and did not beat
“THEN when I was about ten
-
as
on his arm. “Anisia was all the world to me; when I was twenty years old and she was ten, I used to take her on my knee and to tell her when she was grown up, I would marty her. A neighbor heard me
mother, who scolded me and said that I must not say such things
wrong ideas into her head, because she could never become my wife. But still I went on saying them to her, only I took care that no one should hear me. I
loved me and would always care {for me.
A Christmas ;. Story
instead of her,” and as he spoke, he raised the sleeve of his shirt, ing when she had seen it in the and made me look at a deep scar.yillage. It was such a pretty little
7
Ap I
\
seemed to feel it,
when unable to attract ! tention that I had to take it my arms to comfort it. would weep together, thought that at least mained one being in the ri who cared for me, to whom. could be useful. :
if
pate!
~
bo
was going Lent, I felt that not been there, 1 would gone down to the thrown myself in it. . = . “WELL, time passed, the sums mer was over, and the harvest
Anisia came to show herself to me in all her bridal finery, with quantities of red beads around her neck, and a nice red handker-
= chief tied around her throat.
Foma ha¢ a new pair of boots
bought. for the occasion, and. a new pink shirt; and everybody {said that they were a comely’
“Before she went away husband's isba, Anisia came to me again, and told me that she would leave me Wassia to take care of; and in saying so, seemed to imply that she was conferring a great favor upon me. Perhap she was. Who knows! te “Well, Little Pigeon, I hardly. ever saw her afterwards, and Wassia was all that was left to me. My little goat! It did not mind my one eye and scarred face. We used to sleep together on the straw in the barn; it would put its head upon my shoulder, and lick my face with its tongue. ” I was happy then, Little Pigeon, because I could imagine that it was Anisia who was kissing me. os H o 2
“WELL, this did not last long.”
—jhe went on, his voice trem
goat she had admired one morn-
white thing, we called it Wassia, {1 used to take care of it and to {feed it, so that Anisia had no trouble whatever with it, but only played with it when she liked.” { ” e
” "ME STOPPED for a moment,
| . etic Prophet that I had been found. one day, and told my foster iyo tears gathering in his one eye,
then asked me, “Are you sure I
to Anisia because it was putting | do not bore you with my story,
ittle Pigeon?” “No, no, go {because by that time I had become intensely interested.
“Well, time went on; at last really thought then that AnisiaAnisia was grown up; the boys
{began to hang around her, and {the women to say she would soon be married. She was the beauty of
” LJ 8. “WELL, Little Pigeon, one day tne place, and Foma, the inn-
{after I had worked hard in the gee h t also, was a good woman who! flelds and got very wet from the, Pes, Who was fepuled 10 he the cared for me, gave me food, made Tain that surprised us on our way was constantly seen with her and I became Ill, "and the|ganced with her at all the harvest feldscher who was called to see festivals to which she was bidden. me said that I had caught small-
pox. He took me away to the
home,
hospital in the district town.
useful to her. “After I had scraped a little
present for Christmas—a little
money together, I bought her a|
ceased to caress or play with it. ithis time was quite an old guat,
thinking, that made him seo par-| 2.4
|
Butler Drift Queen and Her Court
on” I replied, Ww
‘richest man in the whole village,
“This did not please me, because I knew that Foma was a good-for-nothing “After I had recovered, my face been in many I i haa was what you see it to-day, and always coming out of them by I had lost the sight of my right some trick or other. I tried to eye. I was not an object for any warn Anisia, but she refused to girl to like to look upon, and was listen to me, and at last became wise enough to know it. So when |véry angry with me, saying that I returned home, I did not say she would never speak to me ‘aoe. any more to Anisia that I wanted again uhless I stopped talking to marry her; I only tried to|about Foma. I could see that she please her, and to make myself was quite changed. She did not care any more for Wassia and
“So that poor Wassia, who by
“obey, teeth, “Wassia—who can tell me
she wanted to have Wassia back, to take it to her own cottage play with as she used to do when she was a little girl. By that time I knew that she was not as happy as she had expected to be with Foma, but this was not a reason why she should want to take Wassia away from me, had nothing else but this ‘little animal to make me happy. re “I begged her to leave me the goat, I said that she not know how to take. care of it, that
g
g
me the animal, but she refused to listen to me. sik “She laughed when I told her that Wassia was all I had left in the world to remind me of her, She laughed and said that her husband wanted Wassia, and that she was going to take it away ‘lwith her and give it to her husband! “Then, Little Pigeon, somes thing went over me I had never felt before. I happened to have an ax in my hand with which I had been chopping wood and—I killed Anisia!” ! And a deep sob shook his strong frame.
“FOOL, oh, you Fool, where are you?” called a voice from the other end of the room, where the convicts were all talking as loud as they could now that their at. tention had been diverted from the sadness of their own lot the stories Timofey had been ts ing them. Seer “Fool, Fool, where are you one of the prisoners cried out again, “Come over here, you are wanted to empty the parascha.” “lI am coming, I am coming,” responded Illia as he rushed to murmuring between his
what has become of her! lis Wassia?”
State Employees Help Children
The White Hat and the Long Beard were rivals for the spot. light before 2000 underprivileged Indianapolis youngsters at the Statehouse this morning. Gov. Schricker and Santa Claus
annual Christmas party given by
the Each received a pr ent and a to take home to the folks. coupon is re-
ideemable at the grocery for
{complete Christmas dinner.
than $3000 was uted by Statehouse employees to finance the annual o
A Christmas Carol
y
ng) 4 pel Fd SE AER Calan EAE fart 3 \ EE A a Xaragu JEST
to her
state employees in the lobby of . Statehouse. =z
'