Richmond Palladium (Daily), Volume 37, Number 30, 9 December 1911 — Page 13

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BICHMOKB . PAIXAJMIJM f1 Two AND SUN-TELEGRAM.

RICHMOND, IND., SATURDAY, EVENING, DECE3IBER 9, 1911.

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Che 4Q!tfe of the ChHtma Spirit

HE Cynic said there was no Christmas Spirit; that it had long since dragged its moth-eaten wings into

the realm of forgotten lace, said tke Cynic, was tke Spirit of Custom, tke Spirit of Commercial-

myths. In its pi

!im, tke Spirit of Barter.

To prove it, he set out to search tke fabled haunts of the Christmas Spirit, for a glimmer of its raiment or a flutter of its wings. He entered first a home of the Very Rich, where the holly wreaths in every window, suspended by a superior quality of satin ribbon, seemed to say: '"Within is the Christmas Spirit. At this joyous season are we privileged to share of our abundance with those less fortunate. Therefore we rejoice." Now, within the home of the Very Rich the Cynic found a table laden with gifts about 'to he sent off by the butler. There was a costly vase for the Titled Cousin; a rare edition for the Richest Relative ; a choice antique for the Valuable Business Ally ; an order for twenty-five Christmas dinner baskets, to be delivered by the chauffeur; and a Christmas check, of tkousands, for tke Endowed Hospital for Working Girls, witk wkick to meet tke increased expenses after tke koliday rusk tkat always filled tke Hospital witk tke Aorking Girls employed ky tke kead of this very house of the Very Rich, and by the Business Ally. The Cynic smiled, with ironic satisfaction. Verily, the Christmas Spirit dwelt not there. So into the seething shops, on Christmas Eve, the Cynic crowded, though fearful that here, where all the world was gift-buying, he must surely come upon the forsaken Spirit.

'He beheld jostling, fretful, wild-eyed crowds,' stampeding counters of mussy trinkets behind which foot-sore, dull-eyed, karassed clerks prayed they iii i iif .1 xvr

would. De aeaa oeiorc anorncr iricrry varuiEuo. And tke Cynic laugked and laughed, until tke spectacles fell off kis long, lean nose. It kappened, as ke was leaving tke shop, that he saw a woman with a shawl over her head, crying j softly in a corner. He heard her say that she had' lost the dollar with which she meant to buy a doll

for Mary and a drum for Peter. Presently he saw another woman, shawl-headed, too, go up to her and crush into her trembling hand a dollar bill. "Sure, an' I just picked it up, its that same dollar you were after losin! Bless you, don't be tkankin me for only pickm of it up!" The Cynic knew that it was not the lost dollar bill that the woman had placed in the other's hand, because he had seen her take it from her own lank, worn purse. And seeming to hear the soft rustle of wings, the Cynic followed her out into the street and to the vcty'i door of her tiny cottage. ' ; Through the window he saw a strange group gathered about a scrawny Christmas trac. sparsely decorated. There was, besides the three children of the belated hostess, the onelegged man who peddled papers in the building where she scrubbed, the lone widdy woman next door, and the child whose mother had been arrested the day before for shop-lifting, forlorn waifs gathered up in a warm embrace of friendliness. v And lo ! when the woman he had followed entered the room there entered with her, luminous, the forgotten Christmas Spirit! And he saw that after all it was only the Spirit of Kindness with a holly wreath around its neck. Wow, nobody knows wky, kut a tear fell off tke long, lean nose of tke crabbed old Cynic wko stood outside tke cottage tkere, in tke cold.

The Christmas Edition of the Palladium is the first local holiday shopping guide issued this year. In this section the man, woman or child who does not know what gifts he or she wants to purchase for friends or relatives, or what gifts they want for themselves, can obtain the most valuable suggestions, through the advertising of the local merchants. No more complete lines of merchandise than those carried by local business houses can be found in any city in this section of the country. This issue also contains interesting and instructive art pies on gift-making, hints for Christmas dinners, ,Chri$t- ..... - - ' . '-Wk mas customs in foreign lands, etc. - ' - ' V ! '