Wagoner County Record (Wagoner, Okla.), Vol. 23, No. 18, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 24, 1914 Page: 2 of 8
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WAGONER OKLA RECORD
Bringing the Holiday
Spirit to the poor
SOMETHING USEFUL FOR XMAS
Sold at the best atom
id most ©yerywhere If
yonr dealer cannot
supply we will gladly
- assist yon Illustrated
folder on request
Is E WATERMAN COMPANY
178 Broadway New York
t
IT IS a question whether the
families helped or the work
era helping them get most
joy out of the Christmas dis-
tribution A real settlement
worker one imbued with the
right spirit will tell you that
i only one who has visited the
homes of the poor and the suffering on
Christmas eve can realize the pleasure
of bringing happiness and sunshine
Into these homes Many settlement
visitors who have given up the work
for some reason or another but who $ '
return to assist with the Christmas
distributions give generously from
their own purses that the baskets may ‘ ' MUf£XPECTr£ ArTA CiAiAJ
be larger and more families aided
Wealthy women
Wio have never
-done settlement
work enter Into the
Santa Claus spirit
)id visit the alley
and tenement 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 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 lit-
tie 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-
visions in a house In ignorance of
another 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 bur-
dened with good things for the one
family
This is 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 as-
sist and all go over their lists care-
fully together
Although the Christmas giving Is
all cut and dried a few 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 1 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
to travel and are putting up a 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 with sur-
prise for they generally make It a
point to go where they are least ex-
pected i "The poor are always with us" Is
doubly true at Christmas time Fam-
ilies who can barely exist who &
not know where the next day’s breed
Is coming from can certainly not af-
ford any extras for the holiday sea-
son They consider themselves 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 Tears of experience have shown
her how to use tact and good 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 - "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 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 merry-
making they can at least forget old
'TELEGRAPHESE’ BEST TO USE
Correspondent Finds English Lan-
guage to Be the Tersest In
Europe
Which language makea the best
telegraphese? At so much a word one
might hasten to say German because
of its purvly typographical device of
sticking a number of words together
to look like oue compound wvri Wa
really do exactly the same thing In
English only we print the elements of
A PEAL O VfASrfAJ PEUiO1
grudges and let bygones be bygones
shake hands with their enemies and
wish one another good luck
How many reunions and reconcilia-
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 be-
come softened as the holidays draw
near and it isn’t uncommon for the
settlement worker to find them 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 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 Christ-
mas prayer of a broken-hearted 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 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
for him to do It His fearlessness and
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 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 pro-
visions The mother had Just finished
telling her story to the sympathetic
listener when this latest prodigal 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 recom-
pense me for the work I did This
woman’s husband was In the peniten-
tiary serving an 18-yeir term for mur-
der It appears that he and a com-
panion were working In the cranberry
bogs They quarreled and In a 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
In any shape or form There would
have been no Christmas celebration
the compound as separate words But
In International telegraphing there Is
a word length limit (or as the Ger-
mans would print a wordlengthllmit)
Ten letters Is the maximum allowed
for a single word Any word longer
than that counts aa two or as three
— if it gets beyond the second ten aa
some German words do
When it comes to counting letters
or making np Intelligible' telegraphese
English It seems la the tersest lan-
guage in Europe An Italian news-
paper correspondent baa lately discov
In this home and it was a delicate un-
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 chil-
dren who were more than delighted
with their new toys
children never had toys and I have
brought them their first playthings
In one case there were two children a
boy and a girl Peplno and Mechalmo
Their father died when they were
babies and the mother supported
them She had come to this country
a bride and was not well versed with
the American way of doing thlngu
She did not even know how to make
a rag doll for the children We
brought those children a small tree
decorated it and gave them plenty of
toys Words couldn’t tell the happi-
ness of those little ones
"There Is more pleasure in the work
than you would Imagine We see many
sad scenes sorrow and joy mingled
together but we also find much to
amuse us Last year we took a
I 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 meV
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
dollars and she would joyously sing
the ‘De Lord be praised’ and again
she would be sad and mournful and
moan ‘De Lord be praised’
"Finally her husband who was un-
able to leave his chair lost his 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: ‘Yov’ll have
to excuse her ladies for she has 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
right one
“I have witnessed many reconsllla-
tlons 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 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 grate-
ful for the playthings
"I will never forget my first Christ-
mas visitation It was my Initial 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 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 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 she was too proud to let
them know of her poverty Her hus-
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 chil-
dren and left an order to have coal
sent there immediately It Is impos-
sible to tell how grateful that poor
i woman was"
ered this In telegraphing news from
London to hla paper in Italy At the
beginning of the war he used Italian
Then when all languages except Eng-
liah and French were forbidden he
took French Later finding that
French though accepted by the post
office seemed to cause delay he
changed to English and to hla sur-
prise be finds that be is saving quite
a lot of money in telegraph fees owing
to the superior brevity of the Eng-
lish language as compared with
French or Italian
COLONEL GOETHALS as civil
governor of the Canal Zone
has adhered to he policy he
maintained during the engi-
neering work in the region
that the isthmus shall he a game
preserve and the zone is proving a
rich field for naturalists Several
months ago H E Anthony accompa-
nied an expedition to the zone and in
the American Museum Journal he
writes interestingly of what he found
there
It was expected says Mr Anthony
that faunal conditions in the Canal
Zone would be undergoing abrupt
changes because of the damming of
Gatun lake and the consequent ex-
tensive high water From a basin
with - ho lake worthy of the name
with standing water confined largely
to marshy areas except during the
height of the rainy season the Gatun
region - has been transformed by the
huge dam at the locks into a lake of
164 square miles in extent and a depth
of 70 to 80 feet in many places
Animals 'Seek New Homes
This flooding of ground formerly
high and dry It was anticipated
would drive many animals to seek
new homes or might even threaten
some of the more restricted lowland-
living animals with extermination In-
cidentally many of the islands and
ridge crests left above water -might
have a concentrated fauna driven
there from the adjacent flooded local-
ities Other phases of the question
dealing with the newly created lake
were the wiping out of the lowland
forests by submergence the rise of
new aquatic flora such as the water
hyacinth and the probable inhabita-
tion of the lake by water birds Such
were some of the items in the purpose
of the expedition and we were
equipped to take advantage of these
new conditions if the foregoing as-
sumptions proved correct
As Gatun lake was the center of
investigation it was planned to work
NewIX FLOODED FDRESTa
from a houseboat as a base camp with
a launch and small boats for side
trips Late afternoon of March 6 saw
us leaving Gatun with the houseboat
and by three o’clock the next morning
we were tied up at the head of a wa-
terway or trocha that branched oil
from the Rio Trinidad This was our
main camp and we hoped to be abl9
to work the undisturbed jungle from
here
“Black Howler” Monkeys
It was at this spot that we made
the acquaintance of the largest of the
Panamanian monkeys the “black
howlers” Frequently their queer
booming roaring howl echoed through
the jungle a call that carries for long
distances They howl oftenest just
before or during a rain storm and the
natives thus look upon them as weath-
er prophets Upon one occasion I
stood almost nnder some trees through
which a troop was passing while the
first big preliminary drops of a sud-
den shower pattered upon the leaves
about me Tlie volume of sound that
Issued from the black shaggy throats
was 60 great and so suggestive of a
large animal a lion for example that
I found it hard to reconcile myself to
the actual facts I felt a pang of re-
gret at silencing one of the "howlers"
but as a specimen was needed I shot
one of the foremost and heard him
crash through the limbs to the ground
Pangs of a more effective sort were
experienced when my native boy and
I attempted to retrieve the monkey
for he bad fallen underneath a bees'
nest the size of a bushel basket and
we found the nest too late to avoid It
Other Interesting mammals encoun-
tered here were the pretty squlrrel-
llke marmoset the ahort-halred ant-
eater and several species of opossum
while we were continually wondering
at the variety of the bird life and the
diversity of the bird songs and call-
notes The noisy parrots that shouted
In the morning until the jungle rang
with their tumult the grotesque tou-
cans which at times vied with’ the
parrots the calling of the parrakeets
and the peculiar choruslike calls of
the chachalaca or “wild turkey” pro-
duced an Impression that must ever
be associated with jungle memories
At night mysterious noises were heard
from unknown Bources and one weird
laughing call In particular caused con-
jecture to run rife there being as
many opinions as there were listeners
Besides the work done on the Rio
Trinidad several long trips by launch
wefe nfade up the Rio Chagres one as
far up the river as the launch could
ascend and two others up the Rio
Chillbrillo to some limestone caves
for bats
Jungle Almost Impenetrable
Whenever one left the waters of
Gatun lake the dense unaltered jun-
gle was at once encountered and no
matter how much Its beauty was to be
admired from the boat Its impenetra-
bility was no less to be deplored It
was useless to attempt to leave the
trail without recourse to the machete
the long brush knife of Latin America
and many were the varieties of briers
and thorns to be avoided Once into
the thick growth of the Jungle the
hunter found It necessary to stand
minutes in one spot in order to look
Into all the arboreal nooks and cran-
nies so many were the possibilities so
many the great orchid-covered limbs
and wide branching trees and so loath
to move the denizens of the jungle
The orchids and epiphytic air plants
were very abundant and became so
heavy a burden at times as to break
down the limb or even the entire tree
that harbored them and sot infre-
quently I witnessed the downfall of
some tree overburdened In this man'
OK THE Rio TRINIDAD
ner once Indeed warned by a pre-
monitory cracking I was forced to
move with considerable speed to es-
cape a flying limb
Mosquitoes the former bane of ear-
ly canal days were found but spar-
ingly Even outside the district of
government patrol we were bothered
but little by them although we were
told that later during the rainy sea-
son they were much worse A few
spots were encountered where mos-
quitoes were bothersome thus arguing
a local distribution The ticks and red
bugs however made np in diligence
for any slights we might feel we had
suffered from not being met by mos-
quitoes The jungle everywhere
seemed to harbor these pests and they
did all they could to make life miser-
able for us Ants also were found in
abundance and it was fortunate In-
deed that our camp was a floating one
and thus cut off from Inroads of these
nuisances One species of ant In
particular will be long remembered by
two members of the party for It stung
with a venomous vigor never equaled
by any bee and made the victim im-
agine he had been struck by a snake
at least
Concentration of animal life bad
taken place at the rising of Gatun lake
and most of the islands formed had
many inhabitants at first The Gatun
Hunt club however soon reduced the
population of these Island by nuntlng
them with hnands and as the quarry
In most Instances could not leave the
Island the result was a clean sweep of
all the larger species
Harnessing a fly to a tiny wagon an
English scientist found it coaid draw
170 times Its owa weight
DEFIANCE STARCH
is constantly growing in favor because it
Does Not Stick to the Iron
and it will not injure the finest fabric For
laundry purposes it has no equaL 16 oz
package 10c 1-3 more starch for same money
DEFIANCE STARCH CO Omaha Nebraska
IT A VTPH to bear from owner of good fans
“r 1 LL for sale 8end desorption and
for sale
NiImm Ag— SjltARlMSsrsHsMI—
price artk
LITTLE CHANGE IN MANKIND
(Scientists of Opinion That Dispersion
and -Separation of Races Was
Not Rapid Process
Though It Is conceivable that man-
kind may have spread from a common
center over the entire earth In a few
thousand years Prof Arthur Keith In
a Birmingham university lecture has
pointed out that the discoveries of the
last 60 years clearly Indicate that the
dispersion and separation into widely
separated races has not been a rapid
process
The inhabitants of the lower Nile
valley though Immigrants have ar-
rived among them show clearly per-
sistence of the old types for 8000
years The permanence of human
types has been also shown In Amer-
ica and a human skeleton of Yansing
Kan found at a depth of 23 feet In a
glacial deposit probably dates back
12000 years
The men of England of 6000 years
ago had the modern stature with the
form of head and strength of muscle
of many men of today Professor Keith
declared that his audiences had rep-
resentatives of the men of the Derby-
shire cave in America the red In-
dian preserves the form of men who
lived before the last glacial Invasion
and the predynastlc Egyptian survives
in tribes on the Red sea
Coinage
In the fifteenth century a skilled
coiner of whom there were but few
might he able to turn out by hand
fifty or sixty coins a day a result to-
tally inadequate to cope with the vast
quantity of treasure chiefly silver
that shortly began to arrive from
America To multiply coiners was to
multiply forgers and thus the coining
machine became a necessity of state
A laminating mill and screw coining
press was Invented in Italy 1547
Spain 1548 France 1553 England
1561 reign of Elizabeth After sev-’
eral trials and abandonments the mill
and press were established perma-
nently under Charles II whose golden
guineas struck In 1662 were the first -regular
issues of machine coins mad
north of the channel
A Pleasant Way to Help
“Mamma’’ lisped the cherub whll
a smile of seraphic sweetness illu-
minated his baby face “do you know
that sometimes I help Catherine’
mamma?”
“That’s nice” prompted the proud
parent “And what do you do to-
help her dear?”
“Oh” replied the cherub “when '
Catherine's naughty I punish her”'
— Youth’s Companion
Perils of Bathing
"There’s nothing I enjoy more than
splashing about In the ocean”
“I once got a nasty cut that way"
“How did It happen?”
“I slapped a tomato can”
MESMERIZED
A Pelaonoua Drug Still Freely Used
Many people are brought up to be-
lieve that coffee is a necessity of life
and the strong hold that the drug
caffeine in coffee has on the sys-
tem makes it hard to loosen its grip
even when one realizes its lnjurtou
effects
A lady writes: “I had used coffee
for years it seemed one of the ne-
cessities of life A few inonths ago
my health which had been slowly fall-
ing became more impaired and X
knew that unless relief came from
some source I would soon be a physi-
cal wreck
“I was weak and nervous had sick
headaches no ambition and felt tired
of life My husband was also losing
his health He was troubled so much
with indigestion that at times he could
eat only a few mouthfuls
“Finally we saw Postum advertised
and bought a package I followed di-
rections for making carefully and
added cream which turned it to the
loveliest rich-looking and tasting
drink I ever saw served at any table
and we have used Postnm ever since
1 gained five pounds in weight In
as many weeks and now feel well
and strong in every respect Mr
headaches have gone and I am a new
woman My husband’s indigestion
has left him and he can now eat
anything”
Name given by Postnm Co Battle
Creek Mich Read "The Road to
Wellville" in pkgs
Postum comes in two forms:
Regular Postum— must be well
boiled 15e and 25e packages
Instant Postum — Is a soluble pow-
der A teaspoonful dissolves qulcklr
In a cup of hot water and with cream
and sugar makes a delicious bever-
age Instantly 80c and 60c tins
Tbs cost per cup of both kinds la
about the same - I
"Thera’s a Reason” for Postum
—sold by Grocers
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Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Foster, George H. Wagoner County Record (Wagoner, Okla.), Vol. 23, No. 18, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 24, 1914, newspaper, December 24, 1914; Wagoner, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1721607/m1/2/: accessed May 12, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.