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THE MACON TELEGRAPH: SUNDAY MORNING, DECEMBER 18, 1904 g|r"r» d. - MSI HI 'REV AJVD GREEJV K pjj DIJVJVER TARTIES PII II £§z Christmas I Vw KATE CLYDE’S YULETIBE COMMENT |j| \\] T HIS Is the time of the year to five red and green dinner parties. This bright color scheme Is most suggestive of Christmas and Christmas week. It can be admirably carried out with ropes of evergreen in which are imbedded tiny red electric bulbs which glow like holly berries. The common Iron candlestick may be transformed for Christmas week into a thing of beauty by winding A dlicuHflon 6y the women. It with holly and mistletoe. Whsn each of these Is surmounted by a red candlo and a red shade the effect Is charming. But now that my presents are nil bought and out of the way. I can’t help indulging In a few thoughts not com mon to Christmas, nor. for that matter, to any season. Gstting ths Habit. It Is wonderful what rreaturea of habit we are and how short a time It takes to form a habit. For Instance, If you get Into the Idem that you need u lot of sleep the first thing you know you are sleeping, all the time, and you haven't a chance to do anything. A certain philosopher said recently, “The human race cuta and sle<i»* too much." Well, there’s a good deal In that. Would you believe that men spend more time In sleeping than women? They seem to require it. A woman will stay up ev ery night until 1 or 2 In the morning and yet not show It at the end of tho week, while a course of action like that would kill a man In no time. Perhaps there Is one good reason for this—wo man can go on her nerves In default of real physical strength. And man doesn't seem to have thAt second self to full hack upon. He needs the real thing; he needs sleep. At a holiday dinner party the women wers discussing the strenuous and the simple life. The majority thought that the simple llfo Is the monotonous life, and I’m afraid that Is true. Possibly, after all. those of us who lead strenu ous lives do so mnlnly becauso ws choose to. We could If we wished cut It all out and live simply by the plain ex pedient of doing without things. But would we be happy? Wouldn't we miss the toot and scramble, the excitement of “getting there?” Theory and Practice. In tho third act of “Becky Bharp” Becky gives vent to * soliloquy which has a touch of pathos, not to say trag edy, in It. Hitting before tho fire after a dinner which has Indorsed her re cently gained social poult Ion, she bit terly voices her fatigue and her dis gust nt the unending labors of the so cial climber. "Why." she exclaims, "the flesh of tny face aches from smiling!" Her voice Is tired uttering compliments, sho Is weary of everything; she would like to go away—anywhere to get rid of It nil. Yet when Rawdon Crawley, her big, simple minded husband, proposes that they go to live In the country and give It all up Becky recoils In disdain. “What!” sho exclaims. “Rats and cheese and kisses!” Well, she knew the simple life was the monotonous one, and she did not dare to try It. I don't think that people born ener getic can stand the simple life. It would drlvq them mad. They want to be In tho whirl of things making their way, fighting If necessary, and In cer tain moods the more opposition the merrier. Where Is the thrill of a game where all caay? It’s pleasure when you h n v e brain to pit Its cunning against that of other brains and let tho best one win. And there Is so much In the world! We hear ••r*« lluk •< m, /or, rn,l ' inl I’lwMItl* tchu." womankind wasting Its years away In the dullness of a monotonous, oppressive household. Well, patient, plodding womankind haa only itself to thank for that. The Drifters. At the dinner party last night most of the men—finely alert men they were, too -united In praising the strenuous life, the life that crowds all It possibly can Into the twenty-four hours. Rut the opinion of the women was voiced by a gentle faced, gray haired matron. Hhc said: “I think the average life is a mo notonous one. It seems to drift that way.” “Yes,” agreed another woman who embroiders very prettily and spends u good deal of her leisure hours that way. Rut I felt like npswerlng, “If your lives aro monotonous you have only yourselves to blame.** Of course I didn't. What was the use? I honestly believe It, though. The uverage woman after marrlugo slumps both mentally and physically. If she didn't allow herself this luxury she would have enough to occupy her, and her life wouldn't be monotonous. There Is nothing like progression. Once the microbe of progression gets hold of you it gives you the most fas cinating feeling In the world, a feeling you can’t get rid of until you die. You always want to bo doing things you never did before, to be moving on. ' I think there are only two things very much to be dreaded In this world— sickness and stupidity. Given good health, a strong brain and passable looks, and all men aro kings and all women are queens if they choose to be. .v A Household Economist. My eurs are full of the plulnts of an energetic creature who tried to enamel n set of drawers for a Christmas pres ent. Oh, me, and also oh, my! She will hardly try lfagaln. Sho splashed the floors, she splashed the wall paper, she tracked the stuff all over tho rug, and as the climax her week's laundry fell In a crumpled pile against the new ly painted side, so that every article received a fine, beautiful spot, some of them, by your leave, In the most un likely places too. For twenty-four hours sho attempted to dry that urticle of furniture. The more she tried to quiet It the more it wept, until towurd the end It reminded one of nothing more than a respectable chiffonier Im mersed In pnlc colored soup. Let me give a piece of advice to tho amateur Interior decorator. Leave the enamel ing of largo pieces severely alone, es pecially In white or light colors. It Is no work for a nervous person, which Is perhaps the reason why Swedes make the best enamelcrs and house painters. am sure I never saw an excitable Italian who was much good at the Job. Wicker chairs enamel beautifully. Any one can do those and picture frames and bamboo articles, but be ware of thinking that because you can accomplish those little stunts you have graduated Into more advanced work. 1 think the chief requisites for suc cessful enameling are a dry surface and a smooth one, also a, brush that Is soft and sheds no hairs. It Is all up with you if your brush sheds a single hair, jmd don't flatter yourself that a sec ond coat will hide imperfections. That is just what It won't do. With enamel paint tho first coat is the test of suc cess. My advice is, don’t do It at all. Have you noticed the new shade which is becoming co fashionable? Is the deepest sort of a deep red, a cross between garnet and claret. Vel vet suits of this material are ultra chic. One I saw recently had its skirt plaited into a sort of hip yoke and was then allowed to fall In graceful folds. The short blouse pouched over a wide crush belt trimmed In the back with five cut steel and gold buttons. A narrow vest effect ran down the front. This was composed of a tiny pale pink frill ing and one of cream white. The sleeves were In the shape of the fash ionable double puff, than which nothing is more up to date. The long cuffs were trimmed with black silk braid, and this odd touch was also to be observed around the collarless effect. The copper shades are going out Just as fast as any shades can go out. After all, it was a hideous fad, and this range of bilious colors always depress ed me in every shop where I saw.lt. Box coats of fur are smarter than anything else this season. In fact, the fur garment pinch ed In at the waist seems to be a thing of the past. It might as well be. for, no mat ter how pinched In, It never gave its wearer any- rried tQ 0 $ e t ot thing but a drawer». “chunky” look. Those who cannot afford fur coats will doubtless avail themselves of tho sensible style of fur lined coats made of cloth. Unlike tho parvenu who or dered her cloth coat lined with price less Russian sable, these garments are simply lined with gray and white squir rel, although some of them have fine collars of mink and marten. They are Ideal for driving or snowy weather, and In white and pale gray they are used even for evening coats. Now that we have reached Christmas a fur lining to the evening coat Is almost a necessity. The clever girl this season can easily have a fur hat. The shapes are so sim ple, merely little boatlike affairs that any one with ordinary skill can make. It really Is not half so hard as It looks, or, what is more to the point, as the milli ners would have you believe. But, then, as one milliner said to me, “If women keep on succeeding in making their hats we shall have to go out of busi ness.” But we can’t help It, can we, when fashion demands that we have a hat to match every gown? Let the milliners charge less. KATE CLYDE. New York. A PAYING INVESTMENT. The value of quartz ledges at Nome has been demonstrated by Mrs. Charles Lane of San Francisco, who bought a prospect on a creek two years ago and put ten stamps In operation. She has now returned nearly half a million dol lars better off on her transaction. "Busiest at Christmas Cimc Mrs. Patti Lyle Collins DEAD LETTER EXPERT ABOUT this time of ysar Mrs. Patti Lylo Collins Is uncom- MmJk monly busy even for her as M m. she sits nt her desk In the dead letter division of the United States post attire department at Washington. This Is the season when Christmas package* are lost in the malls for want of proper addresses. It Is tho season when little children In all parts of the Union write letters to ftnnta Claus. There are thousands of letters writ ten to Santa Claus every Christmas that Santa Claun never gets. The Bute ones, In Implicit faith In the saint who brings holiday gifts, write letters of this sort: Desr Ssnts Claus-Pleaae bring me that * ran really cry end with thet cen wink. NKLLII3 JOHNSON. Then Kelllo puts her letter In an en velope, addresses It simply “Santa Claus,” shoves It Into a letter box nnd waits. Not so many boys as girls k'rlte letters to tho saint, but every* now and then a boy, too. will write: Dear Santa Claus-Please don’t forget to bring me a pair of skates for a Christ mas present. ART IB DHNBON. It is sad to think how many of these childish litters are never answered because Banin Claus never gets them. For some of thfl children of poverty who write them there never was. never will be, any Hanta Claus, and these most of all It Is sad to think of. The letters must cause many a smile that Is not all u smile to flit over the face of Mrs, Collins, the dead letter office clerk, to whom these missives are MRS. PATTI LYLE COLLINS. assigned. It must be, too, that there is no smile at all upon her comely face as she turns tho letters to Hanta Claus Into the wastebasket to be burned, for It would he sheer cruelty to return them to the senders even were this always possible. Children are not the only ones who send vain Wishes out ui>on tho unknown at Christmas time. It Is not likely there Is In the civilised world today, an Individual who excels Mis. Patti Lyle Collins in the deci phering of Illegible chlrogrnphy and defective letter addresses. She was appointed In 18*0 to her place as ex pert |n the dead letter office at Wash ington. Every dpy from each of the lurge cities of the Union Is sent to the Washington office a lurge package of letters for which no owner cun be found. In some coses the address Is wrongs again, It Is so Illegible that no body can make it out. and. again still, the person who should have received It hue gone away from the place to which It Is sent, and the present address is unknown. All these missives are over hauled at the Washington dead letter office, A doren clerks go over them first. Those that are easy to take care of uro disposed of at once. The i that iio brain cracking on the part of the ordinary clerks Is equal to are given to Mrs. Collins to decipher. The dead letter office la called the blind” division of the department, and Mrs. Collins Is known as tho “blind reader,” or reader of the so called blind letters. In the nearly twenty-five years during which she haa occupied her present post the department has not been able to find any expert who could till her place. To begin, Mrs. Collins had a liberal education, especially In languages, for which sho has a.natural gift. She la a southern woman and hns traveled much, noting ruee characteristics, go far as the need* of her work go, she la acquainted with every tongue except Russian and Chinese. Comparatively little Russian script comes under her eys, and Chinese letter writers, with the carefulness of their race, usually address letters In both their own lan guage and In English, so their missives •eldom go wrong. Most of the eputtes finding their way o the dead letter office are written by I'orelgntra Ignorant of English or by ;he few native Americans who aro *qunlly Ignorant of their own language. •Air Instance, a letter Is turned over to Mrs, Collin* addressed to an individual it “Lacey Jane.” Kan. Would anybody except one In whom the sixth sense Is I developed know that this means “La 1 Oygns?” Or, again, could anything 1 'hurt of downright Intuition compre- | hend that “Tossy Tanner,” Tex., was meant for Corsicana? It may be that behind all we name the Intellectual faculties Is one supreme ^ower ws may cell ths knower, which nherea In ths soul and cognises always whatever cornea under the notice of the •hysleal senses. Thus beyond all re membering. beyond all forgetting, sits hla “knower,” ready at any moment to irlng the necessary Information Into he field of human consciousness. It ally that consciousness can receive It n the case of Mrs. Collins there seems to veil between the knower and the onsdousneea. If once she looks at the wime of a place or person the knower rises the word and holds It ever after, md the ledy never “forgets” it, apeak- Kf after the manner of the fieah. She emu locate any street, except its A NEW OBSERVANCE OF CHRISTMASTIDE. affectionate thoughts which, some say, put out upon the ether, take actual form in delicate and radiant flowers of kinds unknown In the sphere of externals. There are those who say they havo in rare visions seen these flowers floating about the heads of those who habitually send forth good will and affection to all mankind, known and unknown. Who knows whether it may not be so, for the human race has only just begun Its up ward climb from tho animal toward the Intellectual and spiritual. We celebrate Christmas because the Founder of the Christian religion was born on that day. The new departure in Christmas observance may well be gin with tho Inauguration of the uni versal good will and harmony which that Founder above all things else en joined. It Is ill fitting that the day which heralds peace on earth, good will to men, should be marred by ono thought of anger, impatience or self ishness. Ill fitting, indeed, is it that among a race destined for the loftiest development such thought should mar any day of the year. The golden age will be Inaugurated on our plnnet when we obey the very greatest Injunction of the Christmas born Teacher whom w* vainly Imagine we are following: new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another.” KATHERINE BLADES. WAIST OF GERMAN FLANNEL a.riroin flannel embroidered to look like band work I, tbe very smartest ot the winter material, (or ahlrt walatn. The walat Illustrated la ot thl, flannel In • check, of black with eoloro darned In on a champagne aurface. It I, atmply plaited back and front and baa the new bishop sleeve with a droop at the elbow. name be one ot the most common. In any city ot the United States and many In foreign lands. Some ot the thlncs she does seem supernatural, yet they aro not at all so. They are only Ihe re sult of uncommon natural gifts. Ion* training and painstaking work. Once a woman In England wrote to the post master general at Washington asking hint to And her brother who thirteen years before had migrated to "Maau- rhuaelts, America.” Her brother's trade was mentioned by tbe English woman. The postmaster turned the letter over to Mrs. Colima Sho reason ed that a man with the trade named would probably be In a manufacturing town. On this idea s/ie worked till at length she actually found the man him self at 4 Harrington street. Lowell. Mass, and Immediately reported bis whereabouts to the sister In England. year passed away, and another letter came to the dead letter office from the sister In England. It went to the dead letter office because It merely bore on the outside the brother’s name, with the address. “4 Barrington street. United Slates of America." It. too. waa handed to the "blind reader," and the moment she clapped eyes on It she re called the man In Lowell. Mass., had the letter forwarded to him. and h, re ceived It duly. The woman expert examines 1,404 dead letters dally, and ot these 45 per cent aro forwarded to the persons for whom they ere Intended. For many years It has been the custom of Mrs. Collins esrh year to take a brief sum mer trip overseas for recreation. ALICE W. MORTIMER. \ SMART CHRISTMAS BLOUSE. The blouse Illustrated Is one ot ths smartest models of the season and Is happiest In effect when carried out In ono ot the fashionable shades ot flno T HE custom of gift giving at Christmas has been overdone till It became a tax so great that there has been rebellion against It. In the cities letter carriers were over worked for two weeks. Mall packages due on Christmas day many a time could not bo delivered till a week after ward. Instead ot being a season of Joy lo mall service employees Christmas tlmo was the period of tho year to which they looked forward with dread. Expressmen and their horses were worn out and on duty all hours of the night. Even the ladles of the rich class, who could obtain whatever they desired for presents, were frequently made 111 with tho shopping and tho heavy work of getting ready for the great Christian holiday. Being So overdone, the gift giving custom partially fell to pieces by Its own weight. In fashionable quarters for the past year or two It has baen proclaimed that “It Is no longer good form to give presents to ony but mem bers of one's own family and to depend, enta." Even elaborate and cumbersome Christmas cards have gone out. mere visiting card bearing good will and the good wishes of the season art a sufficient token that we have our friends and acquaintances In mind. The overdone Christmas gift custom had reached the point where It fostered greed In tiie vulgar minded. And It Is astonishing how many of the vulgar blinded there are at Christmas time. Where they should have been grateful that anybody cared enough for them to give them any present at all the vulgar minded grumbled because the gift was not valuable enough. Again, Christmas giving had come to be a matter of "swup." It Mary gave Jane a pair of gloves one Christmas Jane felt bound next holiday season to send Mary some, thing a little more valuable than Mary's gift had been or Incur the suspicion that she was “a stingy thing.” Often times Jane could not really afford this, so was obliged to do without something she herself needed very much In order lo give Mary an article which probably Mnry did not need at all. So It Is well that the heavy old Christ mas giving Is going out. But there Is something that this poor human race In alt the millions of years it has been tn existence has never yet had enough of, something that, though It survive a bit lion years more. It never will have too much of. That Is pure good will and at. feetton. Did you ever think how very little manifestation of genuine sympa thy and sincere friendly Interest then Is among tbe human race? Somehow—heavens knows how—an idea obtained, especially among English speaking peoples, that expressions of affection In a family an weakmlnded, even silly. Fathers put out around themselves an atmosphere of sternness, mothers were cautioned against "spoil Ing" their children by too much tender ness after they had passed babyhood. So it came about that Just at the time when growing boys and girls most TO WORK FOR WOMAN 8UFFRAGE needed all the manifestation of affection Lady Cook has come to America from their parents could bestow they were London to work for the ballot for wo- face cloth. It Is made plain on th, shoulder*, ths becoming fullness being supplied at the waist line. Braid forms a simulated bolero, and the little waist coat Is fastened with handsome Large buttons, which also trim the shoulders, cuffs and bolero. An enormous square buckle fastens the girdle. left without II Members ef families formed the habit ot being brusque end blunt to one another, of snapping rudely at one another. So were extinguished the tender and men tn this country. She Is wealthy and popular In London society. She —HI remain In the United States the preeent winter, making her headquar ters tn New Tork city.. POINTS OF INTEREST TO WOMEN. pt, a grandniec* of the lean be taken down and conwysd to any dent. Is a gifted stnxer jetty desired. comic opera. I Wo have oar friendships, our affee- •tken of Brooklyn U the It Ion*, ©or Interests in each other, but drtve n four-in-hand it our rent lives we must live by oorstves. 0bt boa won numerous I Hchopenbauer believed that anas In* rows In New fork. I hertt their Intellect from their mothers, iction of Mrs. Leslie Car* 1 If so, this does not always mem flatter- “Ad re a,” at Washington 1 Inc to the mothers, re ia being built. This I Ceuntam Aberdeen, president of the Thotua fir! of Vs International congee great executive ability • MU public speaker. Her la remarkably clear, h. Lawson, dam an of Boston, Is . Bhe t« an exr d has five who a few years ago married the inev itable foreign nobleman and Is now su ing for the Inevitable divorce. Don't take the world Into your con fidence either about your trouble* or filter of I your family affair*, a pretty) The Rev. Charles Wagner, author of *«rt rider j “The Simple Life," when flaked his M of her I opinion of the woman who Justifies her (luxuries on the ground of giving poor n A mer I -1 people work s*td it was the duty of n woman | every or.t to abend money In a creative way—that Is. to make It produce some useful thing. But he thought It a crime against humanity tq aee money ta grat ify use!re* fancies Mrs. Elisabeth Connolly 0 f Philadel phia. who recently adopted a little rtrL says. "It seem, a shame that there should bo children without any homes when others have room u> take them in If they would." learnings are Insufficient to obtain tho minimum n,r,se,rl.» for the mainte nance of merely physical efficiency or whose total earning, would have been I sufficient for tbe maintenance of merely [physical efficiency were It not that some Rome portion of It waa absorbed by other expenditure, either useful or I otherwise.” I Miss Josephine Roeg of the Mermaid,’ Swimming club, London, is the beet . r-enproteulonal woman swimmer In England. Bhe haa several medal, for Ufo saving and baa won a number of silver cups. In Gloucester. N. J. n bachelors' club has been organised as a protest against hasty marriage. A One will be Im posed on mouthers who promenade the street* with or talk in public to women I not of their own kin. So 'tl* mid. ! Bhe—You will think me very rude to be eo Inquisitive? He—Oh, r.o. i shall | think you very ladylike.