4 1—K ”l Wh‘ , ““““ ‘4' ' \ u.“ .“\\ i EVENING SENTIN NORWALK'B FIRST NEWSPAPER SECOND SECTION NORWALK, CONN., WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1925. PAGES 1 TO 16 is Norwalk’s Poor Youngsters Appeal To You To Be An “Alias Santa Claus” This Christmas and Help to , Dispel The Gloom Which Otherwise Would ~ Cloud Their Little Lives On The Day Of Days »When Happiness Should Reign Was It You? me i N two little rooms on a tenement floor "‘31 .. i 1955' Lived two little youngsters, their mo- ” mother was poor; But loving her children, asmost mothers do, She worked very hard the whole year through, With victuals and clothing to keep them supplied, And to earn the rent money, since daddy had died. The night before Christmas, with head close to head, These two little kids, cuddled close in their bed, ' Had said, “Do you think he will find us up here—- And fill up our stockings the same as last year?”— And sure that he would they had said their good night To mother, who sewed by the flickering .. gas light. She choked back the sob that rose in her throat As she took from the chair the little brown coat, And noticed the patches ‘so nearly worn through, \ By which she had tried to make it like new. Each week of the month she had put some- thing by, ' Théiugh it meant for herself everything to eny. In hopes she could get a suit for the boy, A dress for the girl, a doll and some toy. She hadn’t succeeded, the tears filled her eyes As she thought of the morn, the children’s surprise, ‘ On waking to find not a sign anywhere Of Christmas—how different when daddy was there! But listen, she hears in the dark hall below A footstep-tip-toeing, so cautious and slow; It creeps very softly upstairs to her door, It stops, there’s a knock, a sound on the floor 0f bundles dropped down, and again steps in flight As a voice calls out low—“Merry Christmas ——good night.” She looked at her children, no sound had they heard, N 0 sign as they cuddled that sleep was dis- turbed; _ She opened the door and there tumbled half in Three mammoth red stockings crammed full to the brim ' With food and with clothing, and toys of the kind . That children just hope in their stockings to find; - A doll that looked out with wide open eyes As if it were waiting some girl to surprise. Oh, yes, there was joy when these little kids knew That Santy had found them, and mother laughed too As she sat in between on the edge of‘the bed, Ant: heldped them dig down in these marvels 0 re . ’ 'And somewhere or other, just where I can’t say, A man grinned and chuckled all through Christmas Day As he thought of the stockings he left at the door _Of two little rooms on a tenement floor. W. H. MATTHEWS.
Norwalk Chronicler