Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, December 12, 1909, Page 41

CHRISTMAS ee——————————— PART SEVEN PAGES 1 TO 812 THE OMAHA SUNDAY BEE. FOR ALL THE NEWS THE OMAHA BEE BEST IN TRE WEST VOL. XXXIX-NO. 2t HRISTMAS is almost at hand and the spirit of Yuletide cheer already here. One can feel it in the air—can read it on the face of the passerby. Thoughts are turnjng to the selection of gifts—each one to add to the cheer of the time. If only these thoughts could be converted into action. If instead of thinking of selection the great pub- lic were buying now. How the Yuletide cheer would swell and grow, until every clerk—every delivery boy in every store in the land would rise up and call the Christmas shop- per “‘blessed.” Now is the time to do your shopping—now «hile the stocks are fresh and clean. e Now while the stores are yet uncrowded and the “air is pure. OMAHA, SUNDAY MORNING, DECEMBER 12, 1909 SINGLE COPY FIVE CENTS. ‘Early in the Season and Early in the Day Your Biggest Gift to the Workers Behind the Counters and _On the Delivery Wagons Now while the clerks have the time and spirit for courteous and smil- ing service. It is to your advantage to do your (Thristma};_sm)pping early. Your choice is better—shop service is better—you are surer of satisfaction in every way. Make your shopping motto ““‘Early in the season —early in the day.” Make this your gift, the most welcome one on earth, from the shopper to the worker. Just as surely as you do you will do your part toward banishing the cruelties of a time which should bring nothing but joy. 3 Picture 2 moment the usual late Christmas rush in various shops, which has grown to such propor- tions in the last few years. Think of the seething crowds of nervous people —irritable—tired of body. Think of the workers—girls with aching bodies and pale drawn faces—paying tribute to the demands of a thoughtless people. Step a moment back of the scenes. Think of the shipping, the packing, the wrapping and delivery forces working in feverish haste to the very limit of human endurance. And stll further back think of the candy makers, toy makers and box makers, whose health destroying “overtime’” work follows the belated or- ders of the late Christmas shopper. Think of this tumult keeping up until o'clock Christmas eve. And then for another moment think that all of this could be so easily avoided by a little thought and foresight on your part. Is the world, indeed, heartless and inhuman ? Is it only heedless ? Does each individual buyer imagine that his nec- essity differs from all others and that he alone is justi- fied in his late buying? Does one impulse of pity for the worn-out shop people visit a single breast ? We wonder also what the simple Workman of Nazareth, if He looked down here on things below, would think of the manner in which the most en- lightened of nations celebrate His feast. Is it consist- ent with the spirit of Christmas expressed in the words Peace on Karth---Good Will Toward Men. eleven