The Story of the Chistrmas Ship Author:Lilian Bell General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1913 Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million book... more »s for free. Excerpt: CHAPTER V How Washington Led Off weeks after the Christmas Ship idea was taken up by the press of the United States, it is safe to say that the thought of the world turned to the work of our children. For once in their lives they stood in the limelight of the universe. In Washington the greatest enthusiasm was displayed from the first. Little children, whose parents were prominent in the social life of the nation's capital, decorated their pony carts with flowers and paraded the streets, advertising their interest in and their loyalty to the Christmas Ship. "Ministers, big business men, and officers of charitable organizations in Washington," said the Washington Star on September 10, "are unanimous in their praise of the spirit which has prompted the influential newspapers in the United States to send a Christmas Ship, laden with toys, to the war orphans of the embattled nations of Europe. "That no nobler idea, and none conceived in a spirit of purer Christianity and good will has ever been placed before the people of Washington and the entire country, is the declaration of one and all. And that such an opportunity perhaps has never been offered to the boys and girls of the United States, as well as to their elders, for the doing of a work of kindliness, friendliness, and genuine good will is the further affirmation of many of the national capital's most public-spirited men. "The Reverend James Shera Montgomery, pastor of Metropolitan Methodist Episcopal Church, said to-day: 'The severities of the war fall most heavily on the families that are bereft of fathers, sons, and brothers. I want to give ...« less