We are no longer at the Harlem Hospital Clinic, and I keep wondering if my beloved kiddies will be taken care of at Christmas time, or whether they will be neglected. I miss them very much. Each year we have a tree at our new clinic, distribute gifts as hi the past, and extend our good cheer as far as it will reach. But my heart goes out to the dear ones we have left behind in that other clinic.

I shall try to paint a mental picture of our last Christmas with them. Little Patrick had been coming to us for eight weeks or so before Christmas. His difficulty was in seeing the blackboard in school. His teacher had sent him to us for glasses and offered to pay for them herself, as was explained in a note which Patrick had with him. He was such a dear little fellow, and one of the best behaved boys in her class, she said; his family was very poor, but they were good people, and for that reason she wanted to pay for the glasses.

On Patrick's first visit, Dr. Bates examined his eyes and said he was near-sighted. With the test card his vision was 15/100 with each eye. He did not like to palm, but he kept his eyes closed for over half an hour as he was told. On that day his vision Improved to 15/20, which was unusual. I told him to rest his eyes by closing them often every day. The second week in December he read 15/10 on the test card with each eye.

When Patrick was told to come for his Christmas gift -- and perhaps an orange with some candies -- he begged for permission to bring his baby sister and three brothers. I believe it was an unselfish thought on his part, because he could not very well accept a gift when his sister and brothers had none. He was invited to bring his family to the Christmas party, and when I saw him that day he was radiant with smiles.

Our room surely looked as though Santa Claus had left his pack there. In one corner of the room several dozen dolls were arranged, waiting with their arms outstretched for the little girls. An operating table was loaded with games and toys for our boys. Large Florida oranges, enough for every one, both young and old, filled another cctrner of the room. Cornucopias, decorated with tinsel and filled with candies, were hung all about, a pretty sight to see. Dr. Bates, himself, arranged them on the windows and screens, and wherever they possibly could hang. The doctors and nurses from other clinics of the Harlem Hospital came to our room and admired the arrangements. Dr. Bates was very much excited about it.all, and his face lighted up with smiles as the children and adults entered the room. He watched the expressions of the little ones, and his heart was filled with joy, because his clinic family was so happy.

For several years it had been our pleasure to greet Dr. Neuer in our room at the Christmas party. It was his delight to take one of the dollies and go from room to room, displaying that doll with alt the joy of giving. Children suffering with tuberculosis, of whom many were cured by him, were never forgotten at Christmas time. When his eyes began to trouble him he'came to Dr. Bates, and was cured without glasses. He did not mind In the least standing with the rest of our clinic patients, and when Dr. Bates invited him to his office, he said the dispensary was good enough for him. Shortly after our last Christmas party there, he was taken seriously ill with pneumonia, and died. He was beloved so by the poor that we know they will miss him, for he was a good Samaritan. He gave his life for his best friends, —his clinic patients.

For ten years I have watched the happy faces of girls and boys at Christmas time. Tired mothers, with sick babies in their arms, also received their share of useful gifts. Dr. Bates, though he was always busy, found time to hand eac,h of his patients a gift, and to wish them a Merry Christmas.

Bridget, the Dispensary scrub woman, who had heard some weeks before that our patients were to have a treat again, decided, all of a sudden, that her eyes needed treatment. Just to please hen we prescribed some harmless eyedrops, for there was really nothing the matter with her eyes. She was big, fat, and good-natured, and walked around as though she owned the place. Bridget wanted to be our patient at least until Christmas time, so we allowed her to fool us.

On the day the gifts were distributed, a colored woman brought her little girl to be treated for an Infection of her eyes, and was waiting to be attended. Instead of being pleased at all the pretty toys she saw, she looked very sad and downhearted. After Dr. Bates had treated the little girl, he sent her to me for a dollie. The mother begged me not to give her one, because she had two younger children at home who would not have any Christmas on account of their poverty. The little girl was taken care of by me, while the mother was sent home post haste, to bring the little brother and sister. She returned with her brood, and the tears came to her eyes when a doll was given to each of her girls and a mouth-organ to the little boy. Mother's arms were filled with oranges and candy, and there were no more tears. This little family had always been well provided for while the husband and father was living, but he was killed while at work, and the mother, being In 111 health, found it very hard to keep her family together. Before she would accept a gift from us, I had to convince her that she was not accepting charity, and that real friends were merely sharing their gifts with us at the clinic.