We had a lively time at the clinic last Christmas season, 1924. Many poor souls were made happy at that time, because of the generous contributions received throughout the year for the clinic fund,

I still keep up the old custom of telling a Christmas story to my younger patients. Every time they come for treatment, I tell them to palm their eyes, and then I try to improve their memory and imagination, which always improves their sight. It is necessary to remind a child of pleasant things, and what is more wonderful to the child mind than a Christmas tree laden with toys and candies? While I am treating boys and girls at the age of twelve or older, I talk about ice skating or sleigh rides, hills of snow, the pure whiteness of the drifts, or I tell them to imagine they are making snow balls. This helps to improve their vision for the test card and relieves tension or pain. Young men and women who work in shops usually find it a benefit to Imagine that objects about them are moving all day. I tell them to blink slowly, but constantly, and shift their eyes while blinking. This stops the stare which causes so much body fatigue. If I have had a hard day, treating the most difficult cases, I find it a great help to palm and remember some of my childhood days. I think back to the night before Christmas. Mothers will find it a great help in improving their own sight if they make a daily habit of spending ten or fifteen minutes with their children, palming and resting. Children can easily form mental pictures while palming, especially remembering the Christmas decorations in store windows, the funny mechanical toys, and animals that move about when they are wound up. Recalling or imagining such things, while their eyes are closed, helps to relieve the mind of school studies, which sometimes cauae strain. Adults, especially mothers, listen to me while I am describing such things to the children in the clinic. When it comes time to treat the older patients, I find it quite easy to have them remember how surprised their children were on Christmas morning, when the tree and toys were discovered.

It was necessary to find out the ages of the children •o that we could purchase suitable and useful gifts for them. There were sewing baskets for the older girls, and handkerchiefs, three in a box, for mothers and fathers. For the littli ftrll, wi hid tht *MWt d«UUl which we purchased at a reasonable price. Little boys received games and toys of all sorts, and enough money was given to a mother to buy a pair of baby shoes for her youngest,

One mother, who came quite regularly for several months before Christmas, was made very happy the day of our festival. She was invited to bring all of her children. There were seven and not one boy among them, Dear old Pop from the Blind Men's Home of Brooklyn, was too feeble to be with us, but we remembered him just the same. Good smoking tobacco and some wearing apparel were sent to him and he was overjoyed.

While we were distributing the gifts, I suddenly remembered about the little rich boy who enjoyed a poor boy's gift the year before. I was a little sorry not to have another rich boy at this time. There were a few toys left, and no more boys to receive them. The last little girl had received her doll and departed. There was one doll left behind. She was perched among the lower branches and looked rather lonesome. There waa no one to claim her. I was rearranging the lights on the tree while all was quiet. When I turned away from the tree, I saw a little rich girl from the West, admiring the lonesome dollie. Her mother stood behind her wondering what would happen next. Dr. Bates also appeared on the scene, and when he nodded his head toward the little girl and then the doll, I understood what he meant. Both arms of the little girl reached out for a poor girl's gift. She held that dollie as though It were the only one in the world. I have learned so much about private and clinic patients, and t am glad to find that all boys and girls feel the same whether they are rich or poor. their hearts beat alike at Christmas time.

Many thanks to my friends who make our clinic family happy at Christmas time.