For Sale: A Billion Christmas Seals

For Sale — A Billion Christmas Seals By A. Schaeffer, Jr. Few persons realize the magnitude of the annual Christmas Seal Sale. Looking at a single seal, it is hard to realize that it is only one of a billion and a half, which had to be printed a whole year in advance of the Decem- ber sale. He who sees in the tiny symbol merely a gay scrap of paper, a yearly reminder of an obligation to be met more or iess grudg- ingly, is missing out on one of life's finest experiences, losing the conscious joy of having a share in one of its greatest achievements. For the Penny Christmas Seal, pledged to the wiping of the tragedy of tuberculosis, has come to be a virbrant, vital force not only through the month of December each year, but through all the other months as well. Think of the power of it! A tiny seal that costs but a cent. Strange weapon with vfhich to fight the greatest of all disease foes, and yet in its apparent insignificance lies its great strength. For even a child can buy a seal. Even a child can share in its great work. Does not much of the power of the Christmas Seal lie revealed in that casual phrase. If th? seal did no more than to impress on the child mind its message of "health for all." would it not be doing something great, something tre- mendously well worth while? But the seal does far more than that. It is building in the present as well as for the future. The annual Christmas Seal Sale calls into action a great band of volunteers who make a whole-hearted contribution of service that cannot begin to be measured in dollars and cents, even though it represents so vast a sum in money value alone. Think of what it means to have this army of influential men and women taking personal charge in their various communities of the raising of funds with which to carry on the fight against tuber- culosis and all preventable diseases. Think of its educational value! Here is a civic service of the highest type, service more far-reaching than can ever be told or known. It is a tremendous job which the Christmas Seal finances, and no one group can carry it through successfully alone. It has a bearing on, a relation to, every effort that contributes to the building up of a community and state, for success in the fight for better health inevitably means better home and work- ing conditions and a healthier, happier citizen- ship for the future. What Is Your Boast What is your boast for deeds your sires have done, What their renown? What is your claim — their scion and their son, Till, likewise, deeds of valor you have won And handed down? What is your right to genealogy Of ages gone — Your pride in genius and gentility, Till you, the tptal and finality. Have added on! What is your vaunt of kindred and of folk — However good, If the weft and sinew of the oak. You have renounced your title to evoke A finer wood! Mesa, Arizona. BERTHA A. KLEINMAN