From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for Dec. 17, 1915:

• “The age of faith has not yet passed. In support of this thesis which the Journal-World nails up today, let the Santa Claus letters accumulated at the postoffice be introduced as exhibit A. There is a neat pile of them already in the corner of the postmaster’s desk. Special consideration is shown the Santa letters, for they have a long way to go, you know, and all the resources of Uncle Sam have to be concentrated on the problem of getting every last letter safely to its destination before it is too late. It is possible that even at best some of the letters will get to the office too late to be delivered to the regular address and may have to be turned over to the Elks, who will act as first assistants to Santa Claus. There is not a little faith shown by the postoffice employes also. One letter came in today which was addressed in ‘writing’ of the 2-year-old variety and stamped with a medicine label. A grown-up couldn’t get by with such penmanship or such a stamp, but, such is the miracle of Christmas, the letter will find its way to Santa Claus along with those that are addressed plainly.”
• “The work of laying track for the interurban was resumed in North Lawrence this morning. This afternoon the workmen were busy in the 500 block on Locust street. Bad weather and a shortage of ties combined to cause a lay-off yesterday, but today the sun was shining and the needed supplies were on hand. Every effort will be made to push the track to the temporary terminal by the end of this week.”
• “The [school] board voted to place four standard fire extinguishers in the Manual training building. This protection was considered essential and resulted after the discussion of the recent fire in the New York school. Superintendent Smith was urged to give especial attention to the fire drills. He reported that timed drills had shown that any school in the city could be emptied within two minutes without hurrying or rush that might endanger the pupils…. The question of teaching the children the traffic regulations of the city and the rules of the road in general was discussed and it was proposed that a copy of the ‘Rules of the Road’ be placed in all the rooms and the children requested to read the portion in regard to the pedestrian. A near accident resulting from ignorance of these simple rules has brought the necessity of teaching these regulations to the attention of the school officials.”
• “If a favorable report is turned in by Prof. R. L. Grider, of the department of mining engineering, who is now touring the southeastern part of Kansas in the lead and zinc districts, the extension division of the University may establish a class in mining engineering in this district. It has frequently been suggested to the division that there are many young men employed in the mines in this district who would like to study mining engineering but are unable to come to the University, and if Prof. Grider finds that such is the case the University will take steps to help them get an education.”