From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for Dec. 20, 1915:

• “Every Lawrence woman who is interested in relief work for European war sufferers is invited to attend the meeting tomorrow afternoon…. The need for help along all lines, is far more urgent than was at first suspected, and it appears that there are several ways in which real help may be almost immediately given…. In a letter from Mr. David Willard, international field secretary of the National Civic League, which he writes from Paris, he says: ‘There are not enough relief organizations to cover the ground. The distress and lack at the front, as I am now learning it daily, is beyond words.’ In the hospitals all over Europe there is a shortage of all manner of bandages and dressings…. Mr. Willard speaks of ‘a hospital without sheets, where, under the dying, they put newspapers, as a luxury, when they could get them,’ and of a young officer, who lay dying: ‘His mother and sister were summoned, and the destitution in the hospital was so great that they were obliged to remove and tear to pieces their linen underwear to get enough cloth to cover his wounds.’ This is not a tale of yesterday. It is a tale of now!… Hospital supplies may be made right here in Lawrence, sent directly to New York free of transportation, and shipped to Paris – sterilized, and distributed to a thousand different hospitals in the various warring countries where the needs are most immediate…. ‘Now here is work urgent and practical which the women of Lawrence can do, and the meeting on Tuesday will clear the way for immediate action,’ said a member of the local committee today.”
• “Is Lawrence satisfied to have within its boundaries a ‘bad lands’ in which men and women run about flourishing and using firearms? A murder, a shooting and an attempted shooting, all in one small section of the town within eighteen hours puts this question rather pointedly to the people of Lawrence. Other murders and other shootings have happened there within the past year. The condition is rapidly growing intolerable. It is up to the city officials to take the necessary steps to put a stop to open and flagrant lawlessness.”
• “W. F. Pratt, approaching the age of 18 and his blushing bride-to-be, Margaret V. Bissel, age 17, both of Topeka, appeared before Judge Lindley of the probate court Saturday afternoon and demanded a marriage license. A little doubtful, the judge waited until letters were presented from the parents of both the children before issuing the license. They were married later by the judge.”
• “Mayor W. J. Francisco today issued a call for a meeting of the two committees in charge of the music and arrangements for the municipal tree…. The municipal tree has been selected. It is a pine tree standing apart from others about 100 feet north of the band stand in South Park…. Twelve towns in addition to Lawrence have taken up the municipal Christmas tree idea this year and will hold public exercises.”