December 23: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
ON THIS DAY IN 1915, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “A very small and bright-eyed baby of two weeks, or maybe more, for she had reached the ‘noticing’ stage, lay in a small carriage in the glare of a show window of one of the big shops on Fulton street, near Flatbush avenue, for about two hours last night. The natural impression of the passersby was that the mother was inside, shopping, but the hour for closing the stores came and there was no appearance of anyone who might take a real motherly interest in the small person. The baby carriage was of the collapsible sort, but the baby was tucked in carefully, and there was a swans-down white blanket over her, daintily trimmed with blue, which kept her snug and warm. An unknown woman, who had been naturally curious, said it was a ‘shame.’ ‘What’s a shame?’ asked John Bredelman of 183 DeKalb avenue, who came along then. ‘Somebody’s left that baby there for two hours,’ said the woman. ‘I bet it has been abandoned by its mother. Won’t you get a policeman?’ Mr. Bredelman went to get a policeman and a crowd gathered and tried to keep the wee thing interested in the ordinary idiotic way of grown folk by ‘goo-gooing’ at it. Patrolman Imperiale of the Adams street station was found and he decided to wheel the small person to the police station. There she was turned over to the matron for attention and artificial refreshment, and a careful examination was made of the clothing. After the little one had been rendered comfortable, she was taken to the Cumberland Street Hospital, but in view of the fact that the place had been quarantined, she was finally sent to the Kings County Hospital. The police took charge of the baby carriage and they are looking for the mother who set her baby adrift in the world.”
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ON THIS DAY IN 1923, Eagle columnist Frederick Boyd Stevenson wrote, “‘Peace on Earth. Good will toward men.’ More than nineteen hundred years this message has gone broadcast throughout the world. No message ever came before that brought such peace — that brought such good will. This message came from one upon whom millions of men, women and children have looked as their saviour. They have looked upon him as the son of God. He Himself said: ‘I and my Father are One.’ These were the words of Jesus Christ. Those words were true or they were false. If they were true when Jesus said them they are true today. If they are false today they were false then. There can be no half-way ground. Christ was the true son of God or Christ was an impostor. That is the sum and substance of the whole distressing religious and theological controversy taking place today and which, by introducing doubts and fears, wavering beliefs and hesitation among many who are weak and many who are uncertain in their faltering steps, has cast a cloud upon the glorious breaking of another Christmas Day — a cloud of sorrow and disappointment even for those of the faith.”
Brooklyn Boro
View MoreNew York City’s most populous borough, Brooklyn, is home to nearly 2.6 million residents. If Brooklyn were an independent city it would be the fourth largest city in the United States. While Brooklyn has become the epitome of ‘cool and hip’ in recent years, for those that were born here, raised families here and improved communities over the years, Brooklyn has never been ‘uncool’.