The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1882-12-23 00:00:00

CHRISTMAS AND THE SHOPS.

" What kind of Chriatmas shall we have this year ?"
was the cry on Monday, when the &ukase+ and the
rein made one aim at frantic with the gloom ot one of
the wettest winters we remember for years. Even if
• day's holding-up was vouchsafed to us, it had been
followed by two or three day, of rain or drizzle, doleful
Wimps came ilk of Mid-Somerset drowned, and the
wen not sewn, 1 hat such a series of deluge. should
lest right up to the festivity of the year was enough
to make our tradesmen cautious, arid give the young
folks the megrims, and it was with considerable anxiety
that the show-night was fixed for Tuesday. But rafter
all our fears, the weather was by comparison enjoyable,
for, in place of the showers we remember tramp-
ing our street" in at some Christmases, the
water-fountains of heaven ceased their out-pouring,
and ,though still dirty underfoot were the roads,
Weymouthians turned out in force to see the show.
Even temperance me,titipi must, for once in a way,
give place to what brought out so many hundred' or
thousands of our neighbours, and we make no excuse
for on Tuesday deserting teetotal eloquence in favour of
our fellow-town-dolks' company and the show. For
blue-ribbon meeting, and we may meet again ore
long, the wave of temperance talk le high, and its
eland upon our ears is—to put it mildly—not unf re-
quent ; while Christmas, blessed Christmas, c apes but
ones • year, and, if you don't see the exhibition on
the show night, by next day the me.t will have been
cut down to joints, and the tradeemen be so full of
business that you can't have • word with them, while
all the gild of gaslight will have paled before the day.
so, 'tool temperance friends, axe as our heart may
be, for oace we with • happy meeting at St. John's
while we seek the pleasures of the streets and shops.
To follow the example of our Unmet contemporary,
we take our office as the centre, and the most
important institution in the town, if not quite. as yet.
the hub of the universe.—Our next door neighbour,
Mr. Lundie, goes in for a wad stock of the beat
things, as goodness unadorned, and opposite our
country c mains and visit MI gore with wonder at the
wealth of gold and flashing jowls at Mr. Vincent's.
What do the snored& say? They have risen from
Change" to "Fair" —good news that encourages a
further march.—Crowda are halting opp site Mr.
‘Vheeler'e, as well they may, cousidering the lovely
flowers of Nature and lovelier face, th,t adorn his
windows. Mr. Wheeler has wealth of things rich rand
' rare; but as we have seen his showroom before and
described it elsewhere, we stay not now.—Oot-
, tilting shops are numerous about here, and offer
I clothes enough to cover rich and poor in Weymouth
if only folks liberate the uncirculating medium. A
deep voice at our ear declares "These are all English
geese." Is that • satire on the crowd who are looking
,at Mr. Newport's, or did he mean his show of geese
I and turkeys and game ? "Never thought I should
live to give a sovereign for a turkey," says a well
known local speculator who has done well in land and
other specs.; "but I've done that to-night, and they
wanted a guinea." Well! suppose the bird weighed
201 b., that was only a shilling a p rued, and we shall
hear of heavier and c wilier birds yet.—Acrois the road,
Messrs. Sherren aud SOD, of the Main printing work.,
have windows and cases leaded with valuable Bibles
land allied b Kilts In the richest of biroling., of which
Mr. Sherren is among our good judges. Religious
I societies seem to have made this shop a depot for pure
literature, which is piled up wherever you can see,
and this solid substratum is now garnished with
gorgeous albums, nicknackery for prevents, and kid Is
and out the be mtrful scenes on Clad-Ames cards"
leave you in doubt whether there le aught beautiful
In sceuery, nature, or art, that you may not feast your
eyes on without g dug abroad, by means of the
kaleidoscopic variety of these dainty and handy little
pictures on paper, ivory, gelatiue, and tastefully
decked with good wishes In gold. Further
along, Mr. Bartlett has a bright shop with perfumery,
purees, and requisites for the dressing room.—Mr.
, Talbot is rather solid in his di-pay of drapery; bat
he agrees with the spirit of the times, and marks
everything plain.—Mr. E. Pilgeon's great and
varied stock has pulled a mass of people to a standstill,
so we slip round into Si, Alban's-street, where Mr.
Tigwell is to the front again with prettily covered
Christmas cakes, his own sugar-bakery work, the Royal
dish, • boar's head, in the centre, surrounded by
pretty things and nice. A. table is loaded with cakes
of Jones's patent flour, Shrewebury, pound, Genoa,
Madeira, Scotch, and Savoy cakes; but the most
attractive are three bridecakes, all ordered ler
I happy couples to be. No wonder Mr. Tigwell
is In g 1 spirits to wish "A Homy Chriltmas to
you all; on earth Peace, Good will t ,wards men."
—Another capital shop in St. Alban's-street is Mr.
Humphrey's, ad after all the dainty display, • show-
room inside is added. Here are beautiful plaque"
ready painted for the walls ; illuminated texts t
; beautify a school or any other room and teach go el
words at the same time, photo frames in olive wool,
and M.. 0, nicknacks the !limbo, scheme f a steady-
ing Earth Is shown, the globe resting on an elephant,
the Jumbo on • tortoise, and the tortoise on—whet
you please, it looked like a writing convenience. The
handsome Morocco bound churchservices will be suitable
for ladies who hope to cut bridecakes, seeing that here
they can practise what to say. Bijou inkstands, the
new raised 'ilk flower-work, very rich-looking plush
mats silk fringed are tempting, and the Christmas
C ads are stores of scenery, at home and abroad,
of lake and waterfall, building Of flowers, spring,
summer, autumn and winter, to these yield stores,
and make you aniseed at the variety and beauty et the
dsaigna—Mr. Butt's watches and jewellery, and the
igissures mendable or mended at Mr. liakor'd are
about all we remain t we besides in St. Alban's.
strest.—Yet no! Mr. Dennis's hate and haber-
dashery are lighted by gas that proves hint a friend to
the Consumers' Company. and help the Council in
I their "tight' task. Across in Sr. Mary-street, Mr.
Demise delights the tidier, with beautiful key-chi-Is,
I flowers —glove.,how many things we men ran ii, with-
out on a pinch ! But not without these 11 terry white
blankets he piles at low prices in the next window.
—and now fragments of the last Guy Fawkes' pro-
am .
nion go by • a-mummiag," the band excites and
' draws away the juvenile., an I we can get to Me.
Pideeon's.—The noel Co-operative Stores (Mr. E.
Pidgeon). are beyon I the usual idea of a shop, and
are in the style of the American "store" where they
sell everything, and as Mr. Pidgeon does a business at
low prime for cosh, he certainly has the English
"co-operative store.' lieu, b sides a new and ori.:inal
one for Christmas. He ba, tureel tho interior into •
kin I of Aladdin's palece, with brilliant wealth setting
off the to ethirmie edibles, so that eye and taste may
be please!. We can't count the Chinese and Japaneee
lamps which shed a s .ft illumination, even the gase-
liers are shaded with pleasing tint; and the public
press on the door to admire Of course Christmas
evergreens are tastefully bestowed, but as there are
fourteen departments here, our work is a big one
without chronicling decorations of wreaths. Listen !
you have here groceries provisions, wines, spirits and
ales ; tnedicEet and drugs; perfumery and toilet
requisites ; electro-plate and cutlery (mffte a bine of
, reflection tbey c sat); glass, chins, and fancy goods'
I utilitarian domesticities; brushes, sponges, and
turnery; stationery, huntinz and stable necessaries;
domestic machines fro o wishing t knife-cleaning;
oicotians (cigars. cigarettes and t ,bacco); naval and
military canteen stores. It must be worth something
t ) learn all these rlspar.ments at !dr. Pidgeon's atom.,
for the world won'. let you vegetate in one kind of
work now. The centre table bears cakes of nicest
I tvour, creams, and biscuit', from Huntley and
Palmer, epeeist fruiter for the 118.4.1113 ; behind is a plan
for decorating ho-ne.. forth-. easterners are given a pair
of beautiful asses. ..,her 'bristle,n and a Chinaman
"took to" the stores wonderfully well, and even gave
away price-lists at the door.. looked at from the
ontside, the north widow is 11l of wines and spirit. ;
pudding fruits cram the north-w, at or corner, an 1 the
went windows have dessert fruits to the north and
provisions to the south. In the latter see how the
Canadian. are grainier( on our dairymen in good and
big cheese; but Wiltshire and Westphalia still hold
their place for bacon end hams. Laurel and roses and
" 1,000 useful gifts for la. " appeal to taste and pew:tie
cality, while you may know what to spend, for all are
marked in figures plain.—Mr. W. Rogers' pork shop
was besieged; outside the tat pigs were ranged on a
ill, gaily decked, and inside there was a labyrinth
of beautiful meat, a front line and second being not
enough, so a line of grunter. are on their bellies, still a
reserve line comes behind, and a moneter appeared in
the rear. 'Taal like a idr-show with the giantess
inside, this porcine beauty weighed 600 lbs. or more.
On • beam appeared • row of heads, not like these in
an African hot, but pigs' heals, "tremendous still in
death." If Mr. Rogers ever dreams about a world
where the pigs are uppermost, he wmetal•ep soundly'
hut the decorator who tla Ira le all those wress had such
work that she won't dream at all. Piles of giant
chew, chains of sausages, and delicate French cheeses
are in the window. The pigs came, 24 from Mr.
Thomas Knight, of West MUtes, deserving any