Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1867-12-25
(Crresponlence ofthe Beacon
Washington Dec. Ind L

((tTreSDOuGplce OI lIc DcacuH.
Washington Dec. 2-nI. 1867.
A merry Christmas to the Editor and
the readers of the Beacon BY the time
this reaches you, you will be on the eve OF
Christmas dinners and egg-nog and many
sturdy gobblcr~that struttcd IN all his
pride and glory will have behcld the sun
rise for the last time Christmas is be-
ginning here in all its glory. Numbers
are already beginning to exchange whis-
key straight for egg-nog ana apple-toddy,
and few cases of indigestion from eating
too freely Of mincc-pie are reported to the
doctors. This is but foretastc of what
is to come when the mixed drinks and
minneapolis get under full Roadway. The
toy-shops are q blaze of splendor and the
eyes Of the young people are open wide
wish establishment at the piles of pretty
things made to take the money out OF de-
voted mothers pockets and please the
young folks. Toy-sh'2s, jewellers shops
furniture stores, fancy stores, furnishing
stores, all are crowded, and pockets must
suffer and suffer badly One and all are
expecting something, and it is curious to
enter one Of the stores and hear the
strange things called for, from penny
whistle to a five hundred dollar ring. A
few days 3cforel last Christmas, we sawtwo
very pretty girls enter store and one OF
them purchased the most costly revolver
in the house to present to a young gentle
man friend Whether the bail with the
powder behind it Ga Ia Miss Uarris) was
presented or the revolver, we have, as yet,
nrver learned Perhaps the gentleman
came up to the mark, did the thing hand
somely and got both girl and revolver
Many will be the disappointmcnts before
this week is over and many 4 poor fellow,
before the next year is half out, will sigh
deeply for the money he has lavished on
his Eliza Jane, and wish most heartily he
had never seen her on Christmas day,
1867. Many poor fellow, on the other
hand, has been saving for months to pre-
sent to his fond Anastatia hand
some engagemeat-ring, but when he pre-
scnts it. she turns up her nosc-lt cost
only twenty dollars. He gets the cold
shout, =, for she had her eye on that three
thousand dollar diamond in Calls win
dow-wc saw her looking at 1t. ~ op-
posite neighbor' eldest daughter Apect-
inc cold watch and chain from her
Charles Aug JUS (don't tell It She toi@
mc.) Charles Augustus gets nine dollars
= week and works hard for it, but Charles
Augustus mdulges in a little game of
..draw" and don't throw cocktail over
his shoulder. Gait does a cash business,
50 we have set eur wits to work to find out
where the watch and chain are to come
from. As for ourselves, if We can give
Betsey and our twelve girls smell Of
roast turkey, We shall be thankful: We
intend to have it served on our one large
dish. and let the children, like the ghosts
in Macbeth. come in, one at time, take
their smell and then go out The inside
of the stores presents a beautiful and inter-
esting sight, but the outside presents an
other picture and at no time can 1t be bet
ter seen than at present. Outside, gazing
in at the windows of the confectionery
stores with hungry eyes, stand lttlc chill
dron, scantily clad. with their little swol
len bare feet on the hard-packed frozen
snow. They gaze on the beauties within
but think Of them. not rs luXuries, but as
something to allay the cravings Of hun
ger. They have started out without
crust for neutrality-suspicious. they had no
supper-all night they have lain on the
bare garnet floor, and counted, aS they lay
awake all the freezing night, every chime
from St. Aloysius' steeplc which brought
nearer the dawn No gift is tossed to
them by the, elegantly attired ladies who
>wccp-hy 10 their costly carriages. and
livcried serynnts- ttat staud waiting at the
curb-stone. They draw up their flowing
drapcrics, afraid of the contamina'ion'ofa
touch. The little eyes stare after them as
they roll away-in some perhaps you may
see tear which steals down the wan cheek