The New Orleans crescent. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1866-1869, 1868-12-27
CHRIsTMAS DAY.
ON TEE STREETS.

IN goo0 earnest the eIyOyueut Oh Inlslnas LAY.
When the hour for morning service arrived, the
churches showed numerous attendance Of thank
full worshipers. All the public Offices closed at
10 A. NJ, and their occupants hurried themselves
of each 10 find an amusement suited to his taste.
The stores that remained open did lively busi-
ness, and were crowded with people. The scene
on Canal street wes one TO be remembered for
lifetime-eayety and beauty reigned supreme upon
the sidewalks of the great thoroughfare. In the
countenanee of everyone, rich or poor, young or
old, there seemed to beam feeling of content
ment which said: This is the day OF peace and
good wilton this occasion let US forget all care
and animosity.
And as IL was on Canal street so it was every
where throughout the city. Every one appeared
good humored and happy. The egg-nogg con-
sumed during that festive day, who shall compute.
Ask not that brave defender Of his country whom
we saw on Poydras street, his countenance
flushed with alteration of the rosy god, his mus.
tacbe dripping with the remnants of his last biba.
ton, bis garments giving unmistaksble evidence
of an all night of it," sRd himself negotiating
with an Ethiopian boot black for the removal of
few pounds of mud from his regulation brogans.
Nor propsuud the query to the playfully intox-
icated stranger who, greeting this reporter with
all the warmth Of twenty years acquaintance
ship, said "Roar fur Krissm's-cum taxed rink"
Nor to that respectable diner out who, arrayed in
fashionable apparel and evidently not used to
that sort Of thing, you know, you know. went
home to his rooms at q comparatively early hour,
singing Champagne Charley. but inwardIy con.
WINGED that his Christmas was over.
IN THE THEATRES.
But il was at the places of amusement on st.
Charles street that the real scenes of the day
were 10 be behed. To the Juveniles ofNew Or.
leans q Christmas without its Inatires would be
but half the day it ordinarily is. At the st.
Charles, the little ones met good old Santa Claus
himself standing just inside the doorway, with
sugarosf hat, long cloak. and frosty wig, dis
tributipg gifts with a liberal hand. And once
within the theater, there awaited them rare de-
light in viewing the performance of Cinderella"
q drsmstization of q nursery story which, we
wager. few of them did not know by heart.
The attendance here was very large, and it was,
half an hour sfter the performance began, impos-
sible TO obtain seat. unless it were in the back
row Of the top tier, or back under the gallery in
the parquette. We have never seen the building
sc der sely crowded as il at that matinee, and
the performance passtd of 10 the evident delight
of all present.
At the Academy, too, there was an attendance
of young people. which not orly occupied every
Sc at in the building, land if we not mistaken
tbsre are twelve hundred or over but crowded up
every inch Of standing room, even in the topmost
gallery. One glance at the house from the point
we mention was a spectacle not soon to be for
gotten. The players too took up the spirit of thu
occasion, and "Undine" was presented with
vim, Mrs. Oates being applsuded to the echo.
Every child visitor had received at the door gift,
and the contemplation of these formed by no
means the least part of their innocent amusement.
In the evening the performances were repeated
again, and at the Varieties, the fifth representa-
ton of the Lancashire Lass' was witnessed by
a very large audience. During the performance
an outcry for "help" from some jolly party in the
alley below, had well nigh been the origin of a
panic within, but the presence of mind of one or
two gentlemen, corrected the Misrepresentation,
end averted any disaster.
IN DOORS
All was life and gayety. Many families, separ
ated throughout the year, were Friday re-
united and once more looking upon each others
faces, felt that the strong cords of affection yet
existed to bind them together in sweet commu-
Mon. Dinner parties were, we presume, not
numerous, for Christmas is home day, and one
which is best enjoyed in the converse of home
folks and under the smile of each mans own
Lares and Penates. With evening came various
entertainments, and many high revel was held
when the children, sstated with sugsr-plums and
plsytbines, safe in bed. and the old folks enjoy.
ing conversations about money matters, or fash
IONS as ihesex Of the takers might be, the young
folks with laughter and merTiment gaily danced
the Christmas out.
Besides their matinees at the theaters, the lite
folks did not lack other reminders of the Christ
mas time. On Thursday evening the children of
the Christ Church Sunday School had Christm IS
tree at the Lyceum Hall, and the children Of the
Sunday School Of the Carondelet Street Methodist
Church also had an entertainment. Both affairs
were very well attended and we're highly enjoyed,
not only by the little ones but by their elders who
were present. On Christmas Day. at 3 O'Clock. q
Mission School, which is located away back on
Poydras street, gave an entertainment to the chill
dren. The scholars of this institution are mainly
newsboys and their sisters and their friends and
many Of them, brought up in dirt aud squalid pow
erty, had never heard kind word until they en-
tered the Mission School, and had never known
that the pame of God meant anything else but an
oath, until they were taught by the ladies and
gentlemen who went amongst them for that pur-
pose. The children assembled in National Hall,
on Poydras street, near Liberty, where, after sing
ing one of their hymns, they surrounded the Ia
bles spread for them, and were soon hard at work
consuming good things. Cakes, candy, raisins.
apples and oranges were there In profusion. The
delight Of the children beautiful to see. Their
eyes glisiened with pleasure, they jumped up and
Gown in their excitement, and seemed almost wild
with the unusual treatment they were experience
rg. Bot when, after the feast, when their pock.
cts were all filed, and each had bundle to take
home TO mother, the teachers each presented to
their scholars some little Christmas token-a book
bag OF bonbons, a top, doll, bunch of fire.
crackers-their pleasure eliminated, and they
seemed to have reached the acme of human bliss
Az hour or SO spent thus, and the children sepa
rated, going back to their poverty and theil
wreiched homes, but having had, We hope. 8
CLEAN Of light thrown across their dark life paths
that they will not soon forget. And the teacher