New-York tribune., 1876-12-18
THE PLEASURES or THE PAYfS.


To-day begins the great annual fortnight of
the retail trade--thc market time which affec-
tionate solcitude makes sunny, however cloudy
the skies. and warm, whatever the markings
of the thermometer. Now the windows of
Broadway and the avenues are prismatic,
and flame through the curtain OF the frost all
day with splcndOr TO which the evening gas
hight adds but little. Now our advertising
columns lose their prosaic and utilltarian char
acter and mock merrily grave discussion and
snmhrr. mattcr-Of-fact news. NoS IL the best
travelling season for all whose taste is for tour
of the streets, and VINO are not ashamed to
make many full stop and To cape through
Tie glass at the multifarious treasures behind
il. Within no four walls can there be such
brilliant exhibition as that which now makes
tho states highway one long gallery. The
public, the moncylcss part OF 1t rs well as the
other, may feel sort of ownership IN the
rarcst and cOstiiest works of art; the beggar-
girl. with open mouth which the frost is pinch
ing, may enjoy the gems which next week
may CLEAN upon the brow of fortunate beauty;
the lover of books, whose usual haunts are
the shabnicst of the stalls, may study the
Golden backs of the most renowned binders;
and he who never owned "proOf-be-
fore-the-le letter in his life, may get
a lesson from many rare etching,
and posscss for an hour the print whose
next abiding place will be the portfolio of the
millionaire. Bodies and minds are many, and
many the wants of either To some eyes the
rosy and white beef in the restaurant window
il "a piece of virtu," like the haunch of ven
ison which the nobleman sent to Goldsmith
L., NJ fh. ts.hf Fol .hp1sa
with which the haberdasher tantalizes them,
while for the unsuficicntly clad, IN this frosty
weather. are the swinging overcoats at fabu-
lOusy lOw prices, or the long stllngS OF boots
and shoes, the fcstoons of cOlntOrtcls, the red
shirts which are 80 many ensigrs OF comfort
and calOric, and the furs which, after warming
the Arctic quadInpads, are here to do the
same Office for the bipcds OF zone mlsno-
mered temperate. "WhO owns the landscapep ~
asks Emerson; "WhO owns the shop windows"
we may ask. "from now to New Year'ST
Whoever however, would taste these pleas
urcs with the finest zest must rid himself of
tbc last and least touch of coyctousness in his
mature, and cOnscientiOusly remember the
clause of the dccalogue against it, We can
NOT say. alt is mnen and 80 that it were
"miuc!n in the same breath. We must feel
that the much-deSired thing is ours for the
moment, and be able chcerfully to leave 1t, as
We are obliged all through life to leave things
which we love much better. 1t may be gone
when we come back to the remembered WIN
dow to-morrow-gone away under the arm. or
in the pocket of the buyer-but we shall have
il still in the memory. A real reason of re-
cret not so easily disposed of is that we
may not purchase it for some dear one
who would have greeted the giving of it
40 ioyfully. But the good will, after all, is
worth more than the gift, and all the treas
urcs of the shops are dull and dusty when
compafed with the bright activity of the aifec-
tions. What we cannot .bear away from the
brilliant bazaar, we can at least bring another
TO see, so that the memory of it shall be held
undivided and common, just us we hold recol-
lections of the old home or of the same book.
This would be world utterly sunk in a sense
of its own poverty, if we could enjoy nothing
without legal right and title in it. We con-
gratulate all our readers upon the great stocks
of merchandise, upon the large and varied as
sortments, as the advertisers say, which only
the trouble of a glance or two to-day may
make theirs.
We believe, for we have been told so, no
matter by whom, that there is rare aud ex-