New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1877-12-26
THE HOLIDAY.

ShOpkeepcrs will tell us many differing
stories of the state of the holiday trade if we
ask them how the observance of Christmas
in 1877 compared with previous years " If
this would only last n month longer" said a
Broadway dealer. last week. " might retire
on a competence There are certain we'll
known establishments which have sold out their
choicest stock two or three times over. There
are certain popular wares-nOtaby, ceramic
and -a-brac-for which the holiday de-
mand has been almost Unsuitable AT the same
time there are many retail traders who have
done much less business than usual. They
have stood idle behind their well-lilled cOun-
tiers day after day, and prolonged the dismal
watch far into the night; and now the closing
year finds them loaded with unstable goods,
and groaning over the poverty and degen-
cracy of the times.
Nevertheless no careful observer can have
failed to be struck by a more than ordinary
hustle in the streets larger thrOngs in most
of the shops, a brisker and more cheerful as
pcct Of the crowd, a more general air of fes-
tivty and liberality. If business has been
dull in some lines, it is because the
popular taste has been strongly attracted
toward special classes of goods, objects
of art, fashions of decoration, and the mild
mania of ugly and incomprehcnsblc curios
Thousands of newly developed collectors,
spending Il months income on a useless tea
cup or a red and blue pot, have justified them
selves as does the poor gentleman in PHHch,
who enters the house with a mammoth vase
under each arm and meets the rcpr0achcs of
his wife by parody on the language Of house
keepers adyertisemCnts-"O Oh, my dear, money
is not so much of an object as a comfortable
home 1t may BE- doubted whether there is
comfort to be got from a decorated Chinese
dinner set when we must srrmp the dinner to
pay for it, or real Christmas mcrriment in the
family which hangs porcelain plates on the
wall and puts poor fare on the table.
Even Mr.. 1ifanys wonderful reproductions
of the Cypriote jewclry discovered by Cesnola,
or the bcwildering chairs, and tables, and
cabinets described by Clarence Cook, are no
better than SHARES for the man who can hardly
meet his January bills. But the taste for all
these beautiful things does unquestionably
make the season more lively. The passion
for having and giving the lIxuries of art has
impaired extraordinary hustle to the holiday
trade, and lenttO the shOp-windOws on Broad
way pictureSqueness and brilliancy which can
hardly be surpassed except in Paris.
Whatever may be the connection of these
few weeks activity with the general move
ment of trade and the long promised revival
of business, the streets of Ncw-IOrk, mt all
events, have given evidence Of the gratifying
fact that the observance of Christmas j. not
subject to that decline which oyertakes all our
other festivals. The New Year is celebrated
with less and less joyiaity at each successive
anniversary; the messenger boy takes the
place of the spruce caller, and in
stead of room full OF well -drcsscd
women, the stckler for old courtesies
finds the card-basket suspended from the i'll
hOspitable door The family gatherings at the
New-England Thanksgiving become less gen
eral and less merry. The glory of the Fourth
Of July has been fading for long time, and
we have had the climax of display in the Cen
tennal fireworks and the pop of the last
cracker. But Christmas is steadily strengthen
ing its hold upon our hearts. Our cosmOpo-
lite society fuses into one great festival the
customs and traditions of many nations Eng
land, France and Germany bring It's their own
legends, traditions, poetry, fashions and songs,
and add them to the relies left by our Dutch
ancestors; and thus the NewYOrk Christmas,
which is rapidly becoming the universal
American Christmas, promises to be at no dis
tant time the pleaslnteSt in the whole world.
We may thank beneiicent Providence which
has given us, i'll these days of general worry,
so blessed a season of relief.
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