Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-12-17
CHRISTMAS Is COMING.

Scenes In the Streets and stores Where
Holiday Goods are SOld-What the
Merchants are Doing.
4 week before Christmas and the ball
Is in motion. Everybody is busy, and the
streets Of the city from DOW until after
the holidays are over will be kaleides-
cope filled with every color, and pattern,
and shape and style Of holiday goods.
Christmas llfall on Thursday this year,
and the snap Of fire crackers, the
popping Of tOrpedOes, and the shrill
shrek of the squakers indicate
thas santa Claus is getting in his
work. Tie shop windows and counters
and shelves are loaded with their weight
Of holiday toys. The small boys and girls
peep inquisitively into the stores, and the
older people slip slyly down town
when the children are at school, and re-
turn cautiously with mysterious bundles
and packages which are slowed away in
secret drawers and closets out of the
reach Of curious eyes until the joyous
Christmas eve.
A NEWS reporter glanced into
some of the stores yesterday where
Christmas goods are sold. The
clerks and sslesmen were busy, and the
stocks OfdOlls. and tea sets, and musical
TOYS, bicycles, tTicycles, velOcipedes,
wagons and hundreds Of other things
were piled up everywhere. In the large
stores and salesrOOms, the cOstller hCli-
day goods are crowded together.
The showcases and shelves are full,
and the counters are piled up with
goods of every style. 81 seems" said
leading merchant, ''tnat the peO-
pie are disoarding the cheap and gaudy
gifts that were sold SO largely few years
ago The little folks. Of course, are still
obliged to have toys, and there are many
older people who cannot afford TO buy
costly gifts, but the cheap goods are not
sought so generally and the sale OF sub
esantial gifts is larger than it has been
for years.
The merchants If the city seem to have
ANTICIPATED this fact, and in their orders
have included what the gift-giving peo-
ple demand. A walk through BrOugbtOn
street. lined from morning until night
with shoppers. and glance into the
large retail stores reveals thousands
Of things that would make glad
the heart Of friend. Inc
clerks are busy, the cash boys are
busy, the porteTs are busy, the book
keeTer is rushed, and the proprietor is
gleeful and good natured as his place is
6lIed with customers. The children
gather about the toy store windows,
which are the greatest attraction Tor
them. The array of toy horses, lions,
tigers, CRATES, billy goats, bears,
elephants. and almost every other animal.
piled up with jumping jacks, stuffed pigs,
Noah's arks, and a hundred other things.
is calculated to make the heart OF the
average youngster beat with joy. The
manufacture of these toys is enormous.
In olden days the boys were content with
felt elephants, wO0lly dogs, and stables
with wooden steeds, but now the toy ele-
plants walk and wave their trunks and
wag their tails. the wOOlly dogs bark
and the horses move about upon their au-
tomato legs and prick up their rubber
ears. Other shops where the girls
stand crowded together, uttering "Oh.
mvr' and ''LOOk at it," and "DOn't
wish l had it, are full of dolls Of all
sizes. makes and cOlOrs--waX dolls, wood
en- dolls, china dolls and rag dolls, with their
flaxen curls and painted cheeks and fluffy
tinsel clothes. There seems TO be no end
TO playthings everywhere. The cold
weather yesterday iyened up the trade,
and the rest of the week, with the crowds
OF visitors from the country, will be busy
for merchants and shoppers.