Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1886-12-21
CHRISTMAS GIFTS.
THE HOLIDAY TRADE ASSUMING IMMENSE
PROPORTIONS.
The Streets Crowded Every Afternoon and Even
ing With Bundls-Laden
Humanity.

The holiday trade, which began in fee
BILE and uncertain sort. of way about three
weeks ago, has now grown to proportions
far exceeding the afes of last year, and the
rush increases from day to day in such pro-
portions as to warrant the assertion that
the retail business for the month of Deem
Der, when balances are struck, will exceed
that for the corresponding period last year
by from fifty to seyenty-fye per cent. In
some lines of trade the rush Of custom has
been such as to break the assortment Of
goods in a way very unusual for week
before Christmas, and a number of retail
ers are vainly regrettiDg that they did not
largely increase their Eastern orders before
the buying season opened. 1t Is
of stores are doing the best
course those merchants who carry lines OF
goods most commonly used for holiday
presents have a relatively heavier increase
in business than the dry goods and clothing
houses, and others of Ii re nature. Prob
ably the jewellers are at the head OF the
list, with the toy shops a good second, and
the book sellers and dealers in fancy articles
not far behind them. One leading jew
eler said yesterday that his business, for
the week ending Saturday, was over one
hundred per cent. bettei than the CORE
spending week last year, and he thought
there would he still further improve
ment during the present week.
There is, he said, very notable
demand for fine goods, in the shape OF
gold watches, diamonds, silyerware, and
other substantial things in his line, from
which he argued that money was fairly
abundant and the bulk of the population
prosperous.
One OF the firm of Stanton & Daven-
port, booksellers, said business had
not been so good for three years, and that
a better grade of goods was being called
for. Not better class of literature" he
added, by way OF explanation, 'fOr the
Wheeling public has never leaned very de
cidedly toward stuff of the penny dread
full order, but fine bindings and editions
de lure find a reader sale than ever be-
fore"
The demand for fancy articles, bric-a-
brac, and decorative goods for household |
or personal Use is wonderful, and evidences |
growing taste in this way on the part of
the middle and well-tO-dO classes. The
array OF pretty gifts IN this line, too, Is be-
yond comparison with previous years.
Stores given over to trade of this sort are |
crowded from early morning until far into
the evening with admiring crowds, COM |
posed mainly of ladies, and stocks melt |
away like fall of snow under warm |
rain. The goods in these stores are seem |
ingly of endless variety, and |
have been selected with cOnsum- |
mate taste. The boxes, empty and |
otherwise are as high and broad, and |
boundless as taste itself. There are boxes |
for collars, boxes for toilet articles, boxes
for gloves and handkerchiefs, and boxes for
every and any use in artists paper, leather, |
satin and plush. Some contain combs and
brushes for shoes, teeth, clothes, nails and |
flesh; Others are furnished with writing ma |
terial, underwear and hosiery, and some us
cheap rs 90 cents contain six little hand |
kerchiefs with pretty Kate Greenaway |
prints in the corner. For the new, crow
ing, pink and white baby who Will cele-
brate her first Christmas, st. Nick has gold |
mugs, silver rattleS, perfumes worth - a |
Jug, ivory bound toilet utensils, and the |
soiteSt of socks, hoods, shawls, blankets |
and ulsters made of ASiatiC wool and spun |
silk, and lovely lined baskets Of scented |
wood and tinted satin such rs our grand |
mothers, or even our mothers, never dream
dof.
But one must turn to the toy trade if he
would seek an infinite variety of holiday |
presents, all dear to the hearts of the small |
fry, and at the same time meet with the
largest number Of seekers after the where
with to make glad the hearts Of Others on
Christmas morning While all the old
standard toys are on hand in abundance,
there is no end to the novelties, especially
in the line of mechanical inventions from
steam engines to dolls that talk and COWS
that wisk their tails and chew their cud.
There are horses with flowing names and
tails, that blink their eyes and nod
their heads; there are lambs
that bleat, mules that bray, and
funny little dOnkeyS, sad eyed and surly of
temper, able to kick up rear heel at
moments notice The dolls are legion,
and are arrayed like the lilies of the field.
Besides these, there are sleds, locomotives,
mail-wagons, bi and tricycles, wheelbar-
rows, carts and trucks; the chests of tools,
rrayons, knives, toy guns, and air pistols;
the tops, balls, marbles, paints; the COM
plete china, linen, tin, and pot closets, the
stables, stoves, nayieS, camps, theatres,
homes, schools, harems, and museums that
are calculated to fire 4 young soul with
envy and reduce healthy pOcket-boOk to
a perfect state of vacuity. 4 description
of even part of them, would fill a whole
paper.
Of a verify, Kris Kingle is in town, and
the most elaborate preparations are being
made in his honor