The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-01-22
IN NEW YORK STORES.

l.. j. EDWARDS.
IN NEW YORK STORES.
Contrast Between Ante and Post Christ
mas shopping.
special Correspondence
NEW YORK, Jan. 5-The stony hearted,
confirmed bachelor, dawdliny over brandy
and soda in his metropolitan club. saith in
his heart: There is no Christmas 1t is a
thing of the moldy past, like the stage
coaches and the pony express. 1t is one Of
the barbarous recollections of our glorious
civilization John, another bottle of
soda"
But the interior of every home where
there are children, even of the squalid
homes Of the poor, gives to the bachelors
theory the lie direct, and the awful desola-
ton of the toy shops and notion stores on
the Goth of December, 1890, if the stony
hearted bachelor had taken the trouble to
look within their doors, would have forced
him to eat his words. Only Santa Claus
could cause such devastation as can be
seen in all the shops on the day after
Christmas, and only the departure for an
the great white beard and
Little round belly,
That shakes when he laughs
Like bowl full of Jelly,
could leave such desolation in his wake
Trust the shopkeepers TO correctly gauge
the public estimate of Christmas day. This
year they prepared for it as they have never
prepared for it before, and the terrible
wreck of these preparations is sufficient
proof that there is no decadence of the
spirit of Christmas. Stage coaches may
come and stage coaches may go, but Santa
Claus goes on forever!
The storm of Friday, the day after Christ
mas, kept peJple within doors. but though
Saturday vas bright and pleasant the
great shopping thOroughfares were as diff
ferent from the same thoroughfares on any
day for month previous as they could
possibly be. The abrupt cessation of dis
tinctively Christmas buying cut down the
shopping army at least three-quarters. For
the first time in month it was possible TO
find seat in an elevated train or a street
car, and those street corners which for
weeks past had been impossible on account
of the fascinated multitudes condensed
about some brilliant winter spectacle, were
once more restored to their rightful own
ers-the perambulating public.
Yet the shops were only desolate by com
parison. No shOpkeeper regards the holi-
day rush as over until after New Years
day. Between Christmas and New Years
the large stores do a better business than
at any other season of the year, except the
month Immediately preceding Christmas.
But this comparison is quite startling.
Every day for a week before the scheduled
advent of Santa Claus the shops were
crowded from top to bottom with eager
purchasers. Eager" is the word. The
ante and the post Christmas shopper are
two totally different beings. When all
those thousands and thousands of stock
ings were yet to he filed the shoppers
eyes glistened with a light that they ex-
hibit at no other time. They permitted
themselves TO be buffeted about by rolling
waves of fellow shoppers with composure
that nothing but the all pervading spirit
of Christmas can produce; nobody was
tired, nobody was impatient, nobody
bothered the overwurked clerks with use
less inquiries. Everybody plunged into
the sea Of Christmas shopping like practi-
cal swimmers fond OF the element, and
struck out for shore as though for a wager
And how the delivery wagons. loaded to
the very limit Of their capacity, ratified
over the town from early morning till late
at night. This was the spirit of the situa-
ton before Christmas.
After Christmas there were still holiday
shoppers, but they were of quite a differ
ent class. A larger percentage came in car
riages and wore costly raiment. The post
Christmas holiday shoppers are those who
have more money than they can spend on
Christmas presents; therefore the ante
Christmas shoppers outnumber them at
least four TO one.
BY way of preparing for the holiday
shopper who wears a sealskin coat and
drives to the store in her carriage, the
clerks have early on the morning after
Christmas, cleared away the debris Santa
Claus is deposed monarch-until an-
other year shall bring him again into
favor-and the remains of his high carni-
val are cleared away and shelves put in
order to attract the eye of the more luxuri-
Gus giver of New Years gifts Much Of
the shopping between Christmas and New
Years, however, is by wives and daugh-
tiers who are not seeking gifts for others,
but articles for their own personal adorn-
ment or for the decoration of their bou-
doris.
They are taking advantage Of the well
known fact that money will be tight" as
they say in Wall street, the moment the
bells have rung in "a new year and the Gus
tomary New Years grist OF bills Hus-
band and papa ont of holiday generosity,
4
avalanche of bills that will presently bury
them out of sight, have been liberal with
checks on their banks, and with all posi-
bic speed these checks are converted into
cash. and the cash is thrust upon the not
unwilling shopkeeper. He, too, knows
how tight money will be after New
Years day, and you NAV he sure be re-
fuses none that is offered him.
But the Christmas throng mas departed.
and in spite Of the brisk run Of New Years
business the shops are desolate During
this week-the week Immediately follow
ing Jan. their walls re-echo from empti-
ness, the CLERKS are yawning over the
dull routine Of taking stock" the pro-
prietOr l. busy footing up his holiday
profits, and the stony hearted bachelor a.
his club bleSses his stars that Christmas is
obsolete, and orders John 70 bring another
bottle OF soda. CGRTLs DCNHAG-
No Need Of Being Old Before Seventy.
Some old persons are apparently a.
capable as ever, bat tins If OILY IN CIR
tam lines where they have the advantage
of earlier habits ana All previous acculu-
lstions Their versatility. their power
10 turn effectively IN other directions, %
train themselves 10 new intellectual
habits, - far from wha- u once was.
II Ia often the case. and s1nstirres II