Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-12-25
Jones" was tired enough to drop in her own

Jones was tired enough to drop IN her owl
tracks.
Buying for the Opposite Sex.
It is amusing to note how women were
found in mems furnishing and other stores
at which articles masculine are found, and
how men, on the other hand, were to be
seen absently parading drygoods and fancy
stores, with vague purpose of procuring
something that should please the girls, but
with no idea of the best way to accomplish
their object It is a question whether the
man or the woman is more at a loss in
stores with which they are not acquainted.
A man seen in drygoods store, trying to
buy lace handkerchiefs, was q pitiable OBJ
ject He was told that this lace was "gcn
uine duchesse," and he saw little square,
no larger than his hand. the price of which
was calmly quoted at $50, accompanied BY
the information that the lady was sure to
appreciate the gift When he was told that
a lady is always "dying to possess
duchesse lace handkerchief, he determined
to buy it. no matter how bad bargain it
appeared 20 him.
But q woman in gentleman's furnishing
store was no better off than the man among
lace handkerchiefs. She went in to pur-
chase q pair of suspenders, that being con-
sidered the correct thing to present geE-
tleman this year There they were, beiew-
eled, embroidered in the daintiest of floral
patterns, with gold and silver buckles, and
no buckles at all, such dainty designs
and Of such beautiful materials that
they seemed almost too nice for men
to use as an article of dress.
The maiden blushed, as she saw that bewil-
dering heap of straps and webbing, which
she knew in a general way must be sus-
penders The clerk showed her that the
suspenders were strong, by pulling them,
ard telling her that the ends would never
break, and that the main material never
stretched. But she cut him of with the re-
mark that she didn't know anything about
that. She wanted the prettiest pair, and
she got them, and the young man who is to
wesr the articles will feel like a circus
when he gets them on.
Statistics of the Business Done.
One music house reported that they were
selling on an average 16 and II pianos
day, most of them to be delivered last
night.
In the jewelry stores small fortunes
were being expended on diamonds, silver
sets, bric-a-brac, etc, for Christmas pres
ents.
Smithfeld street and Fifth avenue we're
alive with humanity, moving in opposite
directions, with constant friction of the
''rub" ''rub" of sleeves, up one side and
down the other, with jutting branches into
the stores. big and little. Every street car
arriving from the different parts of Pitts
burg and Allegheny increa sed the
flow. 1t is estimated that the
Pittsburg and Duquesne lines and
the Citizens line carried about 40, o 90 pas
sengers each on the big days OF the week;
the Pleasant Valley, Manchester and Cen
trail lines at least 20, 900 each. The railroads
handled at least 80. 900.
An amusing scene on Wood street was a
woman, her arms piled high with bundles.
keeping measured steps to the ''tump,"
tump" of two drums, beaten by her two
little boys, who headed this triumphal
Christmas march.
What the Postofice Did.
At the Postoffice yesterday and each of
the two DAYS preceding over 800, 900 letters
and 300, 900 packages were handled The
business of the express companies increased
to their full capacity. The crowds on the
streets were greatly increased on Friday,
when fully $4,000 school children, wilder |
than young colts, were turned loose for the |
holiday season.
A turn in the market showed stalls piled |
high with turkeys, chickens and ducks, |
great barrels filled with cranberries and |
hickory nuts. Bunehes of celery as white !
and crisp as snowy morning, and apples !
as rosy as the cheeks such daY would pro-
1uce were everywhere. Wreaths and fes- |
toons marked the aisles, little pigs with
lemons in their mouths looked not a bit un-
happy over their untimely fate, but, orna-
nented-by a bunch of brilliant berries,
seemed rather to enjoy the prospect
If taking part in the general
,easting. Turkeys sold for from Is to 21
,ents a pound: chickens. is to Is cents
pound; ducks, II to 20 cents pound; geese,
3 to 16 cents a pound; rabbits, so to 60
,ents pair, Veuison saddles, 20 to % cents
pound; pheosants, 81 so a pair; prairie
hickens, 81 25 pair; mallard ducks, 81 %
pair;isqulrrels, 25c to SOC pair So you
'ould get dinner at almost any price you
Wished.
Somehow a lone 'possum had strayed in
md hung himself up in corner, in among
he rabbits and the turkeys and the ducks
funny little old colored man had ell
'owed up through the crowd and got near
dat 'possum," as he expressed it, smack
ng his lips and sticking out his tongue as
f he rolled there piece of "'possum and
later" His tattered hat was in his hand,
ut he seemed unconscious of the cold,
Though only little TUT of woolly white
dorned his copper-colored pate, as he ex-
laimed: "Um! I'm! De place for dat
possum am in de gribblin' PAN
Where the Trees Were Sold.
But .he crowning event of Christmas is
he Christmas tree, and to the center of their
upply the Christmas buyer gravitates.
Lcross the Sixth street bridge and up Fed
raj street to the Diamond square, in Allie
heny, the tree-buyer wended his way. The
acant space in the square was a North
Maine pine foods: the hardy
eller the woodsman. Here was
le market of Yuletide green's. Spruce,
emlock, pines, mistletoe, hollies,
Iurels, bewildering. bewitching meshes
greens, packed closely into in
.rwinding 1abyrinths. With night
III the scene became weird and 'witehing,
you gazed only at the scene and turned
OF your eyes to the right, where loomed &
lie white walls of the Carnegie Library and
lie city building, or upward where the ,
ectric lanterns on the towers spangled
le darkness with their mellow lights, or
your left down Federal street to the busy
arts filled with shoppers. Imagine it! I
! immense array of green. carpet of {
low, fur-capped, heavy-coated individuals
otting about among the trees, and between =
l the darting, meager ray of an occasional +
lsoline lamp. Trees sold for from 20 cents /;